Country stars hum winning notes

Country music royalty turned out in force on Sunday for a glittering night of live performances and honours at the 54th annual Academy of Country Music awards. Host Reba McEntire, marking a record 16th time in the job, wasted no time in addressing one of the evening’s touchy subjects — the lack of women nominees in some top categories.

Noting recent snow in Las Vegas, where the awards were held in a live, performance-heavy broadcast, McEntire quipped, “It was so cold it froze us women out of entertainer of the year.” Grammy award album of the year winner Kacey Musgraves was glaringly absent from the all-male nominees top category. Musgraves took home both the album of the year and female artist of the year awards.

Rousing performance

Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line opened the show with a rousing performance of Can’t Hide Red, but some on social media took offense to Tyler Hubbard’s American flag suit, branding it a “disgrace” besmirching a sacrosanct national symbol.

Dan + Shay scored three straight early wins, for song of the year and single of the year for Tequila, also winning duo of the year. Male artist of the year went to Thomas Rhett. The star-laden three-hour show marked an upbeat return to celebrating country music after last year’s awards assumed a sombre note following the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, where 58 people were killed at a country music festival. Other A-list country stars performing included Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Urban, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, McEntire and George Strait. — Reuters

Keith Urban wins, thanks Nicole 

 

Country singer Keith Urban won ACM Entertainer of the Year Award and thanked his “Baby girl” Nicole Kidman and their daughters. The singer took home the top award of the night, winning over fellow nominees Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Chris Stapleton and Jason Aldean. As the Australian singer took the stage, he received a standing ovation from the audience, including wife and actress Nicole Kidman, whom he thanked as he made his acceptance speech. 

“Thank you so much. Baby girl, I love you so much,” Urban said as Kidman, whom he’d kissed numerous times before collecting his prize, looked on lovingly. “My team, thank you every one of you. To the fans out there, you are amazing. You have no idea what you mean to me. No idea,” added Urban, who went on to thank his and Kidman’s daughters, Sunday Rose, 10, and Faith Margaret, 8. “Baby girl, I love you and our girls, Sunday and Faith, who are at home watching right now,” Urban added. This marks the first time that Urban, 51, has earned the title, despite nine nominations in the category since 2005. IANS

from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2G6cnpw
via Today’s News Headlines