Country Music’s Biggest Night kicked off with birthday girl Miranda Lambert performing a melody of her greatest hits on the CMA stage at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville last night. Luke Bryan hosted the 55th Annual CMA Awards and was interrupted by his American Idol co-judges Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. Later on, they helped appropriately introduce newcomer Gabby Barrett, who was on the 16th season of the singing competition show. Barrett was nominated for four awards. She performed a slowed-down rendition of "The Good Ones" featuring a string quartet.
Other showstoppers included Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood, who sang the duet “If I Didn’t Love You” for the first time together on stage; Brothers Osborne sang “Younger Me,” which member T.J. wrote after he came out nine months ago; Mickey Guyton, Brittney Spencer and Madeline Edwards gave an emotional performance of Guyton's "Love My Hair," a song she wrote about embracing her natural hair; and Jennifer Hudson, who made her CMA debut alongside Chris Stapleton. They both brought down the house with some of Aretha Franklin’s country repertoire.
As for winners, New Artist went to Jimmie Allen; Old Dominion took Vocal Group of the Year; Female Vocalist of the Year went to Carly Pearce, and Luke Combs scored Entertainer of the Year. Chris Stapleton swept the night, taking home six awards. He won for Male Vocalist of the Year as well as Album, Single, and Song. All for his Starting Over album and its title track. In two of the categories, he won twice for his dual roles as producer and singer-songwriter.
