13 CMA Awards 2010 Highlights (and Lowlights), Featuring Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert and More

The 2010 CMA Awards aired November 10 on ABC and featured performances by the hottest acts in country music, including perennial faves Reba McEntire and George Strait, It-Band Sugarland, engaged solo artists Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton and many more. Oh, and of course, the presentation of lots of prestigious awards weighed heavily in the night's action, too. So which moments made my personal 2010 CMA Awards Highlights list? Read on, and at the end, you'll find a few chuckle-worthy lowlight nuggets, too.

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #1: Lady Antebellum's soul-stirring rendition of Hello World. I'm in the midst of the most challenging time of my life, and this powerful offering left me in tears, but in a good way. If you need to remember why you're here and what your purpose is in this life, you have to listen to this song or look up the lyrics. Now.

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #2: Blake Shelton singing All About Tonight. Lots of artists seem to struggle while performing live (cough... Taylor), but not Blake: He rocked it, looked awesome in his formal wear, and bettered his already solid radio sound with a richer-than-usual vocal quality.

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #3: All of the great duets! Zac Brown and Alan Jackson singing As She's Walking Away -- great song for AJ! Jason Aldean and American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson crooning Don't You Wanna Stay. Kelly still has some serious pipes. Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow honoring Loretta Lynn with Coal Miner's Daughter.

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #4: Taylor Swift singing Back to December. For a gal who's often off-key during live performances, she sounded great, the outfit was gorgeous in its ethereal, flowy way, the snowy scene complete with lamp posts and orchestra were perfect. (Er, until the end when she looked visibly puzzled and mouthed 'what?!' to some unseen person. Oops.)

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #5: My husband declaring "okay, I cannot forgive you for that outfit" when Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles started the duo's rendition of Stuck Like Glue decked out as a possessed ballerina in what appeared to be an oddly rotating and egregiously stiff and foofy white tutu.

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #6: Upon winning the Female Vocalist of the Year Award, Miranda Lambert's near-tears proclamation that "I don't know what's going on. I just told Blake I think we need to go to church."

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #7: Reba McEntire's performance of Beyonce's If I Were a Boy. The country music mainstay looked stunning in a long shimmering gown with simple hair and make-up as she covered the popular tune. It's just such a moving song that it's hard not to enjoy it in any form.

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #8: Blake Shelton's reaction to winning Male Vocalist of the Year. He looked truly shocked and humbled as he paced around in front of the stage like a wild-eyed buck and proceeded to proclaim he'd just climbed up "34 years of steps". Gotta adore some humility in the entertainment industry.

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #9: Carrie Underwood's amazing light purple Mama's Song ball gown. Totally gorgeous, although I confess that at first glance, I thought she looked like one of those Barbie cakes and wondered if she'd be able to move at all. (She didn't. But that's okay. I know she's not made of cake.)

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #10: The Little Jimmy Dickens flood warning system demonstration. Okay, so it was totally weird and strained, but it's always good to see Little Jimmy up on stage!

CMA Awards 2010 Highlight #11: Brad Paisley's Entertainer of the Year acceptance speech. He began his laughter-and-tears commentary by saying "I feel just like a turtle on a fence post right now", and continued on with a comically serious montage of phraseology.

What about the lowlights, you ask? Surely I have some snark in my tank, no? Here's a quick sampling, purely because they were too obvious to ignore.

CMA Lowlight #1: The glittery silver stripper heels Miranda Lambert wore while accepting her awards. The fringed short white dress with plunging neckline was kinda cute by itself, but those shoes.... Oh, Miranda.

CMA Lowlight #2: Martina McBride's hair. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not exactly a hair pro, but the usually flawless Martina's locks looked like she'd had a bad run in with a lawn mower. Kind of reminiscent of the mom in the Brady Bunch satire movie. I don't get it.

So there you have 'em: My high and lowlights from the 2010 CMA Awards. Which moments made your personal list?

Sources

The 44th Annual CMA Awards, November 10, 2010, ABC