Normally held in Las Vegas in April, The 2020 ACM Awards were pushed back to tonight with performances across three iconic venues in Nashville – The Grand Ole Opry House, The Ryman Auditorium, and The Bluebird Cafe. The show kicked off with performances by the 5 Entertainer of the Year finalists. The performances were:
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- Luke Bryan
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- Eric Church
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- Luke Combs
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- Thomas Rhett
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- Carrie Underwood
- Luke Bryan performing “Rain Is a Good Thing” at the Grand Ole Opry
- Eric Church performing “Drink In My Hand” at the Ryman Auditorium
- Luke Combs performing “When It Rains It Pours” at the Bluebird Cafe
- Thomas Rhett performing “It Goes Like This” at the Ryman Auditorium
- Carrie Underwood performing “Before He Cheats” at the Grand Ole Opry
There will be 24 performances total tonight including a special tribute to the women of country music.
Keith Urban
Keith Urban is hosting the show and welcomes viewers from around the world, talks about how fans can’t be there due to COVID-19. He then sent well-wishes out to those fighting the wild fires out west and those dealing with Hurricane Sally. He then talked about we are dealing with two pandemics – COVID-19 and social injustice. No jokes in tonight’s opening monologue.
Jimmie Allen performed “Make Me Want To” at the Bluebird Cafe.
Old Dominion
Old Dominion performed a medley of “One Man Band,” “Song for Another Time,” “Hotel Key,” and “Make It Sweet” at the Ryman Auditorium.
Clint Black
Time for the first award of the night, presented by Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black.
Duo of the Year
- Brooks & Dunn
- Brothers Osborne
- Dan + Shay – WINNER
- Florida Georgia Line
- Maddie & Tae
Luke Bryan
Luke Bryan is back to perform “One Margarita” at the Grand Ole Opry
Bobby Bones is out to give the next award.
Old Dominion
Song of the Year
- “10,000 Hours” by Dan + Shay w/ Justin Bieber
- “Girl Going Nowhere” by Ashley McBryde
- “God’s Country” by Blake Shelton
- “One Man Band” by Old Dominion – WINNER
- “Some Of It” by Eric Church
Kelsea Ballerini
Kelsea Ballerini was next on stage at the Ryman Auditorium to perform “Hole in the Bottle”
Runaway June was on stage next at the Grand Ole Opry to introduce a feature about the ACM Lifting Lives event that had to go virtual this year.
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert performed an acoustic version of her hit “Bluebird” along with her co-writers of the song at the Bluebird Cafe.
Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert “video-chatted” briefly about how she won Musical Event earlier this week. This was Lambert’s 35th ACM Award!
Morgan Wallen performed his hit single “Whiskey Glasses”
Model Lily Aldridge came out to present the next award:
Old Dominion
Group of the Year
- Lady A
- Little Big Town
- Midland
- Old Dominion – WINNER
- The Highwomen
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- Thomas Rhett
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- Jon Pardi
Thomas Rhett and Jon Pardi performed “Beer Can’t Fix”
Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani performed their new duet “Happy Anywhere” on a green screen somewhere outside of Nashville so they could make it look like they’re at the Bluebird Cafe. Might be in Los Angeles since they’re taping The Voice?
Carrie Underwood
Keith Urban introduced Carrie Underwood at the Opry who played a medley of hits to honor the Women of Country Music History. The songs included:
- “Crazy” by Pasty Cline
- “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)” by Loretta Lynn
- “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool” by Barbara Mandrell
- “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That” by Dolly Parton
- “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” by Reba McEntire
- “Broken Wing” by Martina McBride
Luke Combs
Luke Combs did a feature for Ford where they gave out guitars for the Guitars for Vets program. He then played his new single “Better Together” in honor of his new wife.
Tenille Townes, who won Best New Female Artist of the Year Award earlier this week, performed her single “Somebody’s Daughter” at the Ryman Auditorium.
Gabby Barrett performed “I Hope” at the Ryman Auditorium.
Dan + Shay
Dan + Shay performed “I Should Probably Go To Bed” at the Grand Ole Opry.
Riley Green gave a brief acceptance speech for his ACM Best New Male Artist Award that he won earlier this week, before performing “I Wish Grandpa’s Never Died” at the Ryman Auditorium.
Kane Brown performed “Worldwide Beautiful” with a chorus of singers stationed around the seats of the Grand Ole Opry.
Cam
Cam came out to announce the next award:
Single of the Year
- “God’s Country” by Blake Shelton – WINNER
- “One Man Band” by Old Dominion
- “Rainbow” by Kacey Musgraves
- “Rumor” by Lee Brice
- “What If I Never Get Over You” by Lady A
Maren Morris performed her new single “To Hell and Back”
Taylor Swift made her first appearance on the ACM Awards in seven years to perform her song “Betty” at the Grand Ole Opry.
Darius Rucker came out to present the next award:
Luke Combs
Album of the Year
- Center Point Road by Thomas Rhett
- Girl by Maren Morris
- Heartache Medication by Jon Pardi
- What You See Is What You Get by Luke Combs – WINNER
- Wildcard by Miranda Lambert
Keith Urban gave a “Get well soon” shout out to Blanco Brown due to his recent car accident before making the next introduction.
Eric Church
Eric Church came out to a recording of Johnny Cash’s “Ragged Old Flag” before performing his new single “Stick That In Your Country Song.”
Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw performed “I Called Mama” at the Bluebird Cafe.
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- Keith Urban
Mickey Guyton and Keith Urban performed “What Are You Going to Tell Her” at the Grand Ole Opry.
Keith Urban
Miranda Lambert introduced Keith Urban and P!nk for their new duet “One Too Many” – Keith Urban was at the Grand Ole Opry, while Pink appeared to have been somewhere else on a green screen.
Lauren Alaina
Lauren Alaina was out next to present:
Luke Combs
Male Artist of the Year:
- Dierks Bentley
- Luke Combs – WINNER
- Thomas Rhett
- Chris Stapleton
- Keith Urban
Cece Wayans came out next to present:
Maren Morris
Female Artist of the Year
- Kelsea Ballerini
- Miranda Lambert
- Maren Morris – WINNER
- Kacey Musgraves
- Carrie Underwood
Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood performed “I’ll Carry You Home” as a tribute for those lost in the country music world in the past year including:
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- Joe Diffie
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- Charlie Daniels
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- Kenny Rogers
- Earl Thomas Conley
- Harold Reid (Statler Brothers)
- Bob Kingsley
- John Prine
- Jimmy Capps
- Biff Adam
- Paul English
- Alex Harvey
- Sonny Curtis
- Bill Mack
- Jan Howard
- David Olney
- Gary McSpadden
- Joe Mansfield
- Kenny Dixon
- Dan Mitchell
- busbee
- Chuck & Jim Glaser
- Russell Smith
- Jay Frank
- William Pursell
- Joe Diffie
- Charlie Daniels
- Kenny Rogers
Florida Georgia Line
Florida Georgia performed a “I Love My Country”
The final award of the night, as given by Keith Urban, is a TIE!
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- Thomas Rhett
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- Carrie Underwood
Entertainer of the Year
- Luke Bryan
- Eric Church
- Luke Combs
- Thomas Rhett – CO-WINNER
- Carrie Underwood – CO-WINNER
The show closed with a montage video of several of today’s up-and-coming artists performing “On the Road Again” with Willie Nelson about how they can’t wait to get back on the road again.
So what did you all think of tonight’s show? Leave your comments on our social media platforms!
