54th Annual Country Music Association Awards | |
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Date | November 11, 2020 |
Location | Music City Center, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
Hosted by | Reba McEntire Darius Rucker |
Most awards | Maren Morris (3) |
Most nominations | Miranda Lambert (7) |
Television/radio coverage | |
Network | ABC |
Viewership | 7.1 million |
The 54th Annual Country Music Association Awards were held on Wednesday, November 11, 2020, at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee and was hosted by CMA Award winners Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker. [1]
Darius Rucker is the second African-American male to co-host the award show after Charley Pride, who co-hosted the 1975 ceremony.
On October 22, the CMA announced that Pride would be the recipient of the 2020 Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. [2] It would be Pride's last public appearance before his death that December. [3]
On November 9, following the announcement that two of the artists (Lee Brice and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line) originally scheduled to perform on the CMA Awards had tested positive for coronavirus, the CMA released a statement to Entertainment Tonight explaining that "We have been extremely diligent with our testing process in advance of anyone entering our footprint. Every single person has been tested, and many will be tested repeatedly throughout the week. This is in addition to wearing PPE and of course practicing social and physical distancing. We have an incredible show planned and look forward to bringing the country music community together. However, our number one priority has been and will continue to be the safety of our artists, our crew and our staff. That will never be compromised." [4] [5]
In order to mitigate the likelihood of spreading coronavirus during the ceremony, only the nominees, their staff, guests and the crew were allowed into the venue and the traditional red carpet did not take place. Longtime CMA producer Roger Deaton confirmed to The Tennessean that the show would incorporate both live and pre-recorded performances (with around 60% being performed live) and that multiple stages throughout the venue would be utilized in order to account for how each stage must be fully cleaned and sanitized by crew members following a performance, taking about fifteen to twenty minutes. Seating arrangements for the attendees were designed to strictly adhere to social distancing guidelines, with a banquet-style layout akin to the inaugural untelevised CMA Awards wherein an artist and their guests each have their own table which is spaced eight meters apart from the other tables. [6] After Pride's death, speculation arose that he may have caught the virus from an asymptomatic carrier at the ceremony who had gone undetected. [3]
The nominees were announced on September 1, 2020 by Luke Combs and Carly Pearce on Good Morning America as well as by Ingrid Andress and Gabby Barrett on the CMA YouTube channel. [7] [8] The eligibility period for the 54th CMA Awards was from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. [9]
Winners in Bold.
Award | Recipient [10] |
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International Country Broadcaster Award | Ben Earle |
Jo Walker-Meador International Award | John Esposito |
Jeff Walker Global Country Artist Award | Ilse DeLange |
The first wave of performers were announced on October 29, 2020, followed by the second wave on November 5. [11] [12] [13] [14]
On November 8, 2020, Lee Brice was forced to pull out of performing his multi-nominated song "I Hope You're Happy Now" with Carly Pearce after testing positive for coronavirus. Charles Kelley from Lady A was later announced to be performing Brice's part alongside Pearce. [15] On November 9, Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line revealed that he had also tested positive, resulting in the duo's performance of "Long Live" being cancelled, with their slot being given to Kelsea Ballerini who was originally not scheduled to appear. Both Brice and Hubbard received their positive test results before entering CMA rehearsals. [16] Jenee Fleenor also tested positive for COVID-19 and her part in the Charlie Daniels tribute was given to Dan Hochhalter, the fiddle player in Dierks Bentley's band. Ahead of the awards, Lady A announced that, while the band themselves had all tested negative, a member of their immediate family had tested positive and they had made the decision not to attend the show, therefore not appearing alongside Thomas Rhett and Darius Rucker as planned. Kelley's performance with Pearce had been pre-recorded and aired as part of the show. Rascal Flatts also did not perform "Bless the Broken Road" after a member of the band tested positive. [17]
Charley Pride later tested positive after the show, an infection that later proved fatal. It is under investigation how Pride caught the virus. [3]
Presenter(s) | Award |
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Bobby Bones | Single of the Year |
Taylor Hill | Song of the Year |
Lauren Akins | New Artist of the Year |
Dierks Bentley | Vocal Duo of the Year |
Lauren Alaina and Patrick Schwarzenegger | Vocal Group of the Year |
Jake Owen | Album of the Year |
Charles Esten | Female Vocalist of the Year |
Sara Evans | Male Vocalist of the Year |
Darius Rucker and Reba McEntire | Entertainer of the Year |
CeCe Winans introduced Darius Rucker & Reba McEntire's performance.
On July 30, 2020, Garth Brooks announced that he wants his name to be permanently out of contention for Entertainer of the Year. [20] After he won the 2019 Entertainer of the Year award, it caused a social media firestorm; many fans and artists believed Carrie Underwood or Eric Church deserved to win the award over Brooks. Brooks stated that after the last win, that it was "not that fun, to tell you the truth." As he absorbed the backlash after the November awards show, Brooks said, he couldn't shake the sentiment expressed in one of the tweets he read: "It said, 'Hey man, this guy, why doesn't he step down and just [leave] the entertainer for the next generation?'" He said he realized that taking his name out of the running was his only way forward. The timing of his announcement came just two days before the second round of voting begins for the annual awards, "I'm very grateful for the time that I've got to go [win]," he said, but now, "somebody else needs to hold that." According to a statement released July 30, 2020 by the Country Music Association, "The long-standing CMA Awards rules do not allow individuals to remove themselves from the balloting process at any point."
In 2021, Brooks restated that his position on receiving a nomination for Entertainer of the Year still stands.
Singer Margo Price was critical of the awards after the CMA released a statement stating that the show would feature "no drama, just music" promising to help the audience "forget the weight of the world for just a little while". Price tweeted her anger stating that "once again, the CMA’s are censoring/white washing their show but who’s surprised? anyone still participating is a socially unconscious pawn. Artists pander woke authenticity when it benefits them and then sit in silence as they collect their plastic trophies. Also the music sucks". She additionally criticized the lack of diversity as "appalling" and the fact that the event included a live audience by stating that "covid cases are at an all time high and the CMA’s are holding an event INSIDE where they censor what you talk about if it doesn’t fit their narrative". [21] [22] Many articles however pointed out that the CMA's statement did not mention anywhere that they would censor artists and was simply a piece of promotion and was not, in fact, directed towards the artists or performers at all. The CMA released a response to the criticism stating that: “we look forward to an evening of incredible music and celebration at next week’s CMA Awards. While our intentions with our social campaign was to communicate to our fans that the show will offer a brief escape, we recognize that our phrasing did not convey that message. We welcome every artist’s right to express themselves.”. [23]
After airing, the CMA Awards received criticism from artists Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires for failing to mention John Prine who had passed away in April following complications from COVID-19 as well as Billy Joe Shaver and Jerry Jeff Walker who both died in October, with Isbell noting that he and Shires had returned their CMA membership cards in protest. A statement from Prine's label Oh Boy Records read "we're disappointed John won't be a part of the CMA award show tonight. Country music was both the inspiration and foundation for his songwriting and performing. While there may be a number of artists who have had more commercial success than John, there are very few who achieved more artistically". [24] [25]
Charley Pride, the 86 year old recipient of the 54th CMA's Lifetime Achievement Award, died on December 12, just weeks after attending the ceremony in what would be his final public appearance. A statement released by Pride's family explained that the star had died of complications from COVID-19 which launched speculation that he may have caught it at the ceremony, with several stars including Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Rissi Palmer and Mickey Guyton demanding answers from the CMAs. A joint statement released by the CMA and Pride's representatives stated "Charley was tested prior to traveling to Nashville. He was tested upon landing in Nashville, and again on show day, with all tests coming back negative. After returning to Texas following the CMA Awards, Charley again tested negative multiple times. All of us in the Country Music community are heartbroken by Charley’s passing. Out of respect for his family during their grieving period, we will not be commenting on this further." While it was noted that Pride was the only attendee to test positive following the awards and that he made the decision to attend in-person and accept his award, the controversy persisted, Pride's longtime manager and bass player Kevin Bailey released a statement defending the CMAs explaining that "U do know that Charley tested negative twice after he came back from Nashville, and it may have even been three times. My understanding is that when Charley went into the hospital, we thought he had pneumonia. Somebody decided to do another test, and then they put him in the COVID unit. Every precaution was taken. I think it’s unfortunate that people are out there crusading to stir up some mud. Because I really don’t think the CMAs were negligent in any way. Every time we darkened the door, we got tested." [26]
Charley Frank Pride was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Records. During the peak years of his recording career (1966–1987), he had 52 top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 30 of which made it to number one. He won the Entertainer of the Year award at the Country Music Association Awards in 1971 and was awarded a Grammy for "Best Country Vocal Performance, Male" in 1972.
Darius Rucker is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Carolina along with Mark Bryan, Jim "Soni" Sonefeld, and Dean Felber. The band released five studio albums with Rucker as a member and charted six top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Rucker co-wrote most of the songs with the other members of the band.
The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony features performances and award presentations by popular country music artists, with occasional appearances from pop and rock artists. The CMA Awards were first presented in 1967, and televised for the first time the following year.
Kenneth Mobley Brice Jr., known professionally as Lee Brice, is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Curb Records. Brice has released five albums with the label: Love Like Crazy, Hard to Love, I Don't Dance, Lee Brice. and Hey World. He has also released eighteen singles, of which eight have reached number one on Billboard Country Airplay: "A Woman Like You", "Hard to Love", "I Drive Your Truck", "I Don't Dance", "Rumor", "I Hope You're Happy Now", "One of Them Girls" and "Memory I Don't Mess With". He has also charted within the top 10 with "Love Like Crazy", "Parking Lot Party", "Drinking Class", and "That Don't Sound Like You". "Love Like Crazy" was the top country song of 2010 according to Billboard Year-End, and broke a 62-year-old record for the longest run on the country chart.
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