I felt strangely disconnected from last night’s CMA Awards.

Maybe it’s because I think Brad Paisley is a great guitar player but only a B level songwriter.  Maybe it’s because I believe in the Beatles, and no matter how great some of those George Strait records are, I can only believe in him so much because he didn’t write them.  Maybe it’s because all those males wore cowboy hats, even though I don’t think any of them ride the range on a regular basis.

There was just too much artifice.

And Shania Twain looked exactly like what she was.  A woman escaping from marital discord that she didn’t foresee.  She was lacking some victorious dominant element.  That superstar quality that Mutt Lange imbued in her.  With his masterpieces concocted of hooks overlaid with sheen.  Yes, she was lacking the sheen.  And if she’d written all those hits herself I might be looking forward to new material, but I know Mutt’s the genius.  Just ask Def Leppard.  With him they’re the most successful band in the world.  Without him, they’re journeymen.

Kid Rock tried, but either the mix was wrong or his voice was blown.

Miranda Lambert played acoustically, but sans feistiness…there just isn’t the same magic.

As for Taylor Swift, I loved her once, but those days are through.  Everybody applauding her high school drama performances is delusional.  Last year with the water, this year with the costume change?  What’s that got to do with music?

And that’s what bugged me.  The music.  It was just too formulaic.

And then came the Eagles.

Talk about a mismatch.  It would be like Stevie Wonder closing a Jonas Brothers show.  Illustrating the roots, where it all came from, but the performance being lost upon the assembled multitude.

And unlike last year, the Eagles were rehearsed, the mix was right, but the song was never a hit.  Yet the lyrics packed a punch absent from all the other numbers.  George Strait won because he saw God, what a cheap shot.  Don Henley was singing about real life.

That’s what our stars used to do.  They used to tell us about us.  By exploring the fringes, the limits, delivering insight that eluded us.