What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where the CMAs are better than the VMAs?<\/p>\n
One in which the big winner is an MTV castoff, considered to be too old and too unhip for the mainstream.<\/p>\n
No, I’m not talking about Taylor Swift, I’m talking about Hootie!\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, Darius Rucker!<\/p>\n
He may have only won Best New Artist, but he won the evening, he was the only award winner to get a spontaneous standing ovation, for not only his achievement, but the sincerity and honesty of his acceptance speech.<\/p>\n
Darius was the anti-Kanye.\u00c2\u00a0 Without going all Uncle Tom, he spoke of acceptance by the community.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Nashville and country radio are really going to embrace a faded black rocker from South Carolina?\u00c2\u00a0 And he thanked his wife and three kids.\u00c2\u00a0 For being understanding while he was gone, on the road, trying to earn a living.\u00c2\u00a0 And believe me, that’s what it takes.\u00c2\u00a0 Show me a divorced country singer and you might find evidence of infidelity, but the true breaking point was the absence, the lack of contact, as the performer traipsed around the country, in much less glamorous circumstances than the public believes, hawking himself and his music, just to stay in the game.\u00c2\u00a0 And Darius thanked Doc McGhee.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t it fascinating that Bon Jovi’s old manager had Nashville success with a rocker with one tenth the footprint of his old client and Bon Jovi failed miserably in the country sphere?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe because Darius Rucker seemed to play by Nashville’s rules.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than just add a banjo, he focused on songwriting, telling stories, not looking to crash the party so much as gain entrance.<\/p>\n
And for all the flash on the VMAs, isn’t it honesty and human emotion that truly sells music?\u00c2\u00a0 Whilst the rappers are beating us over the head, telling us how great they are, in Nashville you lead with your music.\u00c2\u00a0 Mr. Rucker played by the rules and won.\u00c2\u00a0 A heartwarming story.<\/p>\n
And although hokey, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood were great hosts.\u00c2\u00a0 Made me wonder whether musicians should act, play roles, read lines at all, but they made the most of it.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than being wooden, they played along with the script, almost seeming to exist outside of it.\u00c2\u00a0 To the point where you felt like members of your family were on stage performing.\u00c2\u00a0 And stunningly, since they seem to fail in every awards show in which they’re used, their comedy songs were actually funny, and endearing.<\/p>\n
The performances?<\/p>\n
Too many acts were hyping their next single as opposed to the hit fans wanted to hear.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead of being a celebration, it was a marketing opportunity.<\/p>\n
And then there were strange choices.\u00c2\u00a0 Why did Zac Brown and his band perform "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"?\u00c2\u00a0 I expected Charlie Daniels to come out on stage.\u00c2\u00a0 But he didn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 At least not in the fast-forwarded images that flew by on my screen.\u00c2\u00a0 You couldn’t play "Chicken Fried" or "Toes"?<\/p>\n
And there’s something about Ronnie Dunn that just bugs me.\u00c2\u00a0 I guess it’s the hair most.\u00c2\u00a0 How much time and goop did you expend getting it to look like that?\u00c2\u00a0 And while I’m at it, what’s up with Kix Brooks’ porn star moustache?\u00c2\u00a0 Still, they truly rocked.\u00c2\u00a0 And my buddy Billy Gibbons sat in with them.\u00c2\u00a0 Although their regular guitarist got most of the licks.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is deserving, since he’s on the road and the band is expiring.\u00c2\u00a0 For how long?\u00c2\u00a0 Who knows?\u00c2\u00a0 You know the comeback is near…<\/p>\n
And speaking of comebacks…\u00c2\u00a0 How weird is Naomi Judd?\u00c2\u00a0 Hi-def makes those facelifts unmistakable.\u00c2\u00a0 And Wynonna, I feel for you, having that mother.\u00c2\u00a0 But can you spend a little less time in the tanning booth?\u00c2\u00a0 Or just have them spray on a lighter layer of brown\/gold?<\/p>\n
Tim McGraw needed a better song.<\/p>\n
Miranda Lambert performed better than when I saw her in that club, but "Gunpowder & Lead" was a scorcher, a "Tumbling Dice" with "Rocks Off" speed.\u00c2\u00a0 "White Liar" may be a single, but it’s an album track.<\/p>\n
And Carrie, you’re lovable, but can you release a different album?\u00c2\u00a0 The formula is so curdled, even a baby couldn’t swallow this milk.\u00c2\u00a0 How about a down and dirty record about how you really feel.\u00c2\u00a0 How about a little Loretta Lynn with the gloss.<\/p>\n
And speaking of rockers, Dave Matthews got a big ovation sitting in with Kenny Chesney.\u00c2\u00a0 Dave can’t get arrested on MTV, but he does boffo at the b.o., and his fans scooped up more of his new album than that of almost any MTV star.\u00c2\u00a0 Who’s the winner here? Certainly not the flavor of the moment on the VMAs.<\/p>\n
And it wouldn’t be a CMA Awards show without Kid Rock, who handled himself admirably.\u00c2\u00a0 But what’s up with the seventies sunglasses?\u00c2\u00a0 Are they coming back?<\/p>\n
And I like Lady Antebellum, but who could love them?\u00c2\u00a0 Their material is so bland.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of substandard Brewer & Shipley.\u00c2\u00a0 But credit Gary Borman.\u00c2\u00a0 He built them into award winners.\u00c2\u00a0 And Keith Urban is on a juggernaut!<\/p>\n
I guess you’re wondering how good the show could have been if I’m making these criticisms.<\/p>\n
Yes, too much of today’s country is formula, not exceptional.<\/p>\n
But at least they’re promoting songs.\u00c2\u00a0 Which you can sing along to, however evanescent they might be.<\/p>\n
And Taylor Swift is the entertainer of the year.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only in country, but America at large.\u00c2\u00a0 When you’re nineteen, and everybody tells you they love you, you’re gonna believe them.\u00c2\u00a0 But they’ll forget about you soon if you don’t keep working, keep delivering the hits.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the reality Hootie spoke of.<\/p>\n
And that’s the truth.<\/p>\n
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