History Behind Recognizing Country Music Videos
While the CMT Music Awards are devoted almost entirely to honoring music videos, other country music awards shows take time to honor the effort and creativity that goes into making such clips. But such awards are relatively new in the grand scheme of things.
How new are we talking? Well, the ACM Awards didn’t have a dedicated Video of the Year category until 1984. Its inaugural winner was Hank Williams Jr.‘s “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” which makes sense, because it’s still regarded as one of the best country music videos of all time.
Past winners in the category also include Reba McEntire‘s “Whoever’s In New England,” Garth Brooks‘ “The Dance,” and Miranda Lambert‘s “The House That Built Me.”
An Intriguing Pool Of Nominees
The 2018 winner of the award was sibling duo Brothers Osborne, who won for their rowdy music video for “It Ain’t My Fault.”
The Brothers found themselves nominated in the same category yet again in 2019, not once, but twice. They are nominated alone and also nominated for their collaboration with Dierks Bentley on “Burning Man.”
That isn’t the only interesting fact about the 2019 pool of nominees.
The list features Taylor Swift for the first time since she made her full switch over to pop music a few years back. Her video for “Highway Don’t Care,” which also included Tim McGraw and Keith Urban, won the category in 2013.
It’s worth noting that the award for Video of the Year is not reserved exclusively for the artists. It also goes to the producers and the directors behind the videos.
So which six videos were in the running for the award in 2019? The nominees were:
“Babe” – Sugarland featuring Taylor Swift
“Burn Out” – Midland
“Burning Man” – Dierks Bentley Featuring Brothers Osborne
“Drunk Girl” – Chris Janson
“Shoot Me Straight” – Brothers Osborne
“Tequila” – Dan + Shay
There’s no denying the popularity of these videos, as their views reach well into the millions. The winner was actually announced behind the scenes before the ceremony, and the winning artist was handed the trophy by none other than host Reba McEntire!
So who was that winning artist and what was the winning video? We have your answers right here!
And The Winner Is…
The winning video is…”Drunk Girl” by Chris Janson!
Just announced! @janson_chris wins Video of the Year at the @ACMawards! Watch as @Reba surprises him with his award. pic.twitter.com/02Gv5YpEDU
— ACM Awards (@ACMawards) April 7, 2019
It’s no wonder why the ACM chose this video as the 2019 recipient of the Video of the Year Award. It has earned well over seven million views since it debuted on YouTube in May 2018.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the creation of this video. Their win is definitely well-earned!
Watch the new ACM Award-winning video below!