Sunday night, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas welcomed the who’s who of country music as they gathered to celebrate their own at the 49th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan returned as hosts for the second year (4th year for Shelton), making use of their good rapport to poke fun at each other and other musicians and try to replicate Ellen Degeneres’ #selfie success from The Oscars (they didn’t ‘break’ twitter). The hosts also performed along with other performances by Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley with Sheryl Crow, The Band Perry, George Strait, Lee Brice, Shakira, Lady Antebellum with Stevie Nicks, Miranda Lambert, Faith Hill & Tim McGraw and more.
Miranda Lambert was the night’s big winner, taking home both Single of the Year and Female Artist awards and sharing the Vocal Event award with Keith Urban. The night’s big talk came as county legend George Strait was awarded Entertainer of the Year, 25 years after his last win in the category and in the midst of his 2 year long farewell tour. The other winners of the night are:
Entertainer of the Year: George Strait
Song of the Year: I Drive Your Truck by Lee Brice, writers; Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington, Jimmy Yeary
Single Record of the Year: Mama’s Broken Heart by Miranda Lambert
Album of the Year: Same Trailer Different Park by Kacey Musgraves
Male Vocalist of the Year: Jason Aldean
Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
Vocal Duo of the Year: Florida Georgia Line
Vocal Group of the Year: The Band Perry
New Artist of the Year: Justin Moore
Video of the Year: Highway Don’t Care by Tim McGraw feat. Taylor Swift & Keith Urban
Vocal Event of the Year: We Were Us by Keith Urban feat. Miranda Lambert
ACM Crystal Milestone Award: Merle Haggard
For more of the social media fun find the #ACMs on Twitter @ACMAwards or Instagram @ACMAwards and Facebook.com/AcademyOfCountryMusic