KEITH URBAN was the Entertainer of the Year at last night’s ACMs.  KACEY MUSGRAVES won Top Female Artist, and Album of the Year for “Golden Hour”.  THOMAS RHETT won the other big award, taking home Top Male Artist.

DAN + SHAY also had a huge night.  They won Top Vocal Duo, and their hit “Tequila” won Song of the Year and Single of the Year.

The women may have been cheated out of the top award, but they did not let it get them down.  They had many of the best performances of the night.

MIRANDA LAMBERT didn’t add to her record 32 ACM wins but she did tear through a medley of hits to remind us why she’s a champ.  She did “Kerosene”, “Gunpowder & Lead”, “Mama’s Broken Heart”, “White Liar”, and “Little Red Wagon”.

ASHLEY MCBRYDE showed some serious talent, bringing the crowd to their feet with an acoustic version of “Girl Goin’ Nowhere”.  And she traded lines with ERIC CHURCH during his political protest song, “The Snake”.

LITTLE BIG TOWN introduced an emotional new song called, “The Daughters”.  It’s about women’s empowerment and it really hit home with the crowd.  When it was over the camera panned to several women in the audience who were moved to tears.

LANCO brought some serious energy to the show when they did “Rival” . . . and OLD DOMINION’s performance of “Make It Sweet” had everybody out of their seats.

Traditional country was represented when GEORGE STRAIT sang “God and Country Music”, and a little later when Miranda Lambert joined him for his classic song, “Run”.

George Strait also passed the torch to JASON ALDEAN as the latest ACM Artist of the Decade.  Jason performed “Lights Come On”,“Don’t You Wanna Stay” with KELLY CLARKSON, and “Dirt Road Anthem”.

The big all-star performance was strong.  “This Is Us” actress CHRISSY METZ sang “I’m Standing With You” from her movie “Breakthrough”.  She was joined by Lauren Alaina, Mickey Guyton, Maddie & Tae, and Carrie Underwood.

And there was a great moment when DIERKS BENTLEY teamed up with BRANDI CARLILE for their song, “Travelin’ Light”.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Entertainer of the Year:  Keith Urban

Top Male Vocalist:  Thomas Rhett

Top Female Vocalist:  Kacey Musgraves

Top Vocal Group:  Old Dominion

Top Vocal Duo:  Dan + Shay

Album of the Year:  “Golden Hour”, Kacey Musgraves

Song of the Year:  “Tequila”, Dan + Shay

Single Record of the Year:  “Tequila”, Dan + Shay

Video of the Year:  Chris Janson,“Drunk Girl”

Vocal Event of the Year:  “Burning Man”, Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne

(Best New Artist was once again split into three categories, and they were announced last month.  Lanco won New Duo/Group, Luke Combs won New Male Vocalist, and Ashley McBryde was named New Female Vocalist.)

Kelsea Ballerini and Old Dominion are set to apear on NBC’s new songwriting competition show “Songland,” from executive producers Adam Levine, Dave Stewart and Ryan Tedder.  

Each episode will see five songwriters performing a song for three producers and a major recording artist, who will then mentor them on how to improve the tune. The artist will eventually narrow down the songwriters to three, pair them with a producer, with the winning song becoming the artist’s next single.

In addition to Kelsea and Old Dominion, a new promo released by the network reveals that the Jonas Brothers, Meghan Trainor, John Legend, Will.I.Am, Macklemore, Leona Lewis, Aloe Blacc, andCharlie Puth, will also appear on the series.

Levine is set to host “Songland,” which will premiere May 28^th.

LORETTA LYNN is turning 87 on April 14th . . . but her birthday tribute concert happened on Monday in Nashville.  We’ll start with her happiest moment.  That was when Keith Urban granted her birthday wish and jumped out of a cake.

Most of the night was filled will stars performing her classics.  Darius Rucker did “The Pill” . . . and a very pregnant Margo Price appropriately sang “One’s On The Way”.  She also shared the fact that Loretta gave her blessing to use “Lynn” as the baby’s middle name.

Loretta’s sister Crystal Gayle performed her hit, “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” . . . and Alison Krauss sang the hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul”.

There were some strong duets:  Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood did “After the Fire Is Gone” . . . George Strait and Martina McBride sang “Lead Me On” . . . and Alan Jackson joined Lee Ann Womack for “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man”.

Miranda Lambert was feisty as usual, saying, “Thank you for inspiring me, for all the advice . . . about when husbands piss you off a little bit.  I’m going to do one of those right now.  It’s called ‘Don’t Come Home A-Drinking (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)‘.”

Kacey Musgraves performed “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)” . . . and said it’s a song she’s been singing since she was “about 12 years old.”

There was an appearance from the female super-group Highwomen.  Apparently that lineup is fluid but on Monday it was Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, and Natalie Hemby performing “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels“.

Loretta’s buddy Jack White was there . . . and he and Margo Price did “Portland, Oregon”.  And the entire place crammed on stage to help Loretta sing “Coal Miner’s Daughter“.

(You’ll find a bunch of performances, here, and here.  The “Courier-Journal” picked out “10 Standout Performances.”  And “The Tennessean” has a really good picture gallery.)

Willie Nelson has announced the lineup for the 46^th installment of his annual 4th of July Picnic, and it sounds like it’s going to be a great show.

In addition to Willie and the Family, the concert, taking place at the Circuit of the Americas racetrack outside Austin, Texas, will feature Luke Combs, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Alison Kraus, Jamey Johnson, Steve Earle & the Dukes and more.

Tickets for the concert go on sale Friday at 10 am.

Source: Rolling Stone

MIDLAND got pretty creative with their “Mr. Lonely” video.  It starts with a fake old school “chat line” commercial with a pretty girl waiting for your call.

And then it cuts to a bunch of cowgirls line dancing in some club.  And if the club looks familiar, it’s because they filmed it on the set of the Netflix show “The Ranch”.

By the way, the fake commercial has a phone number that flashes on the screen . . . and if you call it you’ll get asked if you want Midland tickets, merchandise . . .  “or just some company.”

While we’re on the subject.  Midland guitarist JESS CARSON and his wife Camille welcomed their third child on Wednesday.  It’s a girl they named Rosalia Jean.  Their other children are 22-month-old Parker Emmanuel, and Ida Mae who is three.