Country's Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift reigned at fan-voted 2009 CMT Music Awards

June 16, 9:42 PMNashville Country Music ExaminerLisa L. Rollins

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Nashville Country Music Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

CMT claims the lone fan-voted country awards.

Comedian-turned-actor Bill Engvall--who was sometimes amusing and sometimes not as the event's emcee--kicked off this year’s CMT Music Awards, which were broadcast live June 16 from Nashville on the country music-focused cable network.

Although CMT has yielded criticism in recent months for not having as much music-video programming as it once boasted, the network’s annual awards show was once more a clear fan favorite among both country-music lovers and the genre's artists.

Going into the 2009 CMT Music Awards, country-duo Sugarland scored more nods than any other contender, with five nominations—meaning more than both Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley, both of whom notched a quartet of nominations each, and also more than Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts, both of which landed a trio of nods apiece.

At the close of final voting, however, it was the fans' who were in charge, with online voting accepted until the nth hour--and even after the Buckle presentations had begun in appropriate contests. The following is a rundown of the artists who prevailed, including the evening's biggest winner, Brad Paisley with three Buckles added to his prize collection, thanks to country fans who rallied the votes for their favorite performers.

USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year

USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year was taken home by newcomers Zac Brown Band for the group‘s “Chicken Fried” video offering. The act rose above the competition provided by Julianne Hough (“That Song In My Head”), Jamey Johnson (“In Color”) and Lady Antebellum (“Lookin For A Good Time”).

Duo of the Year Video

Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush beat out Brooks & Dunn’s “Put A Girl In It,” Montgomery Gentry’s “Roll With Me” and even themselves, sort of, to win the Duo of the Year Video Buckle prize. The pair were nominated twice in the category; namely, for their “Already Gone” and “All I Want To Do” music clips, with the latter securing the prize for the act.

Wide Open Country Video of the Year

Toby Keith and rapper T-Pain presented this year’s Wide Open Country Video of the Year prize to Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long” video, which snatched the category’s most fan votes. In the process, he overcame competition from music video contenders Def Leppard and Taylor Swift’s “Photograph” clip, the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss video in honor of “Please Read The Letter” and the clip for “Bartender Song” by Rehab and featuring Hank Williams Jr.

Duo Sugarland led the '09 CMT contest with 5 nods.

Group Video of the Year

Although the Group Video of the Year was “a close, close” one, veteran awards-show winners Rascal Flatts took the CMT Buckle away in this category with the act’s “Every Day” music video, besting Lady Antebellum (“Lookin' For A Good Time”), their own “Bob That Head” effort and the Zac Brown Band (“Chicken Fried”).

CMT Performance of the Year

Near-deafening cheers erupted when the clip for “Country Boy” by Alan Jackson--and featuring Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley and George Strait--was announced as winner of the CMT Performance of the Year honor.

Now celebrating 20 years on the Arista label, Jackson thanked fans for the Buckle, noting that he’d probably made some 45 music videos since beginning his career two decades ago.

Jackson and friends competed for victory in the Performance category against the Grammy-winning Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (“Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) from CMT Crossroads); “Life In A Northern Town” by Sugarland featuring Little Big Town and Jake Owen, which was taken from the 2008 CMT Music Awards; and Def Leppard and Taylor Swift performing “Photograph” from CMT Crossroads: Def Leppard and Taylor Swift episode.

Female Video of the Year

The 2009 Buckle for Female Video of the Year went to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” video. The teen star assuredly has an abundance of fans and their votes, which aided  her in besting clips from sister artists Miranda Lambert (“More Like Her”), Martina McBride (“Ride”) and good pal Kellie Pickler (“Don't You Know You're Beautiful”).

Video Director of the Year

Trey Fanjoy was named the queen of video directing in this year’s CMT contest, winning Video Director of the Year from country-video viewers’ votes over fellow directors Deaton Flanigen. Roman White and Peter Zavadil, respectively.

Brad Paisley was the evening's big Buckle winner.

Collaborative Video of the Year

The “Start A Band” video by Brad Paisley and Keith Urban snagged Collaborative Video of the Year honors, besting clips put forth by Brooks & Dunn featuring Reba McEntire (“Cowgirls Don't Cry”), Kenny Chesney featuring The Wailers (“Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven”) and Sugarland featuring Little Big Town and Jake Owen (“Life In A Northern Town”).

Male Video of the Year

Brad Paisley’s video for “Waitin' On A Woman” helped him cinch this year’s Male Video Buckle. Along the way, he surpassed competition from Toby Keith (“God Love Her”), Keith Urban (“Sweet Thing”) and Trace Adkins ("You're Gonna Miss This").

Video of the Year

The evening’s biggest Buckle of all, Video of the Year, had no shortage of contestants in the running, but in the end, the fans sent it home with, you guessed it, the fan-friendly Taylor Swift and her “Love Story” music clip.

The contest’s other competitors included Trace Adkins (“You're Gonna Miss This”), Kenny Chesney featuring The Wailers (“Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven”), Toby Keith (“God Love Her”), Kid Rock (“All Summer Long”), Lady Antebellum (“Lookin' For A Good Time”), Brad Paisley (“Waitin' On A Woman”), Rascal Flatts (“Every Day”), Sugarland (“All I Want To Do”) and Carrie Underwood (“Just A Dream”).

 For more info:  Visit the CMT Music Awards Web site online at www.cmt.com/cmt-music-awards.
 

CMT Music Award-winning video "Love Story" by Taylor Swift.