Vegas is known for many things, but tonight (March 7) it was known for country music!
The 57th Academy of Country Music Awards aired on Amazon Prime last night (March 7). The star-studded event brought together iconic country music stars all under the same roof. The night was filled with outstanding performances, outfits, and awards.
The show was hosted by legendary country singer, Dolly Parton, who began by paying her respects to those in Ukraine. Parton said, “Send our love and hope to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Why don’t we dedicate the entire show to them?”
Co-Host, Jimmie Allen, then took the stage with a performance of “Viva Las Vegas” to honor where the show was taking place. Gabby Barrett, was also a co-host, and took the same stage mid-performance with her husband Cade Foehner to perform “Let’s Go to Vegas”. At the end of the performance, both Allen and Barrett joined forces to finish off with the last line of “Viva Las Vegas”.
Shortly after the performance, Entertainer of the Year Nominee, Erich Church, went on stage with a classic medley of his songs including “Heart on Fire” and “Drink in My Hand”. Ashley McBryde joined Church to end the performance with a bang.
The first award of the night was given to Brothers Osborne for Duo of the Year. Old Dominion won the second award for Group of the Year. In their acceptance speech, the group shared their appreciation that Parton took the time to address the situation in Ukraine. Saying the people there are “fighting for their lives”.
A series of performances followed. Maren Morris performed the television debut of her song “Circles Around This Town”. Parmalee and Blanco Brown also went on stage to perform their smash hit “Just the Way”.
Jason Aldean spoke about the devastating shooting that occurred in 2017 in Las Vegas. The shooting happened at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival and Aldean said that upcoming performer, Chris Stapleton, “captured the way many music artists felt”. Stapleton had a soulful and powerful performance of the song “Watch You Burn”, which he wrote in respects to the shooting.
Song of the Year and Single of the Year were the next awards to be given out. Lainey Wilson received the award for Song of the Year. Aldean and Carrie Underwood won for Single of the Year with their song “If I Didn’t Love You”. The two thanked their teams and reiterated their thanks to the fans.
Carly Pearce and McBryde looked stunning as the two gave an acoustic ballad version of the song “Never Wanted to Be That Girl”. Thomas Rhett put on a true Las Vegas show when the singer took the stage with a piano to perform his song “Slow Down Summer”. Lighting the stage up with fireworks at the end of his performance. Kelsea Ballerni and Parton then performed Parton’s classic song “Big Dreams and Faded Jeans.”
Raiders Quarterback Derek Carr presented the award for Album of The Year, which went to Morgan Wallen for his album Dangerous: The Double Album.
Barrett and Allen went back on stage to announce the show was going to make history as they had 35 minutes of just straight performances. The performances included Brothers Osborne, Gabby Barrett performing “I Hope You Dance”, and so much more. Breland and Rhett performed “Praise the Lord” in their first-ever performance together. Wilson made her ACM debut performing, “Things A Man Oughta Know.” The fun didn’t stop there because following that performance Aldean started to perform “If I Didn’t Love You.” Suddenly, Underwood descended in a giant circle to join Aldean in singing their collaboration. Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, and Jordan Davis all had an amazing performance as well.
Male Artist of the Year was the next award to be given out. Stapleton won the award making it his third time winning in that category. Female Artist of the Year went to Pearce and it was actually her first ACM win. In her speech, she shared, “This is all I have ever wanted to do in the world!” Continuing with, “Mom and Dad I did it!”
Singer, Kelly Clarkson, also made an appearance to pay tribute to the host herself. Clarkson gave a breathtaking performance of Parton’s song “I Will Always Love You”. Parton came out at the end of the performance to thank Clarkson and present the final award of the night. Entertainer of the Year was given to country icon, Miranda Lambert. It was the first time the singer had won the award, but unfortunately, she was unable to attend. The singer did send a video thanking her country music family and dedicating the award to girls who are singer-songwriters.
The night ended on a high as Brothers Osborne and Britney Spencer closed out the show with an electrifying performance of “These Boots are Made for Walkin”.
What did you think of the show? Let us know by either leaving a reaction below or by tweeting us at @CelebSecrets.
