Garth Brooks takes home big prize at Country Music Association Awards

The two opened up the show with a musical performace combining the old with the new. Charley Pride joined Paisley for “Kiss an Angel Good Morning“, and Alabama sang their hit “Mountain Music”.

It was the first time Beyonce, who is from Houston, performed at the country awards show, and the performance also marked a return for the Dixie Chicks, who hadn’t attended the CMA Awards in some time.

It was an eventful night of TV last night as country music celebrated the 50th anniversary of the iconic award show. Many of country’s biggest stars made their way to the press room to share their thoughts. Morris performing “My Church” while Ballerini sang “Peter Pan”.

No matter who was going to be the big victor, it was always going to be Dolly Parton’s night and the CMAs did this beloved genre-breaking performer proud.

Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild summed up her interpretation of the lyrics when fans began to speculate that perhaps Swift wrote the hit about ex-boyfriend, Calvin Harris. Reba McEntire, Kacey Musgraves, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, and Jennifer Nettles sang a medley of Dolly’s classic songs.

The singer clearly had more to say when accepting her Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement award – and even if it was just more jokes about how it was a “high” honor, that would have been just fine. And the crowd went wild for it.

Of course, country music artists themselves are often fans of diverse genres of music.

Garth Brooks, that reliable brand name, was named entertainer of the year, while Lori McKenna’s pious “Humble and Kind” (written for Tim McGraw) beat out more daring tunes by Cam and Maren Morris for song of the year.

Taylor Swift presented the Entertainer of the Year award at the 2016 CMAs wearing a Julien Macdonald dress and Stuart Weitzman sandals. “We are so [expletive] lucky to be part of this thing called country music!”

The next man up on the stage, though, male vocalist of the year Chris Stapleton, a soft-spoken fellow, looked to the stage wings and said, “If Dolly was still back there, I’d give her my time”. They hadn’t prepared a speech (they’d been expecting to congratulate Florida Georgia Line on their win), “I feel so grateful to be here tonight; this is unreal”, said a gobsmacked T.J. Osborne, while next to him, John Osborne could barely contain his glee. “I was doing my best!”

Beyonce brought down the house at the CMA Awards. When Underwood asked if Paisley would accept the night’s results, he responded, “Yes”.

There’s something to be said about an awards show that is just that instead of a platform for celebrities to shove their unwanted political views down everyone’s throats.

But Beyonce – who in August wowed the MTV Video Music Awards with a medley from her album “Lemonade” that included dramatized shootings – made no overt commentary in Nashville.