Having a good cry on stage seems to be the thing to do these days. Are you even accepting an award or presenting unless you start to sob? It's easier to illicit sadness than make people laugh, after all, so why make the effort of being funny? Reba McEntire jumped on the trend of heartstring pulling and reminisced on past pain at the ACM awards.
Videos by Wide Open Country
After her performance opening the ACM awards, McEntire took to the mic to formally open the event. She pointed out a number of the nominees and looked back on her time with the organisation. She then reminisced on her first ever ACM awards win.
"Whoever wins tonight, I can relate to the excitement because I won it in 1995. And my friend Naomi Judd handed me the trophy. I miss her," McEntire said, tearing up. Her friend and peer took her own life in 2022, just a day before being entered into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Reba McEntire Pays Tribute To Past Country Music Stars At ACM
It wasn't only Naomi Judd that McEntire paid her respects to at the ACM awards. After singing a country number, she looked back on the people lost over the past year.
"Tonight we remember Kris (Kristofferson), and all those in our extended country music family who passed on this past year. And that list includes my buddy Joe Bonsall from the Oak Ridge Boys, the wonderful singer songwriter Melba Montgomery, the highly respected music publisher Ben Vaughn, and Dolly Partons husband of 60 years, Carl Dean."
Her heartfelt tribute to the legends of country lost over the past year brought a tear to a few people's eyes. Every year, more legends from the genre pass away, and McEntire took the time to draw attention to those that we have lost.
But, from there, the ACM awards were able to move on, and celebrate some of the new talent that has been born into the genre. Well, it should have anyway. Instead, they just awarded the same old artists the same old awards again.
