First, congratulations to the Country Music Association for a great show. The table settings in front of the stages was a throwback salute to the first CMA awards show. A friend of mine who was there in 1967 recalled the afterparties and bar-hopping that took place after that first show. There would have been some great stories last night if not for the Covid pandemic. Still, it was a great concept. I loved watching the various artists at their tables get into the various performances. It was nice to see country music artists supporting each other like that.

The first thing I look for at these awards show is how long does it take for them to present the first award. Again, congrats to the CMA. By my unofficial time, the first award was presented about 10 minutes into the show and the second award was presented about 22 minutes after the show started. I’ve timed other shows and, frankly, was discouraged to wait up to 25 or 26 minutes before the first award was presented.

Congratulations to all the winners. I thought each was deserving in their categories and I have no complaints about their acceptance speeches. Eric Church’s first win for Entertainer was so appropriate and his speech was among the best and among the most hopeful. So, too, was Luke Combs’ acceptance speech for Male Vocalist, as well as Maren Morris’ for Female Vocalist.

Best performance? Hard to pick one because they were all so good, but if pressed I’d go with Gabby Barrett & Charlie Puth’s rendition of her hit “I Hope.” They both had an intensity at times that really sold the song and sounded great together.

Eric Church’s comment about this year being a year of loss capped a show that paid fitting tribute to some of that loss. The tributes to Charlie Daniels, Kenny Rogers, Mac Davis and Joe Diffie were spot on. BTW, I understand the “In Memoriam” section of the official program for the show lists about 103 industry people who have passed away this year.

(with Old Dominion, pre-Covid)

It was nice of the CMA to recognize and pay tribute to the 40th anniversary of the “Urban Cowboy” movie. 1980 was great year for country music in feature films and “Urban Cowboy” was the biggest of the bunch. That film had a huge impact on the country music industry and that impact to pop culture and even became a lifestyle for many people for many years after. To see Mickey Gilley singing along to Old Dominion’s excellent cover of Johnny Lee’s “Lookin’ for Love” with Johnny sitting next to Mickey was a treat. BTW, the last concert I went to before Covid was on February 24 to see Old Dominion in Kitchener, Ont. And another BTW: I met and interviewed Johnny many times in the 1980’s and even sang “Lookin’ For Love” with him at Lulu’s Roadhouse in Kitchener (along with a few other people from the audience Johnny had picked to join him onstage for the song). ICYMI, Ashley McBride’s cover during the Charlie Daniels tribute was the song “Texas” which was the Charlie Daniel song that played over the opening credits of “Urban Cowboy.”

(Johnny Lee leading us on “Lookin’ For Love”)

A few other random notes:

-in addition to Lee Brice and Florida Georgia Line having Covid canned their performances, Rascal Flatts also had to pull out of the show due to a band member testing positive for the virus;

-Lady A also had to pull out of the show because an “immediate family member” had tested positive for the virus (Charles Kelley, subbing for Lee Brice, and Carly Pearce had pre-recorded their performance of “I Hope You’re Happy Now’);

-and for those who noticed co-host Reba McEntire’s new boyfriend, actor Rex Linn, in the audience, you may not know they have nicknames for each other… “Tater Tot” and “Sugar Tot.”

Overall, it was a very good show. The only thing missing that would have made it perfect, IMO, would have been, at the very least, a mention of this year’s inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. So, I’ll give Hank Williams Jr., Marty Stuart and Dean Dillon props here that they should have had on the show.