51st Annual Country Music Association Awards

The 51st Annual Country Music Association Awards, commonly known as the 51st CMA Awards, was held on November 8, 2017, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee and was hosted for the tenth time by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.

51st Annual Country Music Association Awards
Date	November 8, 2017
Location	Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Hosted by	Brad Paisley Carrie Underwood
Most awards	Chris Stapleton (2)
Most nominations	Miranda Lambert (5)
Television/radio coverage
Network	ABC
Viewership	14.3 million
← 50th · CMA · 52nd →

The nominations were announced on September 4, 2017, on Good Morning America by Lauren Alaina, Dustin Lynch, and Brothers Osborne.^[1][2]

Winners and nominees

Note: The winners are shown in Bold.

Entertainer of the Year	Album of the Year
Garth Brooks Luke Bryan Eric Church Chris Stapleton Keith Urban	From A Room: Volume 1 — Chris Stapleton The Breaker — Little Big Town Heart Break — Lady Antebellum The Nashville Sound — Jason Isbell The Weight of These Wings — Miranda Lambert
Male Vocalist of the Year	Female Vocalist of the Year
Chris Stapleton Dierks Bentley Eric Church Thomas Rhett Keith Urban	Miranda Lambert Kelsea Ballerini Reba McEntire Maren Morris Carrie Underwood
Vocal Group of the Year	Vocal Duo of the Year
Little Big Town Lady Antebellum Old Dominion Rascal Flatts Zac Brown Band	Brothers Osborne Dan + Shay Florida Georgia Line LoCash Maddie & Tae
Single of the Year	Song of the Year
"Blue Ain't Your Color" — Keith Urban "Better Man" — Little Big Town "Body Like a Back Road" — Sam Hunt "Dirt on My Boots" — Jon Pardi "Tin Man" — Miranda Lambert	"Better Man" — Taylor Swift "Blue Ain't Your Color" — Clint Lagerberg, Hillary Lindsey, Steven Lee Olsen "Body Like a Back Road" — Zach Crowell, Sam Hunt, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne "Dirt on My Boots" — Rhett Akins, Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley "Tin Man" — Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall
New Artist of the Year	Musician of the Year
Jon Pardi Lauren Alaina Luke Combs Old Dominion Brett Young	Mac McAnally, Guitar Jerry Douglas, Dobro Paul Franklin, Steel Guitar Dann Huff, Guitar Derek Wells, Guitar
Music Video of the Year	Musical Event of the Year
"It Ain't My Fault" — Brothers Osborne "Better Man" — Little Big Town "Blue Ain't Your Color" — Keith Urban "Craving You" — Thomas Rhett and Maren Morris "Vice" — Miranda Lambert	"Funny How Time Slips Away" — Willie Nelson and Glen Campbell "Craving You" — Thomas Rhett and Maren Morris "Kill a Word" — Eric Church and Rhiannon Giddens "Setting the World on Fire" — Kenny Chesney and P!nk "Speak to a Girl" — Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

Special Recognition Awards

The CMA Special Recognition Award recipients were announced on 4 April 2017.^[3]

Award	Recipient
International Country Broadcaster Award	Bob Harris
Jo Walker-Meador International Award	Rob Potts
Jeff Walker Global Country Artist Award	The Shires
International Artist Achievement Award	Carrie Underwood
Wesley Rose International Media Achievement Award	Richard Wootton

Performers

^[4][5]

Performer(s)	Song(s)
Eric Church Lady Antebellum Darius Rucker Keith Urban Brooks & Dunn Reba McEntire Little Big Town Thomas Rhett Garth Brooks Luke Bryan Kelsea Ballerini Tim McGraw Faith Hill	Tribute to the Victims of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting "Amazing Grace" "Hold My Hand"
Thomas Rhett	"Unforgettable"
Dierks Bentley Rascal Flatts Eddie Montgomery	Tribute to Troy Gentry "My Town"
Kelsea Ballerini Reba McEntire	"Legends"
Luke Bryan	"Light It Up"
Miranda Lambert	"To Learn Her"
Garth Brooks	"Ask Me How I Know"
Brothers Osborne	Tribute to Don Williams "It Ain't My Fault" "Tulsa Time"
Tim McGraw Faith Hill	"The Rest of Our Life"
P!nk	"Barbies"
Old Dominion	"No Such Thing as a Broken Heart"
Little Big Town Jimmy Webb	Tribute to Glen Campbell "Wichita Lineman"
Chris Stapleton	"Broken Halos"
Maren Morris Niall Horan	"I Could Use a Love Song" "Seeing Blind"
Carrie Underwood	In Memorium "Softly and Tenderly"
Brad Paisley Kane Brown	"Heaven South"
Jon Pardi	"Dirt on My Boots"
Dan + Shay Lauren Alaina	"Get Together"
Keith Urban	"Female"
Eric Church Joanna Cotten The McCrary Sisters	"Chattanooga Lucy"
Alan Jackson	"Chasin' That Neon Rainbow" "Don't Rock The Jukebox"

Presenters

Presenter(s)	Award
Brittany Snow and Ruby Rose	Single of the Year
Bobby Bones, Karlie Kloss, Brett Young and Luke Combs	Song of the Year
Joanna Garcia-Swisher and Jason Ritter	New Artist of the Year
Tyler Perry	Album of the Year
Sugarland	Vocal Duo of the Year
Brett Eldredge, Dustin Lynch and Lea Michele	Vocal Group of the Year
Michelle Monaghan and Jimmie Johnson	Female Vocalist of the Year
Trisha Yearwood	Male Vocalist of the Year
Reba McEntire	Entertainer of the Year

Critical reception

The 51st Annual CMA Awards received 14.29 million viewers, the highest ratings since 2014 (which received 16.1 million. Among adults 18–49, the show received a 3.2 rating, up from the 2.9 rating of the previous year.^[6]

The ceremony was noted for its parody of political subject matter in awards shows, specifically in the opening monologue by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, who told jokes referencing both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.^[7] Paisley also performed a parody song about Trump's tweeting habits to the tune of Underwood's hit "Before He Cheats."^[8]

Underwood's performance during the in memoriam segment, in which she broke down crying, received acclaim, with many citing it as one of the best and most moving and emotional performances of the night.^[9][10][11] People.com referred to the performance as "heartbreaking," before describing how Underwood took to the stage to honor country music legends (such as Don Williams, Glen Campbell, Troy Gentry, and Jo Walker-Meador) and the 58 victims of the Las Vegas shooting.^[12] In addition, ET called Underwood's performance "beautiful" and "gorgeous," mentioning a statement made by Paisley at the opening of the show about coming together in the face of tragedy.^[13]

Garth Brooks, who won the prestigious Entertainer of the Year award, was heavily criticized for lip-syncing during his performance. Of his decision, Brooks stated that "we made a game-time call on whether to sing to a track or lip-sync and we decided to lip-sync it. My voice just isn't going anywhere, and we wanted to represent country music as best we can."^[14]

References

1. "Brothers Osborne, Dustin Lynch & Lauren Alaina to Announce Upcoming 51st CMA Awards on "Good Morning America"". Nash Country Daily. August 28, 2017.
2. "Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Little Big Town top nominees for 2017 CMA Awards". ABC News. September 4, 2017.
3. "CMA Announces 2017 International Awards Recipients - 2017 CMA Awards". 4 April 2017. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
4. "CMA Country Music Association". www.facebook.com.
5. Betts, Stephen L. (October 27, 2017). "Pink, Eric Church, Keith Urban Added to CMA Awards Performance Lineup". Rolling Stone.
6. "CMA Awards Win Night For ABC-TV With More Than 14 Million Viewers". November 9, 2017.
7. Fekadu, Mesfin (November 9, 2017). "This year's CMA Awards was one of its most political shows in years". Independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on November 9, 2017.
8. "Carrie Underwood And Brad Paisley Zing Trump At The CMAs". November 9, 2017.
9. Harris, Jake. "Gone Country: Miranda Lambert gets snubbed, silence is golden and Sturgill busks for the ACLU at the 2017 CMAs".
10. "CMA Awards highlighted by political, emotional moments". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
11. "Watch: Here's How the CMAs Honored Las Vegas Shooting Victims".
12. "Carrie Underwood Tearfully Honors Late Country Stars, Las Vegas Victims with Somber CMAs In Memoriam".
13. "Carrie Underwood Breaks Down During Emotional Musical Tribute to Las Vegas Shooting Victims".
14. "Garth Brooks admits lip-syncing at CMAs: 'My voice just isn't going anywhere'". USA Today.