Best And Worst Moments At The 2019 CMA Awards

May 2024 ยท 2 minute read

The 2019 CMA Awards' official website promised a "history-making opening performance" โ€” and buddy, they didn't disappoint. Dubbed the "Women of Country Performance," the biggest female stars of country music โ€” from past and present โ€” opened the telecast with a nearly nine-minute medley of the genre's greatest hits, from Dolly Parton's "Those Memories of You" to Martina McBride's "Independence Day."

Just check out this lineup: Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood, Dolly Parton, Jennifer Nettles, Crystal Gayle, Sara Evans, Tanya Tucker, Martina McBride, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, Natalie Hemby, Brandi Carlile, Gretchen Wilson, Terri Clark, Kimberly Schlapman, and Karen Fairchild. And in the audience? None other than country music icon Loretta Lyne, a.k.a. the first woman to win the CMA Award for entertainer of the year (via Vulture).

"The CMAs have decided that it's an important enough time right now at this point in America and the things that we're fighting, dealing with as women that it's important to show the respect that country music has for women in this industry," Gretchen Wilson told the Tennessean. "We try to carry it on as females in country music. We pay it forward. That's what we've always done. Just like in any industry, the women in this industry have had a hard road ahead of them." The "Redneck Woman" songstress added, "We're fighting the same fight everyone else is fighting, and we're getting there slowly just like every other woman is."

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7XCpKCsr5mbwW%2BvzqZmam9kbYZ6e8Geqq1lkaOxbsPOq6qtZZ2kuqa606xkmqxdqbWmeZFpaHJlk6Kubq3Wmqmdq18%3D