It’s your 4th Annual FOX Bribes Country Acts With Meaningless Awards For Ratings American Country Awards show, cohosted by Trace Adkins and Danica Patrick. Attempting to redeem the show will be performer Kellie Pickler and presenters Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina. The ACAs nominated just about everybody they could nominate (think I’m kidding? Check the list of nominees here.) To be fair, the nominations are strictly based on statistics from sources like Pollstar, Mediabase, Big Champagne, it’s just that the ACAs have about a bajillion categories.
I snark about this show, but on the bright side, we’ve got a primetime performance for Kellie Pickler, a duet between Sheryl Crow and Darius Rucker, and performances from country stars like Brad Paisley, Jake Owen, and Lady Antebellum to look forward to also.
We’ll treat this as a discussion post for now, though we may sneak some observations about the show in as it wears on.
The less said about the host banter on this show, the better. Notable moments from the show included Jake Owen performing “Days Of Gold” with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Kellie Pickler performing her single “Little Bit Gypsy,” Brad Paisley performing his new single “Mona Lisa,” and LeAnn Rimes reminding people that before she turned herself into constant tabloid bait, she was and is an extremely talented singer via a medley of Patsy Cline hits including “Crazy,” “Leavin’ On Your Mind,” “Walkin’ After Midnight,” and “Sweet Dreams.”
Scotty McCreery won Breakthrough Artist of the Year! Good job, Scotty fans!
Carrie Underwood managed to get out of her annual “Thank you FOX for airing American Idol” ACA appearance this year. She won the ACA for Female Music Video for “Blown Away.” Don’t tell anybody but Carrie was in New York tonight, watching her husband’s Nashville Predators defeat the New York Rangers.
FloridaNickelCreed-GeorgiaDoors LineDown performed their current t5 single, “Stay,” which is a cover of a Black Stone Cherry song. Such is the state of country radio today.
Joe Buck claims you have to have a great voice to be in the category of Artist Of The Year, which is weird to say when you have Florida-Georgia Line and Taylor Swift (even though she’s improved as a singer) in the category. Anyway, he presents Luke Bryan with the ACA’s Artist Of The Year award for the 2nd consecutive year, and those crack sound guys at the ACAs celebrated by playing him onto the stage with…a Florida-Georgia Line song (“Round Here”). I mean, I get that it’s hard to tell these bro country songs apart but…
This year’s ACA winners via press release:
WINNERS OF FOURTH ANNUAL “AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS” ANNOUNCED
Florida Georgia Line Wins Six Awards and Blake Shelton Earns Four Awards During Tonight’s Telecast;
Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood Each Receive 12th ACA Award andSet Records for Most Awards for Male and Female Artist
Two-Hour Special Featured Performances by Host Trace Adkins, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Randy Houser, Justin Moore, Lady Antebellum, Jake Owen, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Thomas Rhett, LeAnn Rimes and Darius Rucker
The following artists were honored tonight at the fourth annual AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS (ACA), broadcast live on FOX from the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
With six awards, Florida Georgia Line received the most awards during tonight’s telecast, while Blake Shelton followed with four awards. Following his three wins tonight, Luke Bryan has won 12 altogether – the most awards for a male solo artist. Carrie Underwood’s win tonight in Music Video by a Female Artist, plus her 11 previous awards, make her the female artist with the most ACA honors.
Additionally, Brad Paisley received the Video Visionary Award, in recognition of his consistently innovative contributions to the format.
Fans logged on to www.theacas.com to cast votes in support of their favorite country music artists not only in traditional categories, but also in a previously unrecognized area – touring – encompassing the entire spectrum of country music.
Following is the list of categories and winners for the AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS:
ARTISTS
Artist of the Year
Luke Bryan
Artist of the Year: Male
Luke Bryan
Artist of the Year: Female
Miranda Lambert
Artist of the Year: Group
Lady Antebellum
Artist of the Year: Breakthrough Artist
Scotty McCreery
Artist of the Year: New Artist
Florida Georgia Line
Album
Album of the Year
Blake Shelton, “Based On A True Story…”
SINGLES
Single of the Year
Florida Georgia Line, “Cruise”
Single of the Year: Male
Blake Shelton, “Sure Be Cool If You Did”
Single of the Year: Female
Miranda Lambert, “Mama’s Broken Heart”
Single of the Year: Group
Lady Antebellum, “Downtown”
Single of the Year: New Artist
Florida Georgia Line, “Cruise”
Single of the Year: Breakthrough Artist
Lee Brice, “I Drive Your Truck”
Single of the Year: Vocal Collaboration
Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift and featuring Keith Urban, “Highway Don’t Care”
TOURING
Touring Artist of the Year
Luke Bryan
VIDEOS
GREAT AMERICAN COUNTRY – Music Video of the Year
Blake Shelton, “Sure Be Cool If You Did”
Music Video of the Year: Male
Blake Shelton, “Sure Be Cool If You Did”
Music Video of the Year: Female
Carrie Underwood, “Blown Away”
Music Video of the Year: Group or Collaboration
Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift and featuring Keith Urban, “Highway Don’t Care”
Music Video of the Year: New Artist
Florida Georgia Line, “Cruise”
Song of the Year:
Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift and featuring Keith Urban, “Highway Don’t Care” (Mark Irwin, Josh Kear, Brad Warren, Brett Warren)
Additionally, the following Most Played Radio Track Awards, determined by Mediabase, were announced during tonight’s telecast:
Most Played Radio Track
Florida Georgia Line, “Cruise”
Most Played Radio Track: Male
Randy Houser, “How Country Feels”
Most Played Radio Track: Female
Miranda Lambert, “Mama’s Broken Heart”
Most Played Radio Track: Group
The Band Perry, “Better Dig Two”
Most Played Radio Track: New Artist
Florida Georgia Line, “Cruise”
