Las Vegas Weekly

April 5, 2009 · 7:46 PM

Photo Gallery: Las Vegas darling Julianne Hough wins Top New Artist

By Robin Leach

Chuck Wicks and Julianne Hough at the 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Hollywood stars joined with country music’s best and brightest tonight to ensure total glitz and glamour for the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, and our hometown darling Julianne Hough conquered it all when she won the award for Top New Artist!

Our MGM Grand Vegas resident illusionist David Copperfield, a country music fan, wore a Stetson, and he pulled up his sleeves to pull off an over-the top trick of making Taylor Swift magically appear from an empty suspended box.

The three-hour show was broadcast from the MGM Grand Garden Arena with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jamie Foxx and Matthew McConaughey as guest presenters. But all eyes were on the country kings and queens as legendary Reba McEntire hosted the show for the 11th consecutive year. Fans were out in force to greet the musicians and singers as they endured a media mob on the red carpet.

Vegas DeLuxe will post our photo gallery of the stars as soon as our contributing photographers battle the chaos of crowds and traffic jams. I’ll add my backstage and interview room photos when I get out of here, too, and then tomorrow we’ll have the full photo galleries of all the red carpet glamour, the onstage excitement and the backstage emotions.

Brad Paisley, unable to be in Las Vegas because his wife, actress Kimberly Williams Paisley, is expecting their second child within hours, and George Straight led the leader board as the glittering night got underway with six nominations apiece. They are pitted against each other in three categories: Entertainer of the Year, selected by viewer votes, Album of the Year and Top Male Vocalist.

George, who is the most nominated artist in the history of the Academy of Country Music Awards with a total of 78, will get his own TV special here tomorrow night when he’s honored as Artist of the Decade. His record-breaking career has spanned nearly 25 years. We’ll give you the advance peek at that TV special tomorrow before the taping gets underway for the eventual May 27 broadcast on CBS.

Hard on their heels, boots and spurs are former Trick Pony singer Heidi Newfield and newcomer Jamey Johnson with five nominations each. Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood each received four nominations, with Jake Owen and Keith Urban tied at three nominations apiece. Read on to find out the surprises and who won, who lost and who said what!

I was backstage as the show began precisely at 4:59:50 p.m. to allow for the 10-second delay for the 8 p.m. primetime live transmission to the East Coast. As Vegas DeLuxe first reported, the show opened with Reba in a sexy sparkling short cocktail dress introducing some country greats to kick off the show: Brooks & Dunn, Taylor Swift, Sugarland, Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts singing brief bites from their individual hits and then all joining together in one long lineup right across the stage for “Play Something Country.” “Now that’s a stimulus package,” Reba quipped.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban at the 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

After Kenny Chesney performed “Out Last Night”, Jennifer Love Hewitt in a long white flowing gown announced the first award of the night for Song of the Year battled out among George Strait, Jamey Johnson, Heidi Newfield, Brad Paisley and Trace Adkins.

Jennifer said she was not only a big fan of country music but also of Vegas. “There’s no place I’d rather be,” she said before announcing, in a surprise win, that Jamey Johnson had won for “In Color.” He previously won Song of the Year for “Give It Away” in 2006, which was recorded by George Strait. Jennifer also admitted that she might even turn to a country singing career one day since she’s from Texas. She said she was excited about meeting Miley Cyrus and George because she’s such a fan.

Darius Rucker of Hootie & the Blowfish fame presented the second award. Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Rascal Flatts, the Lost Trailers and the Randy Rogers Band competed for Top Vocal Group, with the honors going to Rascal Flatts. It was their seventh consecutive win, beating the record previously held by Alabama. Vegas regular Darius is their new opening act for this summer’s stadium tour.

The network TV cameras just love our Vegas hometown heroine Julianne, who attended the Las Vegas Academy and whose mother lives here. With country singer boyfriend Chuck Wicks at her side, it’s obvious they will become the country prince and princess media darlings -- and she’s en route to superstardom. The media mobbed them on the red carpet, and then during the show itself, there were numerous cutaways to both of them.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Miley Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus at the 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Julianne, who had previously won the fan favorite voting for Top New Female Artist, won Top New Artist, beating out Jake Owen, a Top New Male winner, and the Zac Brown Band, a Top New Group winner. She was in tears accepting her award. Backstage, I asked her how she felt about having such a meteoric rise to fame.

“It’s been incredible,” she said. “Television has had a lot to do with it, but to make that transition from dancing to country music would have been much tougher. I’m amazed that all the stars here tonight are watching Dancing With the Stars, and a lot of them are voting for me. I can’t wait to find my cell phone to call my mom to tell her what happened. I’m just sorry I won’t be here tomorrow for George Strait, but I am so thrilled to be doing his tour this summer.”

Julianne and Chuck leave on an early morning flight to be back in Hollywood for tomorrow night’s episode of Dancing With the Stars, where they will partner for a Viennese Waltz to a Rascal Flatts number.

Jamie Foxx was another Hollywood superstar who admitted, also coming from Texas, that he’s a big country music fan, especially of George Strait, who he introduced. Jamie says he will be a guest singer on the salute to “his best buddy” George taping tomorrow night.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Carrie Underwood at the 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

In the competition for Top Vocal Duo, Sugarland beat out Big & Rich, Brooks & Dunn, Montgomery Gentry and Joey + Rory. Martina McBride announced the five nominees for Top Male Vocalist -- Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, George Strait and Keith Urban -- and the award went to Brad Paisley.

Carrie Underwood beat out Miranda Lambert, Heidi Newfield, Taylor Swift and Lee Ann Womack for Top Female Vocalist. Nominated for Single Record of the Year were Miranda Lambert’s “Gunpowder & Lead,” Jamey Johnson’s “In Color,” Heidi Newfield’s “Johnny & June,” Brad Paisley’s “Waitin’ on a Woman” and Trace Adkins’ “You’re Gonna Miss This,” which won.

The Album of the Year Award went to Taylor Swift for “Fearless,” beating out Carrie Underwood’s “Carnival Ride,” George Strait’s “Troubadour,” Montgomery Gentry’s “Back When I Knew It All” and Jamey Johnson’s “That Lonesome Song.”

There were two unexpected incidents at the ACM awards show behind the scenes. Trace, who was the runner-up on the first season of Celebrity Apprentice, took a shot at this season’s participant Dennis Rodman. Trace said that if the former bad boy of baseball didn’t change his ways, it would wind up killing him.

Photo: TVT

Toby Keith in anger mode backstage at the 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Toby Keith also took the opportunity to single out a reporter from a Nashville newspaper over the publication of a Rolling Stone story by actor Ethan Hawke. Both Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson denied the story, but the Tennessean published it anyway without reaching out to Toby. He lambasted the reporter with a series of F-bombs, and it seriously looked as if he might leave the media stage and go after the writer -- but cooler heads prevailed, and Toby left the room abruptly after demanding to know why the writer hadn’t bothered to call to get a denial! Click HERE for HitFix's retelling of the incident!

But the biggest surprise of the night was when Carrie Underwood won as Entertainer of the Year! She was the lone female among nominees Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, George Strait and Keith Urban. Matthew McConaughey made the awards presentation.

Click back for our photos from the Academy of Country Music, and tomorrow we’ll have all the onstage performance photos, too.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Share This