Granger Smith can add film producer to his list of titles now that he’s produced They Were There: A Hero’s Documentary. It’s a tribute to fallen soldier and their sacrifices and legacies.

"This is about five fallen soldiers, and it's about the sacrifice they make that represents the life that I get to live," Granger says. "One of the stories of these five fallen soldiers is suicide. I learned a lot about PTSD and results of suicide, and the staggering statistics of that."

Granger calls the experience “eye-opening,” saying he learned right along with the viewer, and it changed some of his pre-conceived notions about war and gun control. But he didn’t necessarily make the film to change anyone else’s opinions. "We tend to forget that there are sacrifices being made every day and the purpose of this documentary for me is to try to live a life worthy of that sacrifice," he says.

You can watch the trailer now, and the full documentary beginning tomorrow, here.

It’s safe to say nobody was surprised that Chris Stapleton won three CMA Awards, more than anyone else – he took home trophies for Single (which goes to the artist) and Song (which goes to the writer) of the Year and Male Vocalist. Well-deserved and not shocking in any way.

There were two big surprises, though, both of which are good, in my humble opinion: First, Kacey Musgraves won Album of the Year for Golden Hour. This is big because she was the only woman nominated in the category – a category which has only been won by a solo woman 7 times in 52 years --  and because Kacey is an artist who has struggled to get radio to pay any attention to her since she first started releasing music. Big props to Kacey to making the music she wants to make and showing everyone how it’s done.

The second surprise came at the end of the show, when the look on Keith Urban’s face said even he was surprised to hear his name called for Entertainer of the Year. It’s been 13 years since he won that award, and it was a heavy duty category full of deserving artists (even if none of them were women). The tears on his face showed how surprised and grateful he was, too.

There were two best lines of the night, for me anyway. When producer Dave Cobb came up with Chris Stapleton for the single of the year honor, he said, “I want to thank Jesus and Lionel Richie.” (Because Lionel was sitting directly in front of him and he was a teensy bit starstruck.) And when Brothers Osborne came up to accept their Vocal Duo of the Year trophy, and John asked how they keep winning this thing, TJ said, “If this were Florida, there would be a recount for sure.” It’s not true, but it was still funny.

Finally, Luke Bryan gets a mention from me for two reasons. He opened the show with a performance of “What Makes You Country,” but he put the spotlight on artists that don’t generally get to play the CMA Awards. Luke Combs was one of them, and he actually did have a performance spot on the show, but there was also Cole Swindell, Jon Pardi, and most notably, Lindsay Ell and Ashley McBryde, who are among the women fighting to be heard over all these men in country music. And then… he flossed.

The full list of winners are below, and if you want to relive the night, check out CMA Awards 2018 on Slacker Radio.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR – Keith Urban
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR – Carrie Underwood
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR – Chris Stapleton
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR – Old Dominion
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR – Brothers Osborne
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR – Luke Combs
ALBUM OF THE YEAR – Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves
SONG OF THE YEAR – “Broken Halos” by Chris Stapleton
SINGLE OF THE YEAR – “Broken Halos” by Chris Stapleton
MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR – “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” by David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR- “Marry Me” by Thomas Rhett
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR – Mac McAnally

Last night, at a country bar called Borderline in Thousand Oaks, California, tragedy hit the country music community again. Former Marine Ian David Long went in with a handgun and killed 12 people, including students there for College Night, and a deputy who went in trying to save lives.

Unbelievably, some of the people who survived last night’s shooting were also at last year’s Route 91 Harvest Festival when that horrible mass shooting happened, including an employee of the Borderline Bar. One of last night’s survivors who was also in Las Vegas during last year’s attack told CBS News, “We’re all a big family and unfortunately this family got hit twice.”

This is a bar where countless country stars have played and thousands of country music fans have gone to have a fun night out. Jerrod Niemann played there just last month. Singer/songwriter Aubrey Sellers, who is Lee Ann Womack’s daughter, had planned to be at Borderline last night, but at the last minute she changed her plans because her cat’s eye was swollen shut. Her cat may have saved her life.

I don’t have any answers. I know thoughts and prayers are getting cliché at this point, and they’re obviously not fixing the problem. But after we’ve done our part and voted for the people who are supposed to enact change, it often feels like thoughts and prayers are all we have left.

As of the time of writing this, not all of the people killed have been identified. But this is for Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus, Alaina Housley, Justin Meek, Cody Coffman, and all the others who lost their lives while just trying to have a fun night listening to some good country music.

When it comes to Halloween, your favorite country artists are just like you: they want to dress up in something awesomely ridiculous and eat all the candy. Here are some of my faves:

Luke Bryan and his wife Caroline were a squirrel and a nut. Yes, Luke Bryan is a nut.

Thomas Rhett, his wife Lauren, and his two daughters went all out as characters from Monsters, Inc.

Jason Aldean’s fam went all Star Wars… his wife Brittany, who is pregnant, was the wookie – and it was like 75° in Nashville on Halloween so I know she was sweating.

Kelsea Ballerini and her Australian hubby Morgan Evans were kangaroos… or is it kangaboos?

The Day of the Dead was a popular one, because it was the theme for Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook...and Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles and family.

Brett Eldredge and his dog Edgar had some Jurassic fun as Chris Pratt and the cutest dinosaur ever.

Lindsey Ell went all Britney, b***.

Scotty McCreery and his wife Gabi jumped on a popular trend this year: Stranger Things.

And then there’s RaeLynn, who I kind of think won Halloween and the internet as Kylie Jenner – a PREGNANT Kylie in a track suit and heels with her favorite lipstick.

Ok, one more, because who can resist Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelly and fam as the characters from Toy Story?

Hope your Halloween was happy. Oh, and I don’t mean to alarm you, but I saw on the internet today that Christmas is only seven weeks away. SCARY.

Just in case you wanted everything in your life pumpkin spiced, this is 100% for you.

American Idol teamed up with Jack O’Lantern Spectacular in Louisville to get their judges’ faces carved into pumpkins, as well as the AI logo, of course. While you might not want to watch the entire hour and a half of pumpkin carving, she starts with Luke Bryan and you can see the finished product about the 34 minute mark. Seriously, just skip to that part unless you’re trying to figure out how to make your own Luke Bryan Pumpkin… Brumpkin? I think after seeing this, Luke needs to add a verse in “What Makes You Country” to include being carved into a pumpkin.

Not to be outdone, Luke’s bestie Blake Shelton got his face pumpkinized, too, with some product placement for his own Smithworks Vodka. You can see it on Instagram here.

Now, let’s say, hypothetically, that pumpkin spice isn’t your thing, so instead maybe we could get a little… corny. (Yep, I went there). Mowing (plowing?) people into corn mazes has become a thing, and there’s not shortage of country stars in the works.

Dean Dillon’s a legendary songwriter in Nashville, having written hit songs for George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith and a ton of others. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002, but I bet that wasn’t half the honor of having his face become a corn maze in Nashville. 

Aaron Watson is the pride of Texas (ok, one of them; don’t @ me about George Strait, I know, I KNOW!), so it’s not surprising this maze in Midland features his mug. 

And Alan Jackson turns 60 this year, so this farm in Springfield, TN turned their corn maze into a tribute to him.

I don’t know about you, but these works of art kind of inspire me… to go pin some stuff on Pinterest that I’ll never follow through on. BRB.

There’s been a lot of talk over the last – oh, let’s say two decades or so, about how women in country music are not being fairly represented on the radio. “Women don’t want to hear women,” we’re told over and over, even though there’s lots of evidence that it isn’t true.

That’s why it was so important for CMT to recognize some of them in its annual Artists of the Year special – all of the honorees were women. Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Maren Morris, Kelsea Ballerini, Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott, and Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild were recognized for their contributions to the format, and Loretta Lynn was given the Artist of a Lifetime award.

In her acceptance speech, Miranda talked about the importance of women lifting each other up.

Hillary, who accepted her award from her Lady A bandmates Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, talked about teaching her girls about chasing their dreams. (And this is how I also found out I’ve been pronouncing her daughter Eisele’s name wrong)

Maren’s speech started with the disbelief that Sheryl Crow handed her the award, and how inspired she is by her fellow honorees.

Kelsea talked about the gift of the women who’ve inspired and taught her who have also shared their stages with her and helped her, and the importance of supporting one another.

Little Big Town’s Jimi and Phillip were the ones to give awards their bandmates Karen and Kimberly, who promised to be Gladys Knight’s backup singers in heaven. And they talked about how important this night was for women, and listed a LOT of the up-and-coming women in country music who also deserve support.

Sadly, Loretta Lynn was sick and couldn’t make it to the show, but her good friend Sissy Spacek, who played her in Coal Miner’s Daughter, and who was already set to do the honors, accepted the award on her behalf, and to a standing ovation.

If you missed the show, it will air again on CMT, or you can watch the whole thing on their website. It’s worth the time – these women rock (in a country way)!

I’m not giving you a spoiler alert, because the AMAs were days ago and if you don’t know who won by now, you haven’t been on the internet. So.

By far, the big country winner of the night was Kane Brown. He beat out superstars Luke Bryan and Thomas Rhett for Favorite Country Male. He came out ahead of Thomas Rhett and Luke Combs for Favorite Country Album. And he also won Favorite Country Song for “Heaven,” edging out Dan + Shay’s “Tequila” and FGL and Bebe Rexha’s “Meant To Be.”

Here’s his acceptance speech for Favorite Country Male (and the good news is, he did NOT pass out).

His fiancée Katelyn Jae wasn’t with him – she was home watching on TV, but when his name was announced. Check out her reaction on Instagram here.

Carrie Underwood got her sixth AMA for Favorite Female Country Artist, in fact, she’s won that one every year since 2014. Check out her acceptance speech here.

Later, on social media, she says she got caught up in the excitement and the emotions and felt like her speech made no sense, and she left out half of what she wanted to say, so she finished here!

Not surprisingly, Florida Georgia Line took home the win for Favorite Country Duo or Group. Check out their red carpet interview with Jessie James Decker – and their STYLE.

Only one all-genre category included country artists. Florida Georgia Line and Maren Morris were both up for Collaboration of the Year for their projects with Bebe Rexha and Zedd, respectively. Neither won, but as they say, it’s an honor just to be nominated, right?

You probably remember Anita Cochran from her 1997 duet “What If I Said” with Steve Wariner, right? She’s made music since then, and she was actively touring, but it’s been a while since she has put out anything new. Until now.

Her current story started last year when she found a lump in her breast, and she was diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer, which was treated with chemotherapy, which prevented her from touring. That was her only source of income, so her friends, including Steve Wariner, Crystal Gayle, Wade Hayes, Clay Walker, Ty Herndon, Terri Clark, Jamie O’Neal and others put on a benefit concert and raised $12,000 to help her with medical bills and every day life expenses.

She just had her final chemo treatment two weeks ago, after having a double mastectomy and the removal of a lymph node, and she’s been cancer free for a little more than 6 months now.

Now she wants to help others with that fight, so she has created a charity called the Love Anchors Fund, which will be managed by the Community Foundation of Tennessee, and will benefit various charities working to end breast cancer and help its victims and survivors. The first effort to raise money for that fund is the release of a new song called “Fight Like A Girl.” She’s donating all the proceeds from the sale of the song from October 5-12 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation via the Love Anchors Fund.

Check out the video for “Fight Like A Girl” here, listen to it on Slacker’s Nashville Now here, and donate to the Love Anchors Fund here.

Kane Brown will release his new album Experiment on November 9^th, but I recently had the chance to go listen to it with some other music industry people here in Nashville. The first thing I can say is, if you liked his first album, you’re gonna love this one even more. There are a lot of different sounds and styles on it and he does them all well.

When he played the song “Homesick” at the album listening event, the video he’s since released publicly was playing along with it. Now, I thought I’d had all the emotions removed from my body, but this? This made me feel one. So don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s ok if you ugly cry. I did.

Watch it here.

And if you want to hear more of it, check it out on Slacker’s Nashville Now.

Carrie Underwood’s new album Cry Pretty came out last week (and you still have time to listen to it as our Album of the Week on Slacker if you hurry). In celebration, Carrie made her own Cry Pretty Snapchat filter that adds glitter tears to your face just like the ones she has in the album cover and the live performances she’s done.

Obviously, Brad Paisley had to try it, and, while singing along with the song of the same name, I believe he proved you can cry pretty, thank you very much. See it for yourself on his Instagram.

By the way Carrie reg-grammed it saying, “You make glitter tears look goooooooood!” And Brad’s wife Kim commented on his post with, “Very pretty, honey.” I can’t stop watching. Or laughing.

Hey, if you try it and post it on IG, mention me in the comments so I can see it! @jesswrightradio