2022 ACM Awards Play-by-Play

 Posted by at 8:01 pm on March 7, 2022
Mar 072022
 

In an industry first, the 2022 ACM Awards are airing live from Allegiant Stadium Las Vegas on Amazon Prime, instead of network TV.  The show is about to kick off, so for those that do not have Amazon Prime, refresh this page often for an up-to-the minute play-by-play of tonight’s festivities!  For a refresher, here is the list of nominees.

  • The announcer introduced Dolly Parton as the host for the night.  “I hope nothing punctures me or I’ll be sailing around this room like an inflatable ball!”  She then gave a shout out to her co-hosts, Gabby Barrett and Jimmie Allen.  She then noted she does not talk politics, but did want to send prayers out and dedicated the show to the people of Ukraine.
  • She then introduced Jimmie Allen who came out to perform “Viva Las Vegas.”
  • He introduced Gabby Barrett who came out to sing “Let’s Go To Vegas.”
  • Gabby and Jimmy introduced Eric Church who performed a medley of short snippets of his hits “How About You,” “Guys Like Me,” “I Love Your Love the Most,” “Smoke a Little Smoke,” “Drink In My Hand,” Springsteen,” “Talledega,” “Give Me Back My Hometown,” “Mr. Misunderstood,” “Down Here Buzz,” “Record Year,” “Desperate Man,” “Some Of It,” Hell of a View,” and closed with Ashley McBryde coming out to sing “Heart on Fire” with him.  That was interesting – normally medleys don’t include that many songs.
  • Walker Hayes was introduced by the announced to perform part of “AA” and all of “Fancy Like.”
  • Jimmie Allen, Dolly Parton, and Gabby Barrett came back out to give a monologue.  Jimmie Allen joked about Dolly that “You’re like the Energizer Bunny, but look more like a Playboy Bunny!”
  • They took turns introducing themselves…Dolly joked that Davey Crockett took her to prom.
  • Tom Pelphrey and Guy Torry came out to give out the first awards of the night.

Duo of the Year Award

Group of the Year

  • As Tom and Guy closed out their segment, they introduced a preview of a new Aamzon Prime series Outer Range
  • The announcer introduced Maren Morris for her performance of her new single “Circles Around This Town”
  • Jimmie Allen introduced a collaboration with Parmalee, Blanco Brown, and Brooke Eden performing “Just the Way You Are”
  • The announcer introduced Jason Aldean, who came out to talk about the tragic shooting that took place in 2017 during his show in Las Vegas.  He then introduced Chris Stapleton who performed “Watch You Burn”
  • Yellowstone’s Kelsey Asbille and Luke Grimes came out to present the Song of the Year and Single of the Year awards

Song of the Year

    • “7 Summers,” Morgan Wallen, Josh Osborne, Shane McAnally
    • “Buy Dirt,” Jordan Davis, Jacob Davis, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins
    • “Fancy Like,” Cameron Bartolini, Josh Jenkins, Shane Stevens, Walker Hayes
    • “Knowing You,” Adam James, Brett James, Kat Higgins
    • “Things A Man Oughta Know,” Jason Nix, Jonathan Singleton, Lainey Wilson – WINNER

Single of the Year

  • The announcer introduced a video of Chris Pratt who was on camera to promote his new Amazon Prime series “The Terminal List”
  • The announced introduced Jimmie Allen who performed “Down Home”
  • Dolly introduced Ashley McBryde and Carly Pearce who performed their duet “Never Wanted To Be That Girl”
  • Jimmie Allen introduced Thomas Rhett who performed “Slow Down Summer”
  • The announcer introduced author James Patterson, who announced that his novel with Dolly Parton was released today on Amazon Prime.  He then introduced Kelsea Ballerini and Dolly Parton who performed “Big Dreams and Faded Jeans”
  • The announcer noted that Thursday Night Football is coming to Amazon Prime then introduced Raiders QB Derek Carr.  He was out to announce the winner for Album of the Year

Album of the Year

  • Morgan Wallen accepted the award with a measured acceptance speech, reading from his phone.  He said that when he started this album,  he was kid.  By the time it came out, he was a father.  He thanked the usual suspects and the fans.  Overall it was uneventful after he was banned from awards shows last year.
  • Jimmie and Gabby showed all of the radio award winners on a big screen, then announced that we’re about to see 35 minutes of music (this live play-by-play is tough without commercial breaks!)
  • Brothers Osborne came out to perform “Skeletons”
  • Jimmie introduced Gabby Barrett who performed “I Hope You Dance”
  • Gabby introduced the New Male Artist of the Year (announced earlier in the week), Texas/Red Dirt artist Parker McCollum, who performed his hit single “Pretty Heart”
  • Gabby introduced Breland, who was named a Breakthrough Artist.  After a brief video, he performed “Praise the Lord” – halfway through, Thomas Rhett came out to join him!
  • Jimmie Allen introduced Lainey Wilson, who had previously won New Female Artist of the Year (announced earlier this week), to perform her hit single “Things a Man Oughta Know”
  • Dolly Parton then introduced Jason Aldean who started performing “If I Didn’t Love You” before Carrie Underwood came down from the rafters to join him!
  • Gabby introduced Kane Brown, who she noted was the first artist to lead all of Billboard’s main charts at the same time.  He performed “Leave You Alone”
  • Jimmie introduced Luke Bryan with a video promoting his Dirt Road Diaries series.  He then joked that Luke Bryan taught him how to wear skinny jeans.  Luke came out to perform “Up”
  • As Luke finished, he introduced Jordan Davis who came out to join him to perform “Buy Dirt”
  • The announcer brought out Mickey Guyton who came out to shout out ACM Lifting Lives and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital
  • The announcer then introduced Lady A who performed “What a Song Can Do”
  • The announcer introduced the star of Reacher, Alan Ritchson.  He gave out the awards for Male Artist of the Year and Female Artist of the Year.

Male Artist of the Year

Female Artist of the Year

  • Jimmie Allen introduced Chris Young, the most nominated artist of the night and Mitchell Tenpenny, who performed “At the End of a Bar”
  • Chris Young then performed his hit “Raised on Country”
  • Gabby introduced Kelly Clarkson who was there to perform a tribute to Dolly Parton.  She crushed it with her performance of “I Will Always Love You”
  • Dolly came out to present the final award of the night, Entertainer of the Year

Entertainer of the Year

  • Miranda was not at the show, as she was on tour in England, but did give an acceptance speech via video
  • The show wrapped with the 3 hosts introducing the final performance of the night as Brothers Osborne and Brittany Spencer closed the show with “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'”
  • Overall it was a solid, diverse show.  Only 2 hours instead of 3, but no commercial breaks!  Kelly Clarkson had the performance of the night with her Dolly tribute!  We can’t wait to hear how many people tuned in via streaming versus years’ past on broadcast TV.