Country and Latin Awards
I watched neither the 41st annual "Country Music Association Awards" show Wednesday night nor the eighth annual Latin Grammys Thursday night. Fortunately, others did!
Chet Flippo at CMT.com thinks the Writers Guild of America strike may have had the unintended consequence of highlighting the 20 live performances at the CMA Awards. Flippo praises performances by Miranda Lambert, Alison Krauss, Jennifer Nettles, and Little Big Town. The evening's winners included Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, and Taylor Swift. However, Flippo notes a dearth of tradition in the proceedings: "I saw a belated fly-by salute to Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Vince Gill, Mel Tillis and Ralph Emery. Dwight Yoakam, in what I wonder was done by his insistence, gave a fitting tribute to the late Hall of Famer Porter Wagoner. But there was no mention at all of another Hall of Famer who had died the day before, the great Hank Thompson."
For a more irreverent take on the show, check out Idolator's real-time version of the event:
8:05 p.m. Miranda Lambert singing "Gunpowder and Lead," one of my favorite songs of the past year, and looking kind of like she just flew in from a Cheryl Tiegs convention. Like, on the wing of whatever plane she was traveling on.8:07 p.m. Yay, Miranda. Your album deserves to sell more!
Alas, no one seemed to be live-blogging the Latin Grammys in Las Vegas, where Dominican star Juan Luis Guerra walked away with five trophies for album of the year, record of the year, song of the year, best merengue album, and best tropical track. Pick up Guerra's "La Llave de Mi Corazon" if you're curious about what all the fuss is about.