Roots, Toots n' Hoots Blog

American Country Awards: ho hum

Jeffrey Remz  |  December 7, 2010

I'll put it out there plain and simple. The first (at least I didn't hear the word annual being bandied about) American Country Awards didn't leave me bowled over.

It was awfully hard to get excited about yet another awards show less than one month after the Country Music Association awards from Nashville where the stars really came out in force.

The ACAs, which were fan voted for the most part, really seemed like second fiddle to me. Nothing against Trace Adkins, but he did not have the star power nor the firepower of Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. (actually Paisley's far better. He seems way more natural and spontaneous than Underwood). Was Adkins serious when he said at the outset he was bagging the monologue and tough luck for the organizers because they couldn't bag him mid-show.? At least, it came off natural, but it came off a bit hokey.

And when ventriloquist Jeff Dunham came out, the sound was all messed up (at least on my TV). Pretty lame to say the least. And he was corny to boot.

As for the awards, no dis meant of Underwood, but six awards? Ditto for Easton Corbin grabbing three. Lady Antebellum grabbed four, but they're having a great year. That's a ton of awards. I guess Underwood has a lot of highly devoted fans, but I would say it was surprising that Taylor Swift got shut out with Artist of the Year and Female Artist of the Year nominations.

What about the name? Does this mean Canadians and others are persona non grata? Sorry about that Shania Twain. You'll have to stay in Canada apparently.

Not sure if it was good or bad that the speeches were kept to a minimum. No one gets to go on for very long at these shows anyway as the music starts pretty quickly, but seeing winners launch into a song immediately after the announcement didn't quite seem right either. I mean you got to get pumped up about winning an award, and then instead of being to express yourself with thanks, you sing a song? That seemed like a bit of a disconnect there.

I will also publicly admit that I did not watch the entire show so maybe it got better as it went along. I had to go catch a concert and watched 50 minutes, almost half the show.

One journalist/tweeter, AskJimmyCarter from Nashville, wondered what the artists, record labels got in exchange for showing up to this. Could you imagine if Underwood was not there having won six awards? Apparently Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and a bunch of others didn't think it was worth it either.

Not to knock any of those who did show up, but this awards show just did not have the feel of an awards show that mattered. It's sort of like the CMT awards in June. They're okay for what they are, but not much than that.

The big one is the CMA followed by the ACMs and more awards shows does not make for a rising tide lifting all awards show. In fact, it's easy to argue just the opposite. Having more dilutes the honors.

Feel free to let me know what you thought at countryst@gmail.com