The 2009 Country Music Association awards have been handed out and all that is left to talk about are the winners and the show itself. A new princess has been crowned , Taylor Swift has become the first woman since 1999 to win the coveted Entertainer of the Year and the youngest to ever be nominated.

The show opened with Taylor Swift performing her latest hit Forever and Always. Depending on which side of the fence you sit on with Taylor, she was either too provocative or it was just a performance. At the end of the song she threw a chair and slide down a pole. Personally I didn’t see anything wrong with the performance other than the sound, as usual during a broadcast, was off.

Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, the hosts of this years show, came out and did a montage of songs that the words had been changed on to reflect some of the happens in the past year, most notably the incident at the VMA’s between Taylor Swift and Kanye West.

The first award of the night was Single of the Year that was presented to Lady Antebellum by Kid Rock for I Run to You. Daruis Rucker came out to perform Alright and was introduced by Brad and Carrie.

Song of the Year was presented by Kellie Pickler and Jake Owen to Jamey Johnson, James Otto and Lee Thomas Miller for In Color. This award is always presented to the songwriter/s. White Liar was the next performance by Miranda Lambert and introduced by Carrie Underwood. Brad then came out to sing Welcome to the Future.

The Zac Brown Band was next up to perform and did a remake of The Devil Went Down to Georgia. George Strait was the next performer with his latest single Twang. Brad was back out to introduce Lady Antebellum singing Need You Now. Patricia Heaton and Neal Flynn, of ABC’s The Middle, came out to present the award for Vocal Group of the Year to Lady Antebellum.


Brad introduced Carrie Underwood singing Cowboy Casanova. The next award was the Best New Artist presented by The Judds to Darius Rucker who was so excited to receive the honor even if he came over from a successful career in pop music. The first vocal event of the night was the next item on the agenda and it was Vince Gill and Daughtry performing Tennessee Line.

Little Jimmy Dickens then came out during a bantering session between Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and did a take off on Kanye West’s interruption of Taylors acceptance speech on the VMA’s by saying she had the best video and “you go girl”. Brads reaction to the interruption was that the security was so good that they let a 4’9”, 88 year old man through to disrupt the show. Brad and Carrie then introduced Keith Urban to perform Til Summer Comes Around.


Tim McGraw was the next artist out to perform Southern Voice. This was his first appearance on the show in 4 years. Carrie Underwood then came out and spoke about the troops and their importance to our country and the camera panned over to the special section that was reserved for service personnel to enjoy the show. Carrie then introduced Sugarland to sing Keep You.



Randy Houser and Robin Roberts came out to present Album of the Year to Taylor Swift. The Musician of the Year award was presented off the air to Mac McAnally. Brooks & Dunn made their final appearance as a duo and sang Honky Tonk Stomp with special guest Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. Jamey Johnson and Kid Rock then came out to sing Jennings & Jones. Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr and Julianne Hough came out to talk about the Camaro that was being signed by the country artists and a group of Nascar drivers that was being donated to the USO for auction, they then presented the Vocal Duo of the Year to Sugarland. Love Story by Taylor Swift was the Music Video of the Year. Taylor Swift then made a second appearance to perform Fifteen.

LeAnn Rimes came out to present the award for Male Vocalist of the Year to Brad Paisley. Jason Aldean came out to perform Big Green Tractor. Roy Clark, Charlie McCoy and Barbara Mandrell were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Martina McBride came out to sing Barbara’s hit I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool with Charlie McCoy playing harmonica and George Strait came out to sing with Martina. Carrie introduced Reba to perform Consider Me Gone. Billy Currington came out to sing People are Crazy. Female Vocalist of the Year was presented by Lee Ann Womack and Kris Kristofferson to Taylor Swift.

The second musical event of the evening was Kenny Chesney and Dave Matthews singing I’m Alive. Brad Paisley and Keith Urban were awarded the Musical Event of the Year award for Start a Band. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw then came out to present the Entertainer of the Year Award to Taylor Swift.