Country Music People December 2019 | Page 4

country MUSIC PEOPLE News Walt Trott in Nashville Duncan Warwick in London DECEMBER 2019 Volume 50 Number 12 Issue 598 Editor Duncan Warwick Contributors David Allan, Janet Aspley, Donnie Ayers, Craig Baguley, Tony Byworth, Larry Delaney, Don Cusic, Julie Flaskett, Kelly Gregory, Michael Hingston, Stan Hitchcock, Tony Ives, Spencer Leigh, John Lomax III, Adrian Peel, Paul Riley, Alex Rossi, Wayne Smart, Chris Smith, Tom Travis, Walt Trott, Dave Watkins, Jack Watkins New release consultant: Steve Tidbury Assistant editor / Special projects coordinator Kelly Gregory Photographers Patricia Presley, Barry Dixon, Billie McAleer Printed by Micropress www.micropress.co.uk Distributor Seymour International Press Distributors Ltd. 2 East Poultry Avenue London EC1A 9PT Telephone [phone] Country Music People is published the last Thursday of each month by KICKIN’ CUTS LIMITED 24 Darley Close, Wittering, Peterborough PE8 6EQ, UK Telephone [phone] - 783689 [email protected] www.cmpcountry.com ©2019 Kickin’ Cuts Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means without the prior written permission of the Publisher. The Publisher accepts no responsibility for statement of fact or opinion expressed by contributors. The views of the contributors are not necessarily those of Country Music People or its editor. 4 cmp - DECEMBER 2019 T he 53rd CMA Awards took place on Novemeber 13th at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Ahead of the event taking place it was announced that the Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus collaboration on Old Town Road had won Musical Event of the Year and best music video had gone to Kacey Musgraves for Rainbow. With Brad Paisley sidelined and Reba and Dolly joining regular host Carrie Underwood, the theme was one of celebrating legendary women in country music. As such the evening kicked off with the three hosts being joined by Terri Clark, Sara Evans, Crystal Gayle, the Highwomen (Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires), Martina McBride, Jennifer Nettles, Tanya Tucker, and Gretchen Wilson for a medley of songs including Delta Dawn, Redneck Woman, and Independence Day. They dedicated it to a frail- looking Loretta Lynn who was in the audience. Later in the evening Little Big Town joined Kelsea Ballerini, Runaway June, Lindsay Ell, Maddie & Tae, Carly Pearce and Martina McBryde to sing the huge hit Girl Crush. Earlier, Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles had arrived on the red carpet in a custom Christian Siriano suit with a pink satin train and “Equal play” written on the back. She revealed a message to country radio written on the lining of the train saying. “Play our f*@#!in records. Please and thank you.” However, many were disappointed that it was not Carrie Underwood who collected the biggest trophy at country music’s biggest night but Garth Brooks who won Entertainer of the Year for the third time in four years. Willie Nelson didn’t seem in the best of health and unable to catch his breath during a performance with Kacey Musgraves. Following the broadcast of the show, many of the winners, especially those performing on the night, noticed a spike in sales with Billboard reporting that figures from Neilsen (Soundscan) showed that the night’s greatest beneficiary was Pink who performed her song Love Me Anyway with Chris Stapleton.