Paisley, Swift Big Winners At CMT Music Awards

Taylor Swift Photo: Alan Mayor

Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift emerged as the biggest winners with three and two trophies, respectively, at last night’s 2009 CMT Music Awards. Paisley took home top honors for Male Video of the Year (“Waitin’ On A Woman”), Collaborative Video of the Year (“Start A Band” with Keith Urban), and CMT Performance of the Year, along with Alan Jackson, George Strait and Dierks Bentley (for Alan Jackson’s “Country Boy” from CMT Giants: Alan Jackson). Swift brought home Female Video of the Year and the night’s highest honor for Video of the Year (“Love Story”). It was her second consecutive year to sweep these categories.

Racking up for the seventh consecutive year, Rascal Flatts won Group Video of the Year (“Every Day”); while Sugarland captured their third-in-a-row Duo Video of the Year (“All I Want To Do”).

Hosted by actor/comedian Bill Engvall, the Awards kicked off with an opening sketch featuring the hilarious collaboration between rap artist T-Pain and Swift, rapping to a new version of Swift’s hit “Love Story,” called “Thug Story.”

Brad Paisley Photo: John Russell

Dierks Bentley, Darius Rucker, Lady Antebellum, Trace Adkins, Rascal Flatts, Kellie Pickler, Toby Keith, and Paisley performed. In addition, a number of surprise performances marked the evening as Sugarland took the stage with Atlanta neighbors the B-52s for a confetti-filled version of their hit “Love Shack.” Urban ventured into the crowd with his No. 1 single, “Sweet Thing,” and then later joined Jason Aldean onstage for his rockin’ No. 1 hit, “She’s Country.” Swift and Def Leppard closed the show with a recreation of their CMT Crossroads performance of “Pour Some Sugar On Me.”

A stage sponsored by Nationwide Insurance hosted up-and-coming artists Jason Michael Carroll, Carter Twins, Eric Church, Eli Young Band, Gloriana, and Joey + Rory. These six acts combined with the 13 main stage performances marked a record 19 total performances. A record seven million votes were cast online at CMT.com and on mobile to determine who walked away with trophies. The evening’s winners are as follows:

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video of the year; awarded to the artist (male, female, group/duo or collaboration) and the video director.

* Taylor Swift – “Love Story” (Director: Trey Fanjoy)

MALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video by a male artist; awarded to the artist

* Brad Paisley – “Waitin’ On A Woman”

FEMALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video by a female artist; awarded to the artist

* Taylor Swift – “Love Story”

COLLABORATIVE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video that featured a special collaborative appearance by artists; awarded to the artists (individual, group or duo)

* Brad Paisley with Keith Urban – “Start A Band”

CMT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Musical performance on a television show, series or variety special on CMT; awarded to the artist (individual, group or duo)

* Alan Jackson featuring Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley and George Strait – “Country Boy” from CMT Giants: Alan Jackson

VIDEO DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Best video director of the year; awarded to the director for his or her body of work from the past year

* Trey Fanjoy (award eligible videos include: Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and George Strait’s “Troubador”)

GROUP VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video by a group; awarded to the artists

* Rascal Flatts – “Every Day”

WIDE OPEN COUNTRY VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video from an artist outside the mainstream of country music; awarded to the artist (male, female, group/duo or collaboration)

* Kid Rock – “All Summer Long”

DUO VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video by a duo; awarded to the artists

* Sugarland – “All I Want To Do”

USA WEEKEND BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Best video from an artist’s major breakthrough album; awarded to the artist (male, female, or group/duo)

* Zac Brown Band – “Chicken Fried”