The 50th Annual ACM Awards took place on Sunday night, live from Dallas, Texas. The broadcast’s average audience was 16,000,000 viewers- the awards’ best showing since 1998. If you missed the awards, here’s what you missed!
Almost two years after suffering a stroke, Randy Travis made a surprise appearance and received a standing ovation when Lee Brice acknowledged the country icon.
Although Taylor Swift may no longer be in the country genre, the ACMs honored the global superstar with a Milestone Award that was presented to her by her mother, Andrea, who had a moving speech leading up to the presentation. She said, “I’d like to thank the ACMs for honoring her in this way. But I’d also like to thank the entire music community for taking such good care of her.”
Other stars who walked away with Milestone Awards included Garth Brooks, Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Reba, and Brooks & Dunn.
Before the ACM Awards, Guinness World Records honored Miranda Lambert as she held the world record for most consecutive ACM Awards for Female Vocalist of the Year with five straight. Oh, and then she broke her own record, as Miranda took home the trophy for the sixth consecutive year!
Miranda also took home awards for Song of the Year and Album of the Year.
While Miranda may have been nominated for Entertainer of the Year, she did not win it as Luke Bryan won the fan-voted award for the second time. And although Luke won Entertainer of the Year, he was not the Male Vocalist of the Year as that award was taken home by Jason Aldean, marking the Georgia native’s third straight year in winning the award.
Lee Brice beat out some stiff competition for the Single Record of the Year award, which he won for ‘I Don’t Dance.’ Another stiff competition was for the fan-voted New Artist of the Year award and Cole Swindell’s Down Home Crew came through to send him home with the award over Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett.
Despite being nominated for Vocal Event of the Year, Tim McGraw and his wife Faith Hill were noticeably missing from the ACM Awards. Why did the two superstars miss out on Country Music’s Biggest Party? Faith Hill’s new movie, Dixieland, was making it’s premier at the Tribeca Film Festival and Tim decided to be there in support of his wife. Smart move, Tim.
Florida Georgia Line were awarded the the ACM for Vocal Duo of the Year as well as Vocal Event of the Year (along with Luke Bryan) for ‘This Is How We Roll.’ The duo also performed on Sunday night with a performance of ‘Sippin’ on Fire.’
Although Garth Brooks did not walk away with the Entertainer of the Year award, he did put on an amazing and patriotic performance of ‘All American Kid.’
Throughout the night, we saw a few collaborations like Nick Jonas and Dan + Shay, Rascal Flatts and Christina Aguilera. But our favorite performance of the night was from Dierks Bentley as he performed ‘RISER’ on the ACM Awards Stage.
Another phenomenal performance, despite the controversy outside of the confines of AT&T Stadium regarding the song, was the Vocal Group of the Year winning Little Big Town with ‘Girl Crush.’
Oh, and one of the hottest acts in country music, and one that is VERY popular with the ladies, Sam Hunt… he brought his mom as his date. How awesome is that!?
What was your favorite part of the ACM Awards? Favorite performance? Least favorite? Let us know in the comments below.