"Love Wins." At least it did for Carrie Underwood at Wednesday night's CMT Awards at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. She was the night's only multiple award winner as her clip for that song took home Female Video of the Year and Video of the Year.
The other big winners of the night included Kane Brown's "Lose It," which was named Male Video of the Year; Zac Brown Band's "Someone I Used to Know," which earned the Group Video nod and Dan and Shay's "Speechless," was was named Duo Video of the Year.
As is the case at most awards shows these days, performances far outnumbered the awards, with 22 performances during the two-and-a-half hour show, while only eight awards were presented.
Hosts Little Big Town declared the event the official kick-off party of the summer and promised the show would be “bigger and better than ever.” Indeed it was.
Zac Brown had a bone to pick when he and his band accepted the trophy for Group Video of the Year. He thanked CMT, their fans and Shawn Mendes, but he also said, “For you young artists, have courage to stand up against the machine, be yourself, work hard, and one day you can stand up here and tell all the haters to [bleep] off.”
Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild took a moment to make a bit of a statement about the lack of women on country radio. “Last week, there were only two female artists on the Country Airplay Top 20,” Karen said. “Back in December, it was even worse. There were none.” She added, “Here’s my question, ladies in the house: What do we have to do to get some airplay around here.”
Then Kimberly, who had been wearing a cowboy hat, declared, “I know what we need to do. We need a mullet.” Pulling off her hat, she revealed her blonde curls were replaced with a mullet wig. “Business in the front, party in the back, power on the chart,” Kimberly said.
Performances
- Thomas Rhett, Little Big TownandTrombone Shorty - “Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time”
- Kane Brown- “Short Skirt Weather”
- Jordan Davis- “Take It From Me”
- Zac Brown Band- “Someone I Used to Know”
- Tenille Townes- “Somebody’s Daughter”
- Brett YoungandBoyz II Men- “Here Tonight”
- Luke Bryan- “Knockin’ Boots”
- Toby Keith- “That’s Country Bro”
- Toby KeithandCole Swindell- “Beer For My Horses”
- Kelsea Ballerini- “Miss Me More”
- Jimmie Allen- “Best Shot”
- Little Big Town- “The Daughters”
- Keith Urban- “We Were”
- Runaway June- “Buy My Own Drinks”
- Maren Morris- “Shade”
- Sheryl Crow, Maren Morris - “Prove You Wrong”
- Morgan Wallen- “Whiskey Glasses”
- Dan and Shay- “All To Myself”
- Brandi CarlileandTanya Tucker- “Delta Dawn” (joined byDeana Carter, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Carly Pearce, Lauren AlainaandRaeLynn)
- Carrie Underwood- “Southbound” (shot at Nashville’s Parthenon)
- Mitchell Tenpenny- “Drunk Me”
- Luke Combs- “Beer Never Broke My Heart”
Winners
- Female Video of the Year: - Carrie Underwood- “Love Wins"
- Collaborative Video of the Year- Keith UrbanfeaturingJulia Michaels- “Coming Home”
- Duo Video of the Year-Dan and Shay- “Speechless”
- Breakthrough Video of the Year- Ashley McBryde- “Girl Goin’ Nowhere”
- Group Video of the Year- Zac Brown Band- “Someone I Used to Know”
- Performance of the Year -Luke CombsandLeon Bridges- “Beautiful Crazy”
- Male Video of the Year- Kane Brown- “Lose It”
- Video of the Year - Carrie Underwood - "Love Wins"
Photos: Getty Images