Podcast - 2023 ACM Award Recap
The Academy of Country Music Awards were once again streamed on Amazon Prime Video. Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton hosted and we saw the next generation of country music claim the night's top prizes. Find out the biggest moments, surprising performances, and how the show fared compared to year's past.
Featured Artists: Lainey Wilson, Carly Pearce, Trisha Yearwood, Jelly Roll, Zach Bryan, Hailey Whitters, Keith Urban, and Miranda Lambert.
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Today we are talking all about the Academy of Country Music Awards. For the second year in a row, this is on the Amazon Prime video. The one really big downfall with it not being on a TV network is that not everybody streams, not everyone has fast-paced internet.
I actually ran into a huge technical difficulty myself. I had planned on live tweeting. I was all ready for the show, had the pre-show going, I don't do a lot of streaming, and I don't have a smart TV, but I do have an HDMI cord that just connects to your phone up to your TV.
It's always worked perfectly for me with anything that I do want to stream or watch, download, whatever, but for whatever reason, this live stream would not play. I could hear the audio, but I could not see anything. Tried multiple devices, phones, nothing would work. Went through the complete Amazon tech support, everything, every tutorial, just really nothing was going to make this appear. I had read somewhere that sometimes you have to have a different HDMI cord that will handle the live stream. So I did not get to watch the show on my TV like planned. I had to watch with my little phone right in front of me. I went back the other day and I re-watched the show to get the full effect.
And I got to say the video quality is so sharp. Everything looked really, really good. That stadium is massive. So these were in Texas. They moved from Vegas to Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. It's a huge stage, but I was really impressed with all the video screens, graphics, what they did to make that look visually stunning from the audience and on TV.
The show opened with Keith Urban. I wasn't sure. If we were hearing like a Don Williams song, it kind of had that “Tulsa Time” vibe with a little Peter Frampton thing going on. Apparently, this is a song that was on an album a few years ago. I was not familiar with that. The ACMs went big. The huge stadium, Garth, and Dolly.
This is the first time Garth has ever hosted an awards show. Dolly returns for another year. I remember when Dolly hosted back in, what was that, 2000? I think it was. She did such a great job. So good to see her again, like anytime Dolly's involved, you know it's gonna be a good time.
Banter was what you would expect with Dolly and Garth. Kind of poking fun at themselves, but all in all, who else is going to do a better job than Dolly and Garth? I think they really fit the mood of this show, which has always been a little bit more lighthearted and just everyone's there to have a good time. Probably one of my favorite things about this show was I loved seeing Randy Travis there.
He just looks so happy. There were several shout outs throughout the night to Randy Travis, but anytime that camera was on him, he just looked so happy and you could see just how much that music was bringing him a lot of joy. So back to the performances, Jo Dee Messina and Cole Swindell. They're kicking off the next round of performances and Jo Dee Messina, she is the star of that performance.
And guess what? She's still got the stage presence. Her vocals are incredible. Absolutely loved seeing her there. What I really love about these ACMs being streamed on Amazon prime video is that there are really no commercials. Everything is moving really fast. We've got our first award of the night.
It's song of the year. Kind of a surprise. “She had me at Heads Carolina.” That is the song of the year. To me, what I love is that the original songwriters, they are fully getting credited for this song. Tim Nichols was on stage, along with the other songwriters who created the updated version. But I really love this song being recognized so many years later.
Jo Dee Messina, she just deserves it. If I was Cole Swindell, I probably would have brought up Jo Dee Messina on stage. I know she doesn't technically get any awards for that, but it's her song. You should have brought her up there.
Up next, we've got Kane Brown performing his newest single, “Bury Me in Georgia.”
Kane Brown has a very well-deserved Entertainer of the Year nomination. Of the big award shows in country music - the CMAs, they're the more polished ones that are held in November. The CMT awards really try hard to create moments, especially this year with other genres and big statements. the ACMs, they've always tended to be just about the artist's latest music.
And it seems with the ACMs, you see some artists that you don't normally see at the other award shows, maybe some people who don't get nominated. But I've watched the ACMs all of my life, and they've just kind of been more laid back, more fun, and you get to see a lot of stars in one place.
And speaking of stars, we've got the reigning ACM Female Vocalist of the Year, Carly Pearce along with Trisha Yearwood.
They're teaming up and they do a medley of Trisha's songs. They do “Wrong Side of Memphis,” xxx’s and ooo's (An American Girl)”, and they close it out with “She's in Love with the Boy.” We have four performances on the show so far, and two of them have 90 superstars, which kind of brings another point that I wanted to make. I love all the country superstars from the 70s, 80s, 90s, early 2000s.
But one day, you know, we're going to have to stop relying on them to give us all these moments in the show. We’ve got to be bringing in other talent. We need to give some of these other artists some longevity, people like Jo Dee Messina, Trisha Yearwood, people are tuning in just for that. I feel like in the last 20 years, we've kind of just cycled through a lot of artists.
We had some really big artists, people who come to mind, Kip Moore, Joe Nichols, Josh Turner, Gary Allan, Julie Roberts, Gretchen Wilson, maybe even more recently Easton Corbin and Justin Moore. There's just a lot of artists who are still very, very active today, and I wouldn't necessarily put them in a legacy category because I think they're still too active in their careers to be considered that.
But start putting some of those artists in your shows because I feel like there is such a gap. In the heyday of the 90s, all these 90s stars they're singing with Tammy Wynette and George Jones. They're singing with their idols and then somehow, we have just completely like forgotten about this 2000, 2005, even up to 2010 era where we had some really good stars who were doing really big things in country music, but they all kind of got shifted away as a new crop of singers would come in.
I feel like there's a legacy there that we just don't really pay any attention to. I think there's an opportunity to incorporate some of those artists. Joe Nichols, for example, it would have been great to see him. He's got a song that is in, I think it's in the top 15, top 20 right now - “Good day for a living.” That would have been a cool moment for him to be at the ACMs. He was the top new male vocalist back in 2003 or 2004. And he's got a current song on the radio that's doing really well. That's a missed opportunity to me, but I've talked a lot in previous podcasts that it's so hard to build longevity in country music right now because it takes so long for singles to peak at radio.
Obviously, it takes a whole lot of money to do that, too. A good example of this might be Maddie and Tae. When it comes to radio, from their debut album, they had a couple of really big songs. Then they had “Die of a Broken Heart,” which took a really long time to get to number one, but it finally did. But we're not seeing consistency. Therefore, somebody like Maddie and Tae, they may not necessarily be the first people that come to mind when producers are putting together. These award shows they have the potential to change people's careers.
Now we've got the award for Duo of the Year that goes to Brothers Osborne. No surprise there!
We are up to Hardy. You will never ever ever convince me that song belonged on a country music award show. I know he is selling like crazy. He has sold-out shows all over the country. That is just not something I ever thought growing up in a time where we saw so much crossover music, I never thought I would see something like that at a country show.
Up next, we've got a performance from Bailey Zimmerman. His chart success is huge. Vocally, it's just really mediocre for me. Would have loved to have seen Zach Bryan perform. I did notice him sitting in the audience. Zach was awarded the top new male artist of the year. I would assume that he was probably invited to perform. I would think he would be, but maybe he didn't want to. Maybe he didn't think this was the right time and place, but I think one day we're going to see that big time moment on an award show for Zach Bryan. But it was cool to see him in the audience there. I know a lot of fans enjoyed seeing him there.
We've got Dolly and Garth in one of my favorite moments of the night. We got a little FaceTime video from Willie Nelson. Willie, he is such a treasure as is Dolly. And then that goes into the Cody Johnson performance. This is one of my favorite performances I've seen of the night. He sings “Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.” Really everything that I've ever heard Cody Johnson do is just always super country. It was a really good performance. His band is incredible. This was just one of the highlights of the night for me.
We're starting to get into some really good music here. Miranda Lambert, she gives us a moment. She performs “Carousel,” which is from her ACM-nominated album Palomino.
I don't know if I've ever seen Miranda in a more stunning performance. She really went for it all. The song is just so hauntingly beautiful. It's one of my favorites she's ever done. But the set design, the beautiful gown she was wearing, Miranda just continues to show us why she won Entertainer of the Year last year. And she just so deserving of that.
Next, we've got Tanya Tucker. She's there to present Single of the Year. And she gives us a little snippet of her brand new single that she's got out. Once again, this award goes to Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me at Heads Carolina.” This category probably could have gone to anybody. All those songs were huge this year. Anytime Jo Dee Messina is recognized, I'm all about it.
Hailey Whitters, she won for Top New Female Artist, and she gets to perform her current single, “Everything She Ain't.” I loved seeing her on stage. She's such a great performer. There was an audience shot where you see Caitlin Smith, Lily Rose, and I think Tigerlily Gold was in that shot, but they're all just standing up singing along and supporting Hailey. I love to see that bond between all these artists.
We've got Vocal Event of the Year that goes to Hardy and Lainey Wilson for “Wait in the Truck.” No surprise there.
We see Luke Combs perform his current single “Love You Anyway.” Then Ed Sheeran teams up with Luke Combs. And that song is definitely more country than a lot of stuff we hear on the radio. It's kind of a trend now for all these award shows - they want to have these big moments. They want to bring in superstar guests. They want to outdo the last award show. I think this was a perfect collaboration.
Ed Sheeran, huge, massive star. Luke Combs, the biggest country singer right now. It was a really great moment.
We saw the War and Treaty play the CMAs in November with Brothers Osborne. Now they're getting their solo moment here at the ACMs. These are godly, giant, amazing, every positive adjective in the world voices. This is soul stirring music. When you think of blending your influences and different genres, which you're going to be inspired by all kinds of things. I think this song and what War and Treaty did, it was the perfect mix of country, R & B, and soul. It felt very organic. Nothing was forced. The instrumentation is just so perfect, and I cannot wait to see what more they do in country music.
So Garth and Dolly, they do an in-memorial segment.
It was a beautiful moment hearing Dolly sing. Probably one of the best moments of the night. The only thing that I do have to be a little nitpicky about is that when they introduced the segment Dolly talked about Naomi Judd and Loretta Lynn - two people that she was close with in the business. But then at the bottom of the screen, it says “To view our complete in memorial list, go to this link.”
Like what trouble would it have been just to put a collage of those photos up on the screen. It would have taken nothing just to put those faces of those recognizable industry figures up on that screen that could have made it an even more powerful moment.
The passing of Naomi Judd and Loretta Lynn. Those were huge losses in country music, but there were also some very other significant losses from every generation of country music from every corner of the industry when it comes to songwriting, players, historians, we lost so many people, Mickey Gilley, Jerry Lee Lewis, those all come to mind. Jeff Cook from Alabama, the Artist of the Decade by the ACMs in the 1980s, no mention of him. One of my favorites, Jeff Carson, from the nineties - he won the ACM Music Video of the Year. Peter Cooper, who accomplished so much in his career. Bobbie Nelson. There's just so many artists that it would have been really touching to see just a little something.
The CMAs, they don't do in memorial segments. The Grammys didn't fully cover everybody this year, but everybody always talks about country music as a family. This is one of those times that a moment could have been made. And that's my little rant about that.
Back to Dolly Parton. She presents Female Artists of the Year to Lainey Wilson.
Fantastic speech. And she's one of the few artists to win this award with their first time being nominated.
We've got a performance from Jason Aldean. The ACMs have really favored him over the years. This song that he's performing it's called “Tough Crowd.” It reminds me a lot of Luke Bryan's “Country On” in terms of the concept, the cliches.
Next, we see the dream team of Ashley McBride, Caylee Hammack, Brandy Clark, and Pillbox Patti. I love this. Ashley is wearing a Terri Clark t-shirt. The Lindeville album - it's fantastic. We've also got John Osborne who produced the record; he plays guitar on this one. The freedom of streaming instead of network television is that they could perform this song without being censored. These ladies, they bring the truth. It was a great performance.
We've got Garth presenting the award for Male Artist of the Year. That goes to Morgan Wallen, who could not be there because he's on vocal rest.
Up next, we've got Jelly Roll. He brings Lainey Wilson on stage with him. Jelly Roll, he was not nominated for anything this year. In terms of his success, Jelly Roll is so big right now that you cannot have a country music event and not have him perform or be at it.
He's one of those artists that everyone is talking about. Then we get Lainey doing a solo performance. We get to see her in an up-tempo performance, and she really works the stage. I think if we continue to get really good music from Lainey Wilson and she brings this kind of stage presence, we are looking at a future entertainer of the year right here.
The ACMs know how to draw people in and keep them for the entire length of the show. Putting this Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson performance towards the end of the night. And then you've got Jordan Davis, whose brand new single is really good. It's called “Next Thing You Know.”
Album of the Year goes to Lainey Wilson. She is just sweeping the night.
Now we have the biggest moment of the night, Entertainer of the Year. And Trisha Yearwood, she's back to present this award. This was a surprise, but a really good surprise. Chris Stapleton, he took this award for the very first time. He's so deserving, and without a doubt, when people were voting, his national anthem performance was definitely fresh in their mind because not much time has passed between that performance and then the voting closing.
He represents country music so well, just a good person. He seemed pleasantly shocked to be receiving the award. And it was a really great way to close the show. Then we get Dolly. She debuts her first song from her upcoming rock album that we're going to get in November. Talk about a big performance. She pulls out all the stops in only the way that Dolly can.
That wraps up the ACMs.
The Pros: It moved fast. It flowed well. I think they took whatever hurdles they had last year, and they overcame them. Obviously, the last few years have been really difficult for every industry, every human in the world. But the ACMs in 2020, I think they had to move their show like twice and they had artists in different buildings in downtown Nashville. A lot of changes with those two shows in 2020 and 2021. Then last year their big move to Amazon. Last year's show did not live up to the hype that was previously known with the ACMs pre- 2020. CBS did not renew their contract. They had the lowest viewership that they had in years.
With their last show on CBS and award shows all across every type of entertainment, movies, and music, we've seen a sharp decline in those numbers over the years. Moving to Amazon was a move that they had to make. One of the reasons I think it's important is because it gives new artists opportunities to get in front of an audience that maybe had never heard of them before. I have not heard any numbers, demographics, anything like that, as far as the show yet, but a downfall with not being on a major network is that you might be missing out on a whole other audience. Maybe those people aren’t familiar with the new artists of the year, or they hear a song that their local radio station doesn't play.
If you want to watch it, you're going to find a way to watch it. That is what it comes down to. And people can go on Facebook, Twitter, and be little keyboard warriors and say, “You need to put this on network TV, cable TV.” But if you really wanted to watch it, you would find a way because I don't think streaming is ever going to go away.
I love seeing the show with no commercials. We're not dedicating three hours to a show, which is really nice. And I'm sure the artists love that just as much. In terms of production, it was a million times better than the previous year. The placement of the stage, having that one giant stage and then a smaller one out front, that worked so much better than having artists at the very top of the arena or in the back of the arena.
The audience coordination worked really well. It looked like a packed house, so they did a really great job on that end. And just the number of artists that you had participate this year, again, last year, you're still dealing with the effects of the pandemic. So not every artist is willing or can travel to these shows. People are making up for lost time out on the road, but we had a lot more artists participate this year, which was good to see. Again, I loved seeing Randy Travis, Jo Dee Messina, and Trisha Yearwood all be a part of the show. Growing up, I do remember a lot of the telecasts, they would have a current performer and they would be paired with a legendary artist.
I remember Patti Paige or Janie Fricke, they would be there alongside them and they would do a snippet of their song. It just always makes for a cool moment when you do things like that. I think incorporating stuff like that makes for a really great show. I think if the ACM continues with this level of production, I think they'll be fine.
I think it's important for the history of country music that this award show does keep going. Overall, some good performances within the two hours. And for the time being, the show is available on Amazon Prime if you have not seen it. But that's going to wrap up this episode. Be sure to follow me on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!