The 57th Academy of Country Music
57 years of the Academy of Country Music were fulfilled, brought full circle, and true to its years. The Academy was a captivating show that elegantly meshed the 57 years of country music’s tradition with the modern-day direction of current country music of pop and grit. It doesn’t get much better than both.
A perfect example of legend meets learner was the golden thread of Dolly Parton that strung the entire show together like Dolly’s coat of many colors, with her green co hosts Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett. Seeing the two generations of country music converge on stage as hosts of the event to unfold was a magical experience; as if the two aren’t so lost from each other. Themes of this thread traipsed all around the stage starting with Eric Church’s early performance. In true Chief fashion, Church wore his aviators, covering his eyes from the crowd, but still connecting through a mash-up of one song off each and every album, starting with Sinners Like Me and ending with his latest album release, Soul.
Contrarily, Walker Hayes performed his first ACM Award show with “AA,” and his viral hit, “Fancy Like.” He worked his way through the crowd to the center stage and stunned the stadium with his cunning and charming pop-country songs. Country music fans young and old ate up both these performances, which is just another thread of the beauty behind the convergence of country music - traditional and modern - in the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards.
Next on the docket, was Lainey Wilson’s, who won New Female Artist of the Year, performance of “Things a Man Oughta Know.” If you weren’t looking at the screen, you’d think Deanna Carter’s voice was fooling you with a new song. Wilson has a pure classic country sound, just like Carter. Her voice is tinged faintly by an honest Louisiana accent and is rich as honey and innocent as strawberry wine. Her performance, doused in black leather fringe no less, was a catalyst of joining new, young voices with new, fresh approaches to music, with the true, classic bones of country music.
Watch Lainey Wilson’s performance here.
To bookend the beautiful theme was a performance you just can’t make up. Kelly Clarkson, the pop powerhouse with a heart for country music, belted Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” as homage. The 57th Academy of Country Music Awards was a beautiful reminder that how it once was and how it is going to be doesn’t have to be lost without the other.
