THE PERFORMERS AND THE GALA
Martina McBride Gretchen Wilson
Dierks Bentley Keith Urban
BIGGEST AND BRIGHTEST OF COUNTRY MUSIC HONORED
AT “THE 38TH ANNUAL CMA AWARDS”
Kenny Chesney Awarded Entertainer and Album of the Year
NASHVILLE – The music community spread the honors around during “The 38th Annual CMA Awards” to the array of superstars and newcomers that have contributed to a stellar year in Country Music. "Country Music’s Biggest Night™” hosts Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn picked up their 12th Vocal Duo of the Year Award. The pair sang their upcoming single “It’s Getting Better All the Time” from their second Greatest Hits CD. Kenny Chesney picked up his first two CMA Awards with the coveted Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year for When the Sun Goes Down, which was produced by Chesney and Buddy Cannon. "I am so proud to be in Country Music,” Chesney said. “I love it with all my heart. I stay up at night thinking about how to make my show better. Thank y’all very much.” Kicking off the three-hour broadcast on the CBS Television Network was Entertainer of the Year nominee Tim McGraw, who performed the rocking “How Bad Do You Want It?” complete with pyrotechnics. McGraw’s No. 1 hit “Live Like You Were Dying,” a tribute to his late father Tug McGraw, won the CMA Award for Single of the Year. “The song came to me around Thanksgiving,” McGraw said backstage. “That’s when we sort of learned that Tug didn’t have a chance. We cut the song three weeks later and it wasn’t sad. It was something special.” “Live Like You Were Dying” also nabbed the Song of the Year Award for songwriters Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman, which was the first CMA Award for the tunesmiths. “I want to have Tim McGraw’s baby,” joked Wiseman. Nichols added, “The day Craig and I wrote this song, it started like it was any other day, now its been like no other day.”
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