Country Music Awards?

OK, I'll admit right off the bat that I didn't watch the 2009 CMA Awards. Why? Mostly because my husband refused to watch it. I would have been open to watching it, but the hubby can't stand the current state of country music and would have just screamed at the television all night long. So to avoid a shoe through our TV, we just skipped it. Unfortunately, my true love wasn't able to hide from it for long.

The next morning he said, "Baby, do you know who won Entertainer of the Year on the CMA's? Taylor f-ing Swift! What the f*ck! She doesn't even sing country music!" That was promptly followed by, "And do you know who won Best New Artist? Darius Rucker! Are you kidding me? Not only is he not new, he's NOT country! What the hell is going on?" Good question. What the hell is going on, Country Music?

Taylor Swift is cute and sweet and innocent, and we all feel sorry for her because Kanye West was a douchebag and ruined her moment in the spotlight, but her Entertainer of the Year award would have made a lot more sense if the win was at the Pop Music Awards. Can someone please tell me exactly what about her music makes it country? It doesn't even resemble country music. There's no twang. There's no pedal steel. There's no fiddle. Being a pretty girl with blond, curly hair and an acoustic guitar shouldn't automatically put you in the country music slot (although most of the time it does). I don't think she can sing to save her life (just from the live performances I've seen), and I can't quite figure out how she became the country music phenomenon that she did. Perhaps I could wrap my mind around it if she was this big in the pop music scene. Oh no wait....she is.

You know it's bad when a country music legend is ripping you apart. George Jones made it known in an interview with the Associated Press that he wasn't too happy with the likes of Taylor Swift and her blond peers, "They've stolen our identity. They had to use something that was established already, and that's traditional country music. So what they really need to do, I think, is find their own title, because they're definitely not traditional country music." Ouch! When George Jones doesn't like you, what do you do?

And then there's Darius Rucker. He made the ol' switcheroo to country music and won that crowd over because the pop music world was done with him. I didn't like him in Hootie and the Blowfish, and surprise, surprise...I don't like him now. Perhaps his music has a little more twang than Ms. Swift's, but I don't think he's quite as impressive as everyone seems to think he is.

It just floors me that there were other, more talented people who were nominated that were passed up so these two could go home with awards. Even if you don't like country music, you would have been impressed with the performance from the Zac Brown Band. They did a rendition of the Devil Went Down to Georgia that could rip your face off. Anyone could appreciate the pure musicianship of these guys. They can sing, play amazingly well and put on one hell of a show. Now there's a band that deserves to win New Artist of the Year! But did they even win one award? Nope. At least they were nominated. Sigh.

The only highlights from this award show? Jamey Johnson won, and deserved to win, Song of the Year and Kenny Chesney didn't win anything.

Look, if you like Taylor Swift and thinks she's super duper talented and think she's the greatest singer in the world, then great. All I'm saying is that title would work better over there with the pop singers, not mingled in with real, great country singers like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn or Patsy Cline. Taylor Swift couldn't even come close to those ladies on her very best day.