CMA Awards Recap: George Strait Wins Top Honor, Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton Take Home Vocalist Awards

The 47th Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley for the sixth year in a row, aired on Wednesday night to celebrate the standout stars of country music.

Luke Bryant kicked off the evening with a performance of his chart-topping hit “That’s My Kind of Night” and was shortly joined by duo Florida Georgia line for "Cruise." Other performances throughout the night included Hunter Hayes and Jason Mraz singing “Everybody’s Got Somebody,” Eric Church singing “The Outsiders,” Tim McGraw singing "Southern Girl," and several more solo and group numbers.

When the hosts took to the stage, they warmed up the audience with some jokes about celebrity feuds before forcing them to participate. With the help of Kelly Pickler, they assigned members of the crowd a celebrity with whom to feud. Kelly Clarkson received her new mother-in-law Reba McEntire, while Darius Rucker got Julianne Hough, who caused a stir after sporting blackface for her Halloween costume. Paisley and Underwood also did a prolonged sketch mocking Obamacare.

The first award of the night – Single of the Year – was handed out by the Robertson brothers of Duck Dynasty, who had joined Paisley and Underwood for a version of "Blurred Lines" rewritten to reference their A&E show. Beating out Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban; Miranda Lambert; Kacey Musgraves and Darius Rucker was Florida Georgia Line for “Cruise.”

Lee Brice won Song of the Year for “I Drive Your Truck.” Brice later presented the award for Vocal Duo of the Year, which saw Florida Georgia Line pick up their second award of the night. New Artist of the Year went to Kacey Musgraves, while Vocal Group of the Year honors went to Little Big Town.

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The Male Vocalist Award and Female Vocalist Award went to married singers Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, respectively. Shelton, who has won the Male Vocalist Award for the fourth time in a row, also won Album of the Year for Based on a True Story.

George Strait took home the night’s top honor of Entertainer of the Year, and Taylor Swift received the Pinnacle Award.

– Chelsea Regan

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