45th ACM Awards Give CBS Much Needed Ratings Boost
Awards shows are traditionally considered as crowd drawers. Nowhere is this notion truer than in the country music scene; in fact, one of the big nights of the industry, The Annual ACM Awards, recently concluded its 45th Annual Show marked by high ratings. With almost 14 million viewers tuned in to the night’s proceedings, the awards show gave CBS a much needed ratings boost in the highly competitive primetime slots.
Aside from the great musical performances coming from artists who perform their hit country songs along with other guest performers, the annual event has been known to attract country music’s biggest stars, adding glamour to the whole event. This year’s event was hosted by the divine Ms. Reba McEntire who has held the hosting duties for a record 12 times. At the same time, the announcement of this year’s winners sent the country music blog universe abuzz because of some historic feats achieved by winners such as Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, and Miranda Lambert.
Garnering his fourth consecutive Top Male Vocalist of the Year Award, Paisley now has the sole distinction of being the only artist to win three or more consecutive honors in that category. Meanwhile, bagging the Album of the Year Award for “Revolution,” Lambert became the first solo female artist to ever win two Album of the Year awards (she previously won the same award for “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” during the 2008 awards show. Finally, not only did Underwood become the seventh female artist to win the much coveted Entertainer of the Year Award, she was given the Triple Crown Award for having won the Awards for Top Female Vocalist, Top New Female Vocalist, and Entertainer of the Year, cementing her spot not just as a country music blog darling but also one of the best artists of her generation. Other top winners for the night included Lady Antebellum, winning five awards, including Single Record of the Year and Song of the Year (as artists and composers) and the Top Vocal Group Award.
Of course, the 45th Annual ACM Awards would not have been complete without the amazing performances of the scene’s reigning crop of artists belting out country songs that only they know how. This year, the awards show opened with the winning combination of Underwood and Lambert who did a duet on the 40-year-old Creedence Clearwater Revival rock hit, “Travelin’ Band.” The number was made even more memorable when they were joined onstage by fiddler Charlie Daniels and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Fogerty who composed the song. Another surprising number came from Lambert who gave a stripped down rendition of her song “The House That Built Me.” Her performance surprised everyone she is known for her fiery numbers and rocking country songs.
This year also marked the farewell ACM performance of beloved country duo, Brooks and Dunn. The fans even got to vote for which song the duo will play, and the winning song was unveiled when the duo performed “My Maria.”
The 45th Annual ACM Awards was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and was aired live on Sunday, April 18, 2010 over at CBS.
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