AIR DATE: November 2020

SHOW THEME: CMA Awards

 

Hey everybody, it’s Eric Church back for the sixty-ninth episode of “Outsiders Radio.” 

 

         The CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year goes to….Eric Church!

 

Eric: If there was ever a year not to win this award…this award this year is about the LOSS of this year, and you know what the win is? We all were here together as country music in person. I believe it will be music that brings us out of this. That is the one thing that will save the entire world. Politicians are about division, music is about unity.  It will take everybody in this room to unite.  I’ve got a bunch of other things to say, but I didn’t think I was gonna win this, so thank you guys very much.

 

 

AFTER the CMA Awards TV show was over, all the winners went to the media room.  But THIS year, because of the virus, there was a virtual press conference, which was pretty weird.  But anyway, here’s some of how THAT sounded.

 

Eric: You & I know how passionate your Church Choir fans are, so was it disappointing for you to win it and they’re not in the room? Yes & no. Yes that they weren’t there to embrace it, and no, because it’s gonna be music that’s gonna get us out of this. I promise. It’s not gonna be politics, it’s not gonna be sports.  It’s gonna be music, it’s gonna be people who can gather their people. That’s how we’re gonna leave covid in the dust bin of history.

 

 

Eric: For those members of the Church Choir who are chomping at the bit to see you, what do you say? I cannot wait to play again.  To strap a guitar on.  I’ll go down on Broadway, I just want to play. Covid has been a disaster. It had paused entertainment. I never thought I was a guy who took things for granted about touring. I would look out every night and see people with boots in the air or drinks in the air, and I would try to take a mental picture. I’ll be honest, I may have taken it for granted after Covid. I never thought I’d see it again. And when I can see it again, I’ll commit my whole heart & soul to it.

 

 

It sounds great just to HEAR that sound again.  Music can take you back to a place and time.  That’s what we’re doing this week on Outsiders Radio.  We’re taking you back to CMA Awards night.  Another big winner was Luke Combs.

 

Luke Combs: Our ability to come together is unlike every genre, our ability to be excited for each other is unlike every genre. I was pumped to see Carly win her first CMA tonight. I was pumped to see Eric win Entertainer of the Year. Without him, there’s no me. No one deserved that more than him. As much as I would have loved to win, I could not be more excited for him. I was super hyped when he won. He’s a hero of mine, it was cool to sit at a table with him, it was cool to watch him win an award that I feel like he’s deserved more times than once, so I was glad to be here, it was definitely a different year, but that’s a memory I’ll have for a long time.

 

 

 

Congrats to my friend Luke Combs on winning CMA Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year.  We had a moment to raise a toast that night.

 

Luke Combs: It was definitely some high fives all round. We were joking about each other winning all night. Obviously we’re in the age of Covid and coronavirus, so we can’t exactly kick beers back and hug each other tonight, but I’ll be doing that in spirit with him, I’m gonna have a little Jack on the bus ride home, and probably eat some Cookout with my wife which will be the best way to celebrate in my opinion anyway.

 

 

Luke Combs won two CMA Awards, and had his hand in a third.  Luke was one of the writers on the song named Musical Event of the Year: I Hope You’re Happy Now by Carly Pearce.  Backstage after the awards, Carly had this to say:

        

Carly Pearce: This has been the hardest year of my life, and to see the way how country music has had my back the whole time is something that has saved me in a lot of ways, and to be able to look back at the beginning of the year and think about how low I was, and to now be standing there with this, I mean what a way to end the year.

 

 

Only one artist received three CMA awards this year: Maren Morris.  She took home trophies for Single & Song of the Year for The Bones, as well as her first award for CMA Female Vocalist of the Year.

 

Maren Morris: With awards, it’s different, you obviously want to thank your team and the writers, and luckily I got the chance three times tonight to say everything I wanted to say. But its lonely up when it’s just you up there and you’re kind of in a blank, and you thank the normal people, and tonight I really am thankful and grateful for those women who pioneered for me to get to do this.

 

 

 

We saw the five New Artist of the Year nominees Jimmie Allen, Ingrid Andress, Gabby Barrett, Morgan Wallen, and Carly Pearce each perform their #1 songs.  All five are off to great starts in their careers.  The award for CMA New Artist of the Year went to Morgan Wallen.

 

Morgan Wallen: It’s a little kick in the rear towards the top I hope. It’s been tough, I’ve had a lot of good things, a lot of really good things happen this year, lotta stuff that I wouldn’t consider good, but this is definitely something that I put on top of the good list for sure.

 

 

 

This year’s CMA Awards took time to acknowledge some legends of country music.  There were tributes to a few we lost, including Charlie Daniels, Kenny Rogers, Mac Davis, and Joe Diffie.  They also recognized the 40^th anniversary of the movie Urban Cowboy, with special guests Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee.  One of the highlights had to be the presentation of the CMA’s Lifetime Achievement Award to Charley Pride. 

 

Charley Pride: I appreciate it so greatly. I get asked a lot what award do I like the best, I’ve got so many.  It’s like asking me what song I like the best. I’ll tell you the truth…what song do I like the most?  The one I’m singing at the moment.  So I’m gonna put this with all the other awards and be happy about having them, and I hope I can get some more, and I didn’t come into this business to win awards, but I’ll sure take ‘em.

 

 

 

As we wrap up this edition of Outsiders Radio, I want to thank everyone in the Church Choir for all of your support.  These awards don’t happen by accident.  So a big ‘thank you’ to the fans.  We’ve been releasing a new song every month, and we’ll have another new song coming for you shortly.  But backstage after the CMA Awards, one of the news reporters asked me about all this new music.

        

Eric: I’m just curious you’ve been leaking out these songs, so what happens next? I think with Covid, when we recorded these songs, in December and January, we had a plan.  Then Covid happened, so where we’ve been fortunate we recorded almost 30 songs.  Didn’t know Covid was coming.  So for me, when do we put the album out. I think around March, April, May, we’ll start to get to what used to be normal. I think that’ll be normal for all of us. For touring, for our daily life.  Third quarter is gonna be a great thing.