The CMT Music Awards were last night, with some great performances and some big wins – including Blake Shelton taking home two trophies for Male and Video of the Year for “I’ll Name The Dogs.” But to me, the most fun was had BETWEEN the performances and awards.

Just the opener got several laughs. Dustin Lynch, Jake Owen, and Jon Pardi dressed for a bridal shower? CHECK. Darius Rucker as the Queen of England? Yep. The guys in Midland taking over a party barge and kissing… each other? It’s all here, along with Florida Georgia Line dressed as Princes Harry and William, driven in a horse-drawn carriage by Trace Adkins. You’re not dreaming. It happened.

The show was hosted by Little Big Town, and for some reason one of Karen Fairchild’s costume changes included… pajamas. Seriously.

My favorite moment was when Carly Pearce won Breakthrough Video of the Year for “Every Little Thing,” a song she wrote about a breakup. Her shout to her ex at the end of this emotional acceptance speech was probably the best thing ever. On behalf of every woman who’s ever had her heart broken (which is like all of us, right?) I so hope he sees it.

Also amazing:  Darius Rucker, Charles Kelley (of Lady Antebellum), Jason Aldean, and Luke Bryan as “The Troublemakers” singing “Straight To Hell,” and Sam Hunt’s performance of “Downtown’s Dead” while walking from one bar to another in downtown Nashville, and finally walking to the stage in the middle of the street. I don’t know how they choreographed that, I don’t know how he could hear himself, and I have no idea how they kept that huge crowd of people out of the way, but it worked.

Well done, CMT. Let’s do it again next year.

Jackie Lee had no intention of sharing his struggles with cancer with the rest of the world. He didn’t want to be known as “the cancer guy.” But then he remembered the healing power of music, and he’d written this song after his mother’s passing in 2016  – from cancer, no less – and after his first battle with testicular cancer, telling People magazine he didn’t care if anyone else ever heard it. It was for him.

But then the cancer came back. It was a highly curable form of cancer, but that didn’t make the chemo any easier, or the fact that he was physically unable to stay out on the road doing what he loved. He says the whole experience made him question his purpose, and wonder what he could do to make an impact for good.

During the course of his treatment, he’d shot a lot of homemade video, but didn’t know what he’d use it for. And he still hadn’t planned to share this personal song he’d written. But then he realized that because it was so personal, because it was his story, but also a story that could touch other people, and it was obvious that he had to release it. He did that with this video, using his footage from his treatment.

And we’re all happy to hear he rang the bell to signify his last day of chemo in January, and he’s healthy now. Thanks for sharing your long year with us, Jackie.

The first time I saw Ashley McBryde perform, it was a little acoustic thing for people in the country music industry, and she told stories between songs, and from her sense of humor alone, I was 100% positive we should be best friends. And I told her so. And so far, no restraining order has been issued, so I’m pretty sure she’s on board with my plan.

But she’s not just delightfully sarcastic and strong. She’s also crazy talented.  It’s rare for me to listen to many albums more than once, but ever since Ashley’s Girl Goin’ Nowhere album came out, I’ve had it on repeat. It doesn’t burn out. It doesn’t get old. It’s just GOOD.

Unfortunately, because Ashley’s a (gasp!) woman, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s going to have a hit song on your regular old country radio station. There’s this weird thing happening, and it’s been happening for years, where the old guys programming those radio stations have passed down to the new guys programming those radio stations the “knowledge” that “women don’t like to hear women on the radio.” Are you rolling your eyes as hard as I am right now? Have you wondered why there are only 4 women you can think of who are currently making country music that you might hear on a country radio station? It’s because these program directors are telling you what you are supposed to like, and that’s men.

In fact, my friend Cam told me (and tweeted) that one of those guys even said something along the lines of, “women want to hear good-looking men on the radio so they can pretend that they’re their boyfriends.” Uh. Say what?

It’s with all this in mind, that we’ve decided to do a little somethin’ somethin’ at Slacker Radio, and it’s starting Monday. I’m not going to give away all the details now, but I will tell you that not only will we be highlighting as much of the amazing female talent in Nashville as we can, we will also be telling their stories.  It’s stuff like those radio programmers above who put women in the position of thinking they have to compete with one another, when in reality, when one of us succeeds, we all succeed. So, we’re now on a mission to help more women in country music find success. I hope you’ll join us for that! Check out Slacker Radio on Monday and you won’t be able to miss what I’m talking about.

And in the meantime, here’s just one example of why I have a girl crush on Ashley McBryde.

Listen. There seem to be a lot of people who are pretty upset that Carrie Underwood still looks flawless after her accident, and after saying her face might look different when she comes back. I’m not sure why that would bother you – she’s human and has insecurities just like the rest of us, and at the time, she had a bunch of stitches in her face and really didn’t know what that was going to mean in the future. And she also has a team of professionals who are experts at using makeup to disguise pretty much any flaw. So go ahead and take a seat.

Carrie talked about the accident to Hoda Kotb on the Today show, and about her first performance after the accident, when she sang “Cry Pretty” at the ACM Awards. Turns out there were some insecurities there, too, and she said it was like she was living the song while she was singing it, but then went back to just Carrie when it was over. So that standing ovation she got? It was a little uncomfortable.

Watch the whole interview here, and find out where her favorite place to cry is. If you’re wondering, and I know you are, mine is in the kitchen. Possibly with ice cream. Or wine. Or cake. I’m not picky.

Can you believe Justin Moore hasn’t headlined a show at the historic Ryman Auditorium? In fact, he’s also never headlined any show in Nashville. Well, he fixed both of those problems last night by headlining a show for a sold out crowd. “You can literally grow up in a town of 300 people and play Ryman Auditorium,” he said.
Oh, and like many shows in Nashville, there were some pretty great surprise guests. Chris Janson, David Lee Murphy, and Ricky Skaggs with the Whites all joined Justin at the Mother Church of Country Music, along with openers Tyler Rich and Travis Denning.
You can bet it was a rowdy night in Music City, and Justin promised fans they’d get their money’s worth. And they did. Check out Justin performing Hank Williams, Jr’s “Country State of Mind” with Chris Janson here and tell me you’re not a teensy bit sad that you weren’t there.

The ACM Awards are Sunday night, but we already know who three of the winners are. Reba called them all to tell them, and someone in each camp was obviously in the know, because all their reactions are on video.

Lauren Alaina won New Female Vocalist of the Year, and as you can see, she lost all her words.

Brett Young is the New Male Vocalist of the Year, and he decided to make Reba’s 1pm call the beginning of his day – because how else would you want to start a day?

And then there’s your New Vocal Group of the Year, Midland, who don’t actually believe it’s Reba on the phone. Or that they’ve won. Is this real?

Congratulations to all the winners, and don’t forget to check out the ACM Awards 2018 station on Slacker Radio to hear all the nominated artists and songs, and after the awards to hear the winners and performances.

Because the internet is even funnier in song. If you’ve ever looked at any famous person’s Facebook fan page and read the comments, you’ve probably laughed a time or two when you weren’t busy rolling your eyes. A YouTube user who calls himself Hot Dad decided it was time to make those comments even funnier, so he put them to song. Seriously. He wrote this whole song using the bad grammar and most ridiculous and sometimes flattering comments on Shania Twain’s fan page and it. is. HILARIOUS. You’ll be singing this catchy tune all day. You’re welcome.