AUTHENTICITY INTACT
AT THE CMA AWARDS

Chris Stapleton and Jennifer Hudson performed a medley of “Night Life” and “You Are My Sunshine.”

It was a good night for country music. With Chris Stapleton taking six awards—Song and Single for “Starting Over,” Album of the Year and Male Vocalist, plus two more for co-producing the Album and Single with Dave Cobb—at the 55th annual Country Music Association Awards, it was a sweep that suggested deep talent still matters in a genre that’s spent the last several years as a high-octane bro-country fest.

A purveyor of a steamy soul-country that is as much Macon or Muscle Shoals, the incredibly humble songwriter hearkens back to a kind of country that was less about machining hits and more about scraping one’s guts to arrive at a truth that makes people pause.

That same commitment to raw honesty carried Carly Pearce to her first Female Vocalist and Brothers Osborne to their fourth Duo. For Pearce, whose marriage of less than a year derailed, and TJ Osborne, who came forward as gay, those truths informed their Album of the Year nominees 29 and Skeletons, respectively.

Jimmie Allen, who spoke of spending his last $100 to come to the CMA’s 50th anniversary show to see Charley Pride, sleeping in his car, being discovered at Puckett’s Grocery by manager Ash Bowers and working whatever job to get by, took home Best New Artist. In addition to his well-deserved win, he turned in a Michael Jackson-evoking performance of “Freedom Was a Highway.”

Kelsea Ballerini, with fellow East Tennessean Kenny Chesney, picked up Vocal Event and Video of the Year for “Half of My Hometown” pre-telecast. The pair found a connection with CMA voters by mining the life, risk and price paid for chasing the dream of music.

Still, the winner of Entertainer of the Year was Luke Combs, who hit the scene four years ago like a hurricane. A songwriting force who watched nine co-writers have their first #1 hits, Combs arrived as a Music Row outsider and connected with fans in a way that has made him a massive streaming and sales star. Clearly stunned when Alan Jackson called his name after invoking Merle Haggard, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and more, Combs stumbled through his speech, visibly moved by the honor and joking, “I’ve never made a speech for something like this, and clearly, it’s not serving me now.”

In a year of much turbulence, the 2021 CMA Awards leaned hard into finding higher ground. Diversity was abundant, whether bringing forward women or uniting different factions. The opening Miranda Lambert medley was feisty and full-tilt; Gabby Barrett's “Good Ones” and Jennifer Hudson’s showstopping gospel take on Willie Nelson’s “Night Life” with Stapleton melted into “You Are My Sunshine”; and Faith Fenniday, the young girl sent home for her braids, was honored when she introduced Mickey Guyton with Brittney Spencer and Madeline Edwards for their performance of “I Love My Hair.”

Beyond four-time Vocal Group Old Dominion’s feel-good “I Was on a Boat That Day,” Dierks Bentley brought out metal/hip-hop/'90s-style country force HARDY and BRELAND for the life-affirming “Beer’s on Me.” With Brothers Osborne offering acceptance of being gay with “Younger Me,” redneck living from Blake Shelton’s “Come Back As a Country Boy,” Combs delivering his truth about music “Do It Anyway” and Eric Church burning through “Hearts on Fire,” passion was on full display.

After a second year of disrupted touring, Morgan Wallen’s drunken racial epithet, the CMA’s inclusion initiative and a focus on developing Black artists—including arena-sized headliner Kane Brown, who shared “Famous Friends” with traditionalist Chris Young—this year’s winners suggested a return to talent, honesty and a kind of country that was rooted more in actual country music than hip-hop/pop. As Female Vocalist nominee Ashley McBryde helped rescue “I Don’t Want to Be That Girl” duet partner Pearce, overcome by her Female Vocalist win and unable to speak, the spirit of being in it together was dominant. Finally managing to get something out, Pearce explained, “This is all I ever wanted... Country music saved my life at a time when I really needed it.”

To see people care so deeply, to respond without self-consciousness or concern, shows country music still has its authenticity intact. From Combs’ stammering and Stapleton's “running out of words” to Pearce, Guyton and Gabby Barrett joyously introducing Lambert, it was all the feels. Every year should be so profound.