CMA Awards 2018: Keith Urban upsets, Chris Stapleton steamrolls

Keith Urban won his second Entertainer of the Year Award on Wednesday night at the 52nd CMA Awards, 13 years after he picked up his first trophy in the show's most prestigious category. 

"Baby girl, I Iove you so much," Urban said to his wife, Nicole Kidman. "I'm shocked beyond shocked. God, I thank you so much for the blessings of this. I wish my dad was alive to see this, but I think he's watching over me tonight."

Earning a win in the category more than 10 years since the last is rare — only Garth Brooks and George Strait can say they’ve done it. But Urban’s 2017-2018 was undeniable. Urban's "Coming Home," a duet with Julia Michaels, launched his critically acclaimed album "Graffiti U" this spring, and he's spent the months since selling out arenas around the country.

The night’s other top winners include Chris Stapleton, who — surprising even himself — won Single and Song of the Year for his “Broken Halos” and Male Vocalist of the Year. He used his Single of the Year acceptance speech to direct attention to the wildfire victims in California, dedicating the win to them.

“First, I’m going to say there’s so many great songs in this category, and they all should have won," Stapleton said when he won Single of the Year. "I wrote this song with my good friend Mike Henderson and wrote it about people who have gone on before their time.”

Country music’s biggest night had a few more of country music’s biggest upsets. Brothers Osborne took Vocal Duo of the Year for the third time and said they thought Dan + Shay was going to win.

"If this was in Florida, there would definitely be a recount," T.J. Osborne quipped from the stage. Backstage John Osborne said he'd prewritten the congratulatory tweet to Dan + Shay.

Kacey Musgraves, surprising herself, won Album of the Year for her critically acclaimed “Golden Hour.” 

“Dang, this is really, really crazy timing,” Musgraves said. “I just realized this morning that 10 years ago today that I moved to Nashville. We put everything we have into this, and it’s inspired by this beautiful universe and all of you.”

The 52nd CMA Awards were hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood — the hosting duo’s 11th time at the helm. The team frequently leans on current events for inspiration for their comedic dialogue. There’s not much to laugh about in news headlines lately, but the singers kept the night light with their popular parodies, by good-naturedly picking on their friends in the audience and laughing at each other. Paisley cajoled Underwood into admitting she was having another boy.

More:Carrie Underwood reveals the gender of her baby at CMAs

“Is it a Tim or a Faith … a Waylon or a Willie,” Paisley prodded. 

“It’s a Willie,” Underwood said with exasperation.

Luke Bryan kicked off the night with his new hit “What Makes You Country” and some of his up-and-coming country friends. Bryan swapped lyrics with three-time nominee Chris Janson, twice-nominated Luke Combs, Cole Swindell, Lindsay Ell, Ashley McBryde and Jon Pardi.

The collaboration was the first of many for the evening. Backed by a gospel choir, Stapleton, his wife, Morgane Stapleton, Maren Morris and Mavis Staples got people up and dancing with soulful performances of Stapleton’s “Friendship” and Staples’ “I’ll Take You There."

Paisley joined Keith Urban, Marty Stuart, John Osborne, bluegrass singer Sierra Hull and young fiddler Carson Peters for a tribute to freshly minted Country Music Hall of Famer Ricky Skaggs. Skaggs kicked off the picking party with his band Kentucky Thunder then joined Urban and Osborne on “Highway 40 Blues,” then Paisley, Stuart, Hull and Peters took over “Country Boy” — a segment that captivated the audience several minutes and ending in a standing ovation. 

More:CMA Awards 2018: Stars salute bluegrass artist Ricky Skaggs

“It was wonderful, an incredible rush to see (people standing up) for the bluegrass stuff,” Skaggs said. “I thought, ‘This is wild. It’s connecting with folks.' It’s a tribute to the music. It’s not a tribute to me. It was a tribute to the music they were hearing.”

In addition, Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean performed their chart-topper “Drowns the Whiskey,” Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne did a fiery version of their single “Burning Man,” and Florida Georgia Line and Bebe Rexha reminded the audience why their “Meant to Be” has been No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for 50 weeks. Lambert also joined her trio, Pistol Annies, for their new single “Got My Name Changed Back.” But it was a different collaboration that won Musical Event of the Year.
Kenny Chesney and David Lee Murphy took the trophy for “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” which was announced Wednesday morning before the awards show on "Good Morning America."

Chesney, who wasn’t at the show due to a death in his family, texted Murphy to tell him the news. It was Murphy’s first CMA nomination and first win.

Murphy said the text read: “Brother, we won it.”

“It was really special because we put a lot of time into this record,” Murphy continued backstage. “He had me out on tour this summer and really he believed in this record, and it is special we got the award for that reason.”

Other first-time winners of the night included Old Dominion, which took Vocal Group of the Year, and Combs, who won New Artist of the Year.

Combs, his voice breaking with emotion, thanked everyone who ever believed in him or inspired him.

"God, I love country music," he said, tearing up.

Underwood took a break from hosting to perform “Love Wins,” and she picked up her fifth win for Female Vocalist of the Year.

“Thank you, God," said Underwood, who started to cry. "I have been blessed with so much in my life, and every day (I'm trying) to figure out what I've done to deserve it. This means so much."

Given Underwood’s year, she was the odds-on favorite to win.

There also were several first-time performers at the 52nd CMA Awards. Dan + Shay harkened back to the CMA-nominated “Tequila” video for their performance of the multiplatinum chart-topper. Snow fell in the arena and the top of the piano was in flames as the men wowed the crowd with their nostalgic hit. Combs delivered his latest hit, “She Got the Best of Me,” and Midland memorialized Burt Reynolds, who died in September, with a period-perfect cover of “Eastbound and Down” from Reynolds' seminal “Smokey and the Bandit.”

In another first, Garth Brooks debuted his new ballad on the 52nd CMA Awards. Brooks had hinted at the surprise — a song written for wife Trisha Yearwood — but not even Yearwood had heard it. With just a guitar and a spotlight, Brooks brought his bride to tears with "Stronger Than Me."