53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards

53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards
53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards
Date	November 13, 2019
Location	Bridgestone Arena; Nashville, Tennessee
Hosted by	Carrie Underwood; Reba McEntire (Special Guest); Dolly Parton (Special Guest)
Most awards	Luke Combs; Kacey Musgraves (2 each)
Most nominations	Maren Morris (6)
Television/radio coverage
Network	ABC
Viewership	11.27 million

53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards were held on November 13, 2019, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.^[2] The ceremony recognizes some of the best country music released during the eligibility period. Carrie Underwood hosted the event with special guest hosts Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, celebrating legendary women in country music.^[3]

Background

"In addition to awarding the year's best and brightest in the genre, the 53rd Annual CMA Awards will celebrate the legacy of women within country music, and we couldn't think of a more dynamic group of women to host the show." said CMA CEO Sarah Trahern.^[4] For the first time in CMA history, women were nominated in every category, except Male Vocalist of the Year. However, when all was said and done, the sole female Entertainer of the Year nominee, Carrie Underwood, lost the top honor to Garth Brooks; upsetting fans and leading to Garth Brooks stepping down from the category the following year.^[5]

Winners and nominees

The CMA Awards nominees were announced live on Good Morning America by Jimmie Allen, Ashley McBryde, Midland and Morgan Wallen.^[6] For the 53rd CMA Awards, an artist must have released work in the eligibility period which ran from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019.^[7] On November 6, 2019, Kris Kristofferson was revealed to be the recipient of the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.^[8]

Winners were denoted in Bold.^[3]^[9]

Entertainer of the Year	Album of the Year
Garth Brooks Eric Church Chris Stapleton Carrie Underwood Keith Urban	Girl — Maren Morris Center Point Road — Thomas Rhett Cry Pretty — Carrie Underwood Dan + Shay — Dan + Shay Desperate Man — Eric Church
Male Vocalist of the Year	Female Vocalist of the Year
Luke Combs Dierks Bentley Thomas Rhett Chris Stapleton Keith Urban	Kacey Musgraves Kelsea Ballerini Miranda Lambert Maren Morris Carrie Underwood
Vocal Group of the Year	Vocal Duo of the Year
Old Dominion Lady Antebellum Little Big Town Midland Zac Brown Band	Dan + Shay Brooks & Dunn Brothers Osborne Florida Georgia Line Maddie & Tae
Single of the Year	Song of the Year
"God's Country" — Blake Shelton "Burning Man" — Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne "Girl" — Maren Morris "Millionaire" — Chris Stapleton "Speechless" — Dan + Shay	"Beautiful Crazy" — Luke Combs, Wyatt B. Durrette III, Robert Williford "Girl" — Maren Morris, Sarah Aarons, Greg Kurstin "God's Country" — Devin Dawson, Jordan Schmidt, Michael Hardy "Rainbow" — Natalie Hemby, Shane McAnally, Kacey Musgraves "Tequila" — Dan Smyers, Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynold
New Artist of the Year	Musician of the Year
Ashley McBryde Cody Johnson Midland Carly Pearce Morgan Wallen	Jenee Fleenor, Fiddle Paul Franklin, Steel Guitar Mac McAnally, Guitar Ilya Toshinsky, Banjo/Guitar Derek Wells, Guitar
Music Video of the Year	Musical Event of the Year
"Rainbow" — Kacey Musgraves "Burning Man" — Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne "GIRL" — Maren Morris "God's Country" — Blake Shelton "Some Of It" — Eric Church	"Old Town Road (Remix)" — Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus "All My Favorite People" — Maren Morris and Brothers Osborne "Brand New Man" — Brooks & Dunn and Luke Combs "Dive Bar" — Garth Brooks and Blake Shelton "What Happens in a Small Town" — Brantley Gilbert and Lindsay Ell
Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award
Kris Kristofferson

International Awards

Award	Recipient
International Artist Achievement Award	Kacey Musgraves
International Country Broadcaster Award	Baylen Leonard
Jo Walker-Meador International Award	Susan Heymann
Jeff Walker Global Country Artist Award	Travis Collins and Ward Thomas

Performers

Artist(s)	Song(s)
Dolly Parton Reba McEntire Carrie Underwood Jennifer Nettles Karen Fairchild Kimberly Schlapman The Highwomen Tanya Tucker Gretchen Wilson Crystal Gayle Terri Clark Sara Evans Martina McBride	Celebrating Women of Country "Those Memories of You" "You're Lookin' at Country" "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" "Delta Dawn" "Redneck Woman" "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" "Better Things to Do" "Born to Fly" "Independence Day"
Dan + Shay	"Speechless"
Miranda Lambert	"It All Comes Out in the Wash"
Reba McEntire	"Fancy"
Chris Stapleton Pink	"Love Me Anyway"
Old Dominion	"One Man Band"
Carrie Underwood	"Drinking Alone"
Luke Combs	"Beer Never Broke My Heart"
Kelsea Ballerini	"Homecoming Queen?"
Kelsea Ballerini Lindsay Ell Runaway June Maddie & Tae Ashley McBryde Carly Pearce Little Big Town	"Girl Crush"
Lady Antebellum Halsey	"What If I Never Get Over You" "Graveyard"
Brooks & Dunn Brothers Osborne	"Hard Workin' Man"
Maren Morris	"Girl"
Blake Shelton Jenee Fleenor	"God's Country"
Thomas Rhett	"Remember You Young"
Dolly Parton For King & Country Zach Williams	"God Only Knows" "There Was Jesus" "Faith"
Keith Urban	"We Were"
Dierks Bentley Sheryl Crow Chris Janson John Osborne Joe Walsh	Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award honoring Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Eric Church	"Some of It"
Kacey Musgraves Willie Nelson	"Rainbow Connection" "Rainbow"
Garth Brooks Blake Shelton	"Dive Bar"

Presenters

Presenter(s)	Award
Lara Spencer and Deana Carter	Single of the Year
Jennifer Nettles and Kristin Chenoweth	Song of the Year
Blanco Brown and Jim Gaffigan	New Artist of the Year
Jimmie Allen and Midland	Vocal Duo of the Year
Hannah Brown, Cody Johnson and Morgan Wallen	Vocal Group of the Year
Bobby Bones and Joe Walsh	Album of the Year
Trisha Yearwood	Male Vocalist of the Year
Janie Fricke, Kathy Mattea, Martina McBride and Pam Tillis	Female Vocalist of the Year
Reese Witherspoon	Entertainer of the Year

Notes

Carrie Underwood returned as host for her twelfth time; however, she was not joined by Brad Paisley for this year's show. Following the broadcast, Underwood announced that she would be stepping down as the host for the 54th CMA Awards.^[10]
Jenee Fleenor was the first female ever to be nominated for Musician of the Year and subsequently became the first female to win the award.^[11]
Kris Kristofferson was unable to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award in person because he had a prior commitment to play a show on the same night.^[12]

References

^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (2019-11-14). "CMA Awards Owns Wednesday Ratings; 'The Masked Singer' Hits Low Note". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
^ Whitaker, Sterling (October 23, 2019). "First 2019 CMA Awards Performers Announced: Carrie, Eric, Dolly + More". Taste of Country. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
^ ^a ^b "About | The 2019 CMA Awards - Wednesday, November 13th on ABC". 2019 CMA Awards | Wednesday, November 13 on ABC. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
^ Janes, DeAnna (2019-08-28). "Maren Morris Leads the Pack of 2019 CMA Awards Nominees". Oprah Magazine. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
^ Newman, Melinda (September 30, 2019). "The 53rd CMA Awards Preview: Carrie, Dolly & Reba Salute The Women Of Country Music". Billboard. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
^ "Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks among 2019 CMA Award nominees". Good Morning America.
^ Stecker, Liv (7 September 2022). "CMA Awards Voting: How Does It Work?". The Boot.
^ Betts, Stephen L. (November 5, 2019). "Kris Kristofferson to Receive Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Honor at CMA Awards". Rolling Stone.
^ "CMA Awards 2019: See who won big at country music's biggest night". CNN.com. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
^ "Carrie Underwood Won't Return as CMA Awards Host in 2020". Billboard.
^ Paulson, Matthew Leimkuehler and Dave. "CMA Awards 2019: Jenee Fleenor becomes first woman to win Musician of the Year". USA TODAY.
^ "Sheryl Crow & Dierks Bentley Lead Kris Kristofferson Tribute on 'Me and Bobby McGee' at 2019 CMA Awards". Billboard.

[1] Ramos, Dino-Ray (2019-11-14). "CMA Awards Owns Wednesday Ratings; 'The Masked Singer' Hits Low Note". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-08-22.

[PerformersTasteofCountry-2] Whitaker, Sterling (October 23, 2019). "First 2019 CMA Awards Performers Announced: Carrie, Eric, Dolly + More". Taste of Country. Retrieved October 24, 2019.

[cmaawards_2019-11-13-3] "About | The 2019 CMA Awards - Wednesday, November 13th on ABC". 2019 CMA Awards | Wednesday, November 13 on ABC. Retrieved 2019-09-04.

[4] Janes, DeAnna (2019-08-28). "Maren Morris Leads the Pack of 2019 CMA Awards Nominees". Oprah Magazine. Retrieved 2019-09-14.

[5] Newman, Melinda (September 30, 2019). "The 53rd CMA Awards Preview: Carrie, Dolly & Reba Salute The Women Of Country Music". Billboard. Retrieved October 24, 2019.

[6] "Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks among 2019 CMA Award nominees". Good Morning America.

[7] Stecker, Liv (7 September 2022). "CMA Awards Voting: How Does It Work?". The Boot.

[8] Betts, Stephen L. (November 5, 2019). "Kris Kristofferson to Receive Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Honor at CMA Awards". Rolling Stone.

[9] "CMA Awards 2019: See who won big at country music's biggest night". CNN.com. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.

[10] "Carrie Underwood Won't Return as CMA Awards Host in 2020". Billboard.

[11] Paulson, Matthew Leimkuehler and Dave. "CMA Awards 2019: Jenee Fleenor becomes first woman to win Musician of the Year". USA TODAY.

[12] "Sheryl Crow & Dierks Bentley Lead Kris Kristofferson Tribute on 'Me and Bobby McGee' at 2019 CMA Awards". Billboard.

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