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Top CMA honor goes to (Oh my gosh!) Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift accepts the award for entertainer of the year during the 45th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville on Nov. 9.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY MARK HUMPHREY

Mark Humphrey/AP Photo Taylor Swift accepts the award for entertainer of the year during the 45th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville on Nov. 9. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY MARK HUMPHREY

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By Nancy Wilson, Contributing writer 1:38 PM Saturday, November 12, 2011

Another Country Music Association Awards show has come and gone this past week amid a cloud of sequins and big hair — and respect.

I mean it’s obvious the artists know what a big event this is. They dress up, they talk pretty, they smile, and they sing their hearts out. I love it so much, because they love it.

And while there are some things I’ve come to count on: big performances, big outfits (10 changes for host Carrie Underwood!), ever-expanding bouffants, (hello, Faith Hill?) and co-host Brad Paisley’s easygoing delivery and ability to adlib, there were some surprises.

Jason Aldean, who sold out Wright State University’s Nutter Center for a March 2012 show with Luke Bryan, took home Album of the Year honors for “My Kind of Party.” Many thought the award was a slam dunk for Taylor Swift’s monster release “Speak Now.”

Conversely, Taylor beat out all the boys, fellow nominees Aldean, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban, to win the Big Mac Daddy award of the night, Entertainer of the Year. In her usual “Oh my gosh!” fashion, Taylor seemed genuinely shocked to win, jumping up and down before hugging her mom and pal Tim McGraw and rushing onstage. Once there, she quickly gave props to the people who put her there, “This is thanks to all the fans who filled the stadiums and arenas all over the world this year (on her “Speak Now” tour). I am so happy we had so many to play for this year. You have made my year.” Then she gave props to fellow artists who have been making surprise appearances on her “Speak Now” tour. She read the names off her left arm, where she had hastily scribbled the list, starting with Tim McGraw.

Taylor joins Barbara Mandrell as the only other woman to win the top award twice. Miranda Lambert said when Taylor’s name was called she “secretly sang (Beyonce’s) ‘Who runs the world? Girls’ to (husband) Blake.”

And while I’ll admit I was hoping for a Jason Aldean or Blake Shelton win, I was shocked to hear and read all the Taylor Swift backlash on our Facebook page. “She’s a joke,” “my cat sings better than her,” she’s “bebop, not country,” “CMAs are morons.” Ouch. In the words of Taylor herself, “Why you gotta be so mean?”

No, she’s not the best singer out there. No, she’s not like George Jones or Johnny Cash or Dolly Parton or any of the other legends. This young woman sings songs that she’s written, songs that matter to her. She sings from the heart, just like Loretta Lynn.

Despite some Internet haters trying to pass off questionable pictures as those of Taylor, she’s embraced her role-model status with her fans and would never be dumb enough to risk jeopardizing that position, because she respects it. She would never shame country music, so why are some people so ashamed of her?

Contact Nancy Wilson, a morning-radio personality at WHKO-FM (K99.1), by email through k99online.com.

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