CeCe Winans and Carrie Underwood are the dynamic duo who own the ACM Awards
CeCe Winans and Carrie Underwood are the dynamic duo who own the ACM Awards
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The Academy of Country Music Awards were brought to church by CeCe Winans and Carrie Underwood on Sunday.

Despite the fact that the event is still going on for two more hours, the gospel legend and country superstar teamed up for a top-notch, powerful performance that was the show’s highlight.

Onstage, Underwood and Winans blended their voices like angels, performing songs from their recent gospel hymns album “My Savior.” Underwood opened the show with “Amazing Grace” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” followed by Winans, who matched her strong vocal performance.

During the awards show, collaboration was a common theme.

Miranda Lambert, the ACM Awards’ most decorated artist, opened the show with a fun, energetic performance of their new duet with rock-pop singer Elle King. Lambert and King performed “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, wearing matching outfits with pink fringe on Lambert’s leather jacket and blue on King’s.

The performance, like many others airing Sunday night, was pre-taped in front of small audiences of medical and healthcare professionals at various locations in Nashville, including the Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Cafe.

Lambert, who founded the nonprofit MuttNation to help animals in need, also performed “Maggie’s Song” with Chris Stapleton “Stapleton’s dog died in 2019, and this is a tribute to him. With Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, she performed for the third time.

Onstage, Dierks Bentley and The War and Treaty, the extremely talented husband-and-wife duo, performed U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love).”

Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd lit up the stage with their performance, which ended in a kiss. Morris went on to win Song of the Year for her Grammy-nominated single “The Bones.” “Last year, for months, it topped the country music charts.

“I was dating my now-husband when I wrote (‘The Bones,’ and it was just a song for him at the time.) And I have the impression that songs sometimes know you better than you know yourself. And I feel like this song has opened my eyes to so many new things,” Morris said onstage, teary-eyed. “And it’s been a long year, and hopefully country music, and perhaps even this song, has brought you, your family, and friends some comfort.”

But things didn’t always go as planned. Dan + Shay, the Grammy-winning duo, performed their new single “Glad You Exist,” but the pre-recorded performance was out of sync.

. The couple tweeted, “Apparently there was an audio/video sync issue on the television broadcast.” “We’re disappointed, but it happens, especially when performances are held in multiple locations,” says the director.

Martina McBride made another gaffe when she announced the winner of the single of the year award. Although “I Hope You’re Happy Now” by Carly Pearce appeared on the TV screen, McBride correctly predicted “I Hope You’re Happy Now” by Lee Brice as the winner.

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“We wrote this song about my story, and I guess it resonated with everyone,” Pearce said onstage, thanking busbee, the song’s producer who died in late 2019. “This is my producer’s most recent song.”

Lambert, who has 35 ACMs to her credit, was nominated for five awards and still has a chance to break the record. She isn’t up for the show’s top prize, entertainer of the year, because all of the other nominees are men. Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, Eric Church, and Thomas Rhett are among the nominees for Entertainer of the Year, which he shared with Carrie Underwood last year.

Bryan, who was supposed to perform at the awards, cancelled because he tested positive for the coronavirus recently. All of the other nominees for Entertainer of the Year will take the stage.

Morgan Wallen, another well-known country artist, is also absent from the lineup. The ACMs declared the singer ineligible after he was caught on camera using a racial slur earlier this year. His latest album and singles have charted heavily on both the country and pop charts.

Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town will also be absent from the show due to a recent COVID-19 test, and his band will perform without him.

With six nominations each, Stapleton and Morris lead the field. Album, song and male artist of the year were among Stapleton’s nominees. Morris was nominated for single and female artist of the year, among other categories. She was also nominated for group of the year with the Highwomen, a supergroup that also included Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, and Natalie Hemby, but Old Dominion won.

Blanco Brown, who made his first public appearance since being seriously injured in a head-on collision last year, presented the award.