The 47th annual Academy of Country Music Awards took place Sunday, April 1, in Los Angeles, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Carrie Underwood kicked things off with a performance of her song "Good Girl," from her upcoming album.
From there, awards started to be handed out. First up was the Vocal Event of the Year, which went to the performance of "Don't You Wanna Stay" by Kelly Clarkson and Jason Aldean. They also won Single Record of the Year, beating out the Eli Young Band, Toby Keith, Chris Young and Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter.
Video of the Year was up next, with videos from Toby Keith, Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift. Toby Keith picked up that award with his comical video for "Red Solo Cup." American Idol's Scotty McCreery was given the award for New Artist of the Year. Running against him was Hunter Hayes and Brantley Gilbert.
The Eli Young Band, known for their album's popular song "Crazy Girl," was nominated for both Song of the Year, Single of the Year and Top Vocal Group of the Year, but they only swept up the award for Song of the Year. They beat out songs like "Home" by Dierks Bentley, "Just a Kiss" by Lady Antebellum, "Threaten Me with Heaven" by Vince Gill, and "You and Tequila" by Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter.
Miranda Lambert walked away with two major awards including Album of the Year for her newest release "Four the Record." She also walked away with the Top Female Vocalist of the Year, beating out other great artists like Sara Evans, Martina McBride, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. Carrie Underwood, although nominated for two awards, did not win any of them.
Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry, the Eli Young Band, Rascal Flatts and the Zac Brown Band were all nominated for Top Vocal Group of the Year. Lady Antebellum walked away with that one, having just released their newest album "Own the Night" this past fall. The CD bought the up-and-coming group their own independent tour when it became extremely popular.
The Top Vocal Duo of the Year was awarded to the newer group Thompson Square, known for their song "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not."
Top Male Vocalist of the Year went to Blake Shelton. He won over artists like Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Chris Young. Shelton and wife Lambert made quite the pair as two of the top winning artists of the night.
After that, there only remained one more award to give away for the night, and it was the biggest one: Entertainer of the Year. Up and running for the award were Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean and Taylor Swift. The award was given to Taylor Swift for the second year in a row, where she beat out all the boys once more as the only girl in the group. Both Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley walked away from the night without winning any awards, even though they were nominated for quite a few.
Performances included Miranda Lambert, who sang "Over You," her newest emotional country radio hit. Chris Young gave an upbeat performance, as well as Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban and Little Big Town.
Overall the night was a great success, including quite the handout to mostly female artists and some great live performances.
Taylor Swift takes home Entertainer of the Year.
