Women Win Big at The ACMAs

-- carolinagrrrl from AfterEllen.com

If my AfterEllen pseudonym doesn’t give it away, I’m a southern girl through and through who’s spent all her life in Carolina and Tennessee.  Thus, it is probably no surprise to you that in addition to being a pop culture addict, I am an avid country music fan.  So to say my level of anticipation for Sunday night’s Academy of Country Music Awards was high would be an incredible understatement.

The event, held in Las Vegas, was hosted for the tenth time by Reba McEntire. 

 

Though Carrie Underwood opened the show performing her newest single, “Last Name,” her time to shine came later in the show.  In a very poignant tribute to the recently passed Eddy Arnold, she and the winner for Video of the Year and Top Male Vocalist, Brad Paisley, sang Arnold’s 1965 hit “Make the World Go Away.”  Though the standing ovation that followed was clearly for the fallen legend, I can’t help but wonder if they would have garnered the same reaction regardless.  The two of them sounded absolutely fantastic together — and she didn’t look too terrible, either.

Oh, and did I mention that Ms. Underwood also walked away with Top Female Vocalist honors?  Yeah, I told you she had a big end to the night.

But this wasn’t just The Carrie Underwood Show.  On the contrary, there were actually many surprises on the night, each resulting in a win for the ladies.

One of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters — Jennifer Nettles — won huge on the night.  As one half (formerly one-third, before out lesbian Kristen Hall left) of Sugarland, she won Single Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Stay.” It is actually quite a feat that the two top honors for a song were given to “Stay” because it is entirely acoustic, which isn’t something often heard on country (or any other kind of) radio.  Also, both categories were greatly lacking in female representation:  Nettles was the only female nominated for Song and only one other woman (Miranda Lambert for “Famous in a Small Town”) was selected for the Single category. 

If you have never heard it, I suggest watching the video, which was also nominated for an award.

 

 

Additionally, the group gave one of the best performances on the night when they debuted their new single “All I Want to Do.”  It was fun, it was well sung, and it gave me a chance to see Nettles swing her hips.  You’re not getting any complaints from me!

The award for Top New Female Vocalist went to the prodigal Taylor Swift, to no one’s surprise but her own.  Personally, I find Swift to be a very accomplished song writer (especially for an 18-year old), but cannot for the life of me grow to enjoy her voice.  However, I let go of the fact that she beat out former American Idol finalist Kellie Pickler when she gave an adorable speech thanking her mother.

 

But the night’s biggest surprise came in a category traditionally dominated by men:  Album of the Year.  Since 2000, the award has only been won by one woman (Underwood), and the nominees this year were pretty fierce.  Up against the likes of Kenny Chesney, Rodney Atkins and Paisley, I didn’t think either Swift or Miranda Lambert stood a chance, but to my surprise and delight, Lambert took home the statue for her latest album, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

 

 

Apparently I wasn’t the only one surprised, either.  As she walked up on stage, Lambert let out a very visible “Oh, s---!” to which I laughed quite hard.  I’m sure somewhere out there members of the FCC are crying.

You can check out the complete list of winners here, but please do let me know if you all enjoyed it as much as I did.  Am I alone in the AfterEllen universe with my love for all things country?  I know I can’t be!