CMA Awards Review: Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton Won The Night
We watch country-music awards shows to bob our heads and tap our imaginary cowboy boots to some catchy radio hits that, as often as not these days, sound more like 1980s soft-rock or 1990s hard-rock. We watch to see how many first-rate hardcore country acts will get passed over at trophy-time in favor of the likes of goofball novelty acts like Florida Georgia Line. We watch to hear some corny jokes, see some fancy dresses, and, maybe, if we’re lucky, a few minutes of excellent music.
In this context, Wednesday night’s CMA Awards were a shock. Hardcore-country hero Chris Stapleton winning best new artist, best male vocalist, and album of the year? Little Big Town getting rewarded multiple times for a song that fought to get played on country radio, the ethereally lovely “Girl Crush”? What was happening here? How had the CMAs suddenly had an attack of sanity?
Then came the moment that defined the night. The broadcast had been advertised as something like, “Tune in and see a bunch of pop stars collaborating with some country stars.” A standard network-TV ploy — trying to get viewers who don’t usually listen to country music to sit through an hour or two by putting some familiar pop faces onscreen. But no one could have anticipated the effect of having Chris Stapleton sing with Justin Timberlake.
They sang “Tennessee Whiskey” (from Stapleton’s album) and Timberlake’s “Drink You Away.” Show co-host Brad Paisley introduced them by saying we would hear “the Nashville Sound meets the soul of Memphis.” He was right and then some. This was one of those television/music moments that left you leaning toward the TV screen, letting the pleasure and passion of the musicians pour into you. They traded verses: Stapleton’s rumble proving remarkably elastic and wittily wry; Timberlake phrased like an R&B crooner and a soul shouter — delicacy met power simultaneously.
The cameras panned across the audience, which until that moment had been politely attentive. Now, they were on their feet, their mouths open — to sing along, to cheer, to express their surprise in many different ways. Pure joy washed over the proceedings. You could almost see the realization ripple through the crowd: Oh yeah, this is what music can sound like: Everything. It was as though Stapleton and Timberlake were giving cold, delicious water to people who hadn’t known they were dying of thirst. ABC might as well have shut down the CMAs right then; the night had achieved its peak.
Which is not to say there weren’t other excellent moments. Miranda Lambert gave a terrific, hard-driving performance of her fine song “Bathroom Sink.” John Mellencamp and Keith Urban pushed out a nicely tough “Little Pink Houses.” Brooks and Dunn made fine back-up singers for the indomitable Reba McEntire. Hank Williams, Jr., and Eric Church did an “Are You Ready For The Country” that would have made Waylon Jennings proud. And Church showcased a new song, “Mr. Misunderstood,” an admirably ambitious, gloriously wordy and open-hearted song from a new album he’d unexpectedly just released, unheralded.
Not all the pop-country collaborations were good, but some were surprisingly enjoyable, such as the way Thomas Rhett and Fall Out Boy turned their songs into a segment that would have fit right in on a 1960s broadcast of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand (and I really mean that as a compliment).
But as the evening wound down, there was no doubt who’d taken the night. When Miranda Lambert came onstage to take her female-vocalist award, she wore a rhinestone Stapleton t-shirt, acknowledged her split with Blake Shelton by saying, “I needed a bright spot this year” (Miranda stays strong!), and kept her gratitude simple: “Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake, thank you.” Thank you indeed.
