Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton honored at CMT celebration
CMT honored its 2015 list of Artists of the Year with a host of performances and presentations Wednesday at Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
The night kicked off with Darius Rucker, RaeLynn and Cassadee Pope covering Blake Shelton’s “Neon Light.”
Shelton smiled as he watched from the audience — a smile that grew when longtime friend Trace Adkins walked out to present him with his statue.
“There’s nothing he can’t do other than keep his love life private,” Adkins quipped.
Shelton called 2015 a “crazy” year but said, “how it’s ending (is) so awesome for me.”
Other singers honored as CMT’s 2015 Artists of the Year were Florida Georgia Line, Little Big Town, Sam Hunt and Luke Bryan. Chris Stapleton was named Breakout Artist of the Year, the cast of ABC’s “Nashville” was given the International Impact Award and Kenny Rogers was named CMT Artist of a Lifetime.
“This all started with me when I was 12 years old and I went to see Ray Charles,” Rogers said. “I went home and told my mom, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ Know that some 10-, 11- or 12-year-old boy is saying the same thing to their parents. You can change the world.”
Shelton roasted Bryan on his branded vanilla bourbon scented Yankee Candle as Shelton acknowledged his ACM Awards co-host as a CMT Artist of the Year.
“Everything that’s happened to me is just simply coming from up above,” Bryan said. “I look back and I look at being on stage and staring at all the fans who have dedicated so much to coming to shows and all the people who work behind the scenes. That’s what I think about on nights like this.”
Adam Lambert and Leona Lewis delivered a memorable cover of Little Big Town’s smash hit “Girl Crush” while Little Big Town members Phillip Sweet and Kimberly Schlapman watched from the audience. Sweet and Schlapman accepted the group’s CMT Artist of the Year trophy without group mates Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook. Westbrook’s sister passed away earlier in the week from cancer.
“We’re sitting here in awe of this amazing night,” Sweet said. “Thank you … to this amazing community for cheering a band on like us.”
Hunt closed the show as the evening’s final Artist of the Year honoree. His career took off in the last year and he said if he had to give this chapter in his life a title, it would be “whiplash.”
“I’m trying to figure out who I want to be and how I’m going to be that person in this really abnormal set of circumstances,” he said.
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