2013 Country Music Association Awards
Country music stars arrives at the 47th annual CMA Awards at Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 6, 2013, in Nashville, Tenn.
Viewers who tuned in to watch the 47th Annual Country Music Association Awards, held Wednesday night in Nashville, might have confused the show with a roast of ObamaCare. Country music’s hottest stars had a bone to pick with the faulty Healthcare.gov website.
CMA Awards host Brad Paisley jokingly told his co-host Carrie Underwood that his back hurt and he needed to see a doctor. Underwood asked the singer if he had signed up for ObamaCare.
“ObamaCare, what’s that?” Paisley asked Underwood.
“Oh, it’s great!” Underwood quipped. “I started signing up last Thursday and I’m almost done!” The “Blown Away” singer proceeded to help her co-host sign up for ObamaCare and “join the six other people” who have reportedly signed up successfully for the healthcare service.
The routine had the Nashville audience clapping their hands to the tune of newly crowned entertainer of the year George Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning,” but with the words changed to “ObamaCare by morning/ Why’s this taking so long?/ I’m going to end up with hemorrhoids/If I sit here ’til dawn.”
The super star hosts also tried to settle the feud between Luke Bryan and Zac Brown who called Bryan’s new single “That’s My Kind of Night” the “worst song I’ve ever heard.” The two hugged it out while Carrie told them they had nothing to fight about. “You both made great records and you're both millionaires,” she sang to the tune of “Why Can’t We Be Friends.”
The CMA Award hosts did not stop there. Paisley thanked Swift not acting like her fellow pop star Miley Cyrus. He praised her for “not once humping a teddy bear or gyrating with beetle juice.” Underwood joked, “If someone in music today was going to be caught naked licking a hammer I think we'd all thought it'd be Blake Shelton.” The camera zoomed in on Shelton who nodded his head in agreement.
Next up was a surprise appearance by Willie and Jase Robertson of Duck Dynasty who were joined by their wives Missy and Korie to perform a redneckified version of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.”
While the Robertson clan twerked on stage, Underwood and Paisley switched up the words of Thicke’s song. “I'm going to grow a beard and go out hunting… 'Duck Dynasty' guys dance to Robin Thicke/We tried to get nasty talking 'Duck Dynasty.'”
The Robertson’s weren’t just onstage to show off their lack of dancing skills; they also gave out the first award of the night to duo Florida Georgia Line for single of the year for their hit song “Cruise.”
The country twosome shot to stardom this year after touring with both Luke Bryan and Taylor Swift on their respective tours. The pair also won vocal duo of the year and opened the show with Luke Bryan singing a medley of Bryan’s “That’s My Kind of Night” and their own “Cruise.” The two wins solidified the hip-hop country sound making its way into mainstream country music.
Perhaps the single of the year win will finally put “Cruise” to rest. The duo released the song in August of 2012.
Jason Aldean performed next followed by Kacey Musgraves and Lady Antebellum. Both Aldean and Lady Antebellum surprisingly went home with no awards for the second year in a row.
Musgraves didn’t walk away empty handed as she won the title of new artist of the year. However, the “Follow Your Arrow” singer displayed a face of disappointment as Miranda Lambert beat her out to win female vocalist of the year for the fourth time in a row.
Lambert’s hubby and fellow country singer Blake Shelton scored album of the year and male vocalist of the year.
Vocal group of the year was awarded to Little Big Town and beating out The Band Perry, who were inexplicably ignored yet again. The band of siblings won big at the 2011 CMA Awards but have yet to win any awards since.
Taylor Swift took home the pinnacle award given to those who take country music to a worldwide audience, though her “Red” album doesn’t have one bit of country twang to it.
Somber moments at the awards included a tribute to the late George Jones as well as an unusually serious Luke Bryan who sang his song “Drink a Beer” in memory of his brother and sister.
The highest honor of CMA entertainer of the year was given to veteran country singer Strait who announced his final tour this year. We tip our hats to the “King of Country.”
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