Nothing says country music more than Cheap Trick. But then again, at the CMT awards on Wednesday, the legendary Illinois power-pop band played with Billy Ray Cyrus, whose own country music credentials are questionable, so does it really matter?
The CMT awards are the third country music awards show this year and the overlap is already showing. In April, the Academy of Country Music awards culminated in a brooding performance of Humble and Kind by Tim McGraw who performed surrounded by a multi-ethnic, multiracial cast of people tasked to illustrate global harmony. On Wednesday, McGraw, the song, and a similar crop of people – this time on video provided by Oprah Winfrey – appeared a second time. Other performances from Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line were reruns too.
What made this show different from the ACMs and American Country Countdown awards in May is that fans are the ones voting and the awards are primarily focused on music videos. There were also fewer them – just seven in the three-hour show. That included a new award, #SocialSuperstar of the Year, designed to honor “artists who are pioneering social media as a tool to regularly interact with fans through a multitude of platforms and apps”, that actually had nothing to do with music. Blake Shelton picked up the hardware on that one, but even he couldn’t pretend it didn’t seem farcical.
“CMT’s social superstar? That’s not what I was going for, but what the hell? I mean, I like to have a few drinks and get on Twitter every now and then. But I didn’t know you could get paid for that,” he said. “See kids, there’s something for y’all to strive for.”
Musically the show went much farther than its predecessors in showing that mainstream country music wants to be everything and anything to whoever will buy in. Besides the requisite line-up of familiar stars and hot up-and-comers, performances were stocked in unusual pairings. It’s difficult to imagine the thought behind resurrecting a hack like Cyrus, disguised behind a Wolfman Jack beard and sunglasses, in a duet with Cheap Trick. On Surrender, Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander had to feed Cyrus lyrics as he wailed, while on Don’t Be Cruel, Cyrus attempted an Elvis Presley impression – bloated-era Elvis, which considering the result was highly appropriate.
The night continued like that. Pitbull appeared to perform Messin’ Around, which includes a snippet from that classic country ballad, REO Speedwagon’s Take It on the Run. Pharrell, who played percussion behind Little Big Town on the Latin-tinged One Dance, also chimed in.
Because the show was broadcast from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, there was also a healthy dose of arena country. Carrie Underwood performed a literal version of Church Bells, joining a black-robed church choir that upped the revelry to the rafters. On the other side of the spectrum, Keith Urban delivered banjo-driven power rock but the song was stymied by the awkwardness of newcomers Maren Morris and Brett Eldredge. But the lowest point in the exercise was when newcomer Cam teamed with Fifth Harmony. It’s true – there were five of them. And once or twice they tried to harmonize. But otherwise, this nasal-pitched, finger-wagging quintet had remarkably unremarkable vocal chops.
Balancing moments like that were more subdued performances that relied more on songwriting and expressive vocal strength than musical theater grandiloquence. Dierks Bentley and pop singer Elle King, playing banjo, joined in a duet of the moody ballad Different For Girls, while Chris Stapleton performing Parachute included Willie Nelson harmonica player Mickey Raphael.
Underwood won the most hardware, for female video of the year and CMT performance of the year. But was anyone counting? Even Shelton, CMT’s social media winner of the night, didn’t bother to mention his award on Twitter.
