Carrie Underwood walked away as the big winner with six awards at the Inaugural American Country Awards on Fox. The show featured some killer performances, but not a whole lot in the line of awards. So how did the show stack up to the other slew of country music award shows?

On the plus side, the ACAs were overall high energy and filled with performances. I think Trace Adkins was the perfect choice for the host. For one, he's as country as country can be and you don't get the feeling with him that he's wearing the cowboy hat just for show. He was also very witty and very funny. If the ACAs come back for a year number two, I hope they keep Trace around as the host.

The ACA's have come and gone and while it seemed a bit laid back compared to some of the other award shows, overall it was a good show. It seemed like the awards were few and far between but looking at the list of categories and winners proves otherwise.

The fan voted awards used to rub me wrong, but when you think about it, it's probably a good thing that the fans choose the winners of so many award shows now. Because industry shows seem to have the same 6 artists win everything. Where at least the fan voted shows tend to mix it up a bit depending on how fervent and spirited they are about voting.

All of the performers did surprising well! The medleys were a little much, but fans in attendance seemed to love them.

The big winners of the night were Carrie Underwood - taking home 6 awards, Lady Antebellum - snagging 4 awards, and Easton Corbin - 3 awards.

Here is a list of the categories and winners:

Artist of the Year
Carrie Underwood

Artist of the Year: Male
Brad Paisley

Artist of the Year: Female
Carrie Underwood

Artist of the Year: Duo or Group
Lady Antebellum

Lady Antebellum comes up huge with six Grammy Award nominations. Lady A is up for:

Album of the Year for "Need You Now"
Record of the Year for "Need You Now"
Song of the Year for "Need You Now"
Best Country Album for "Need You Now"
Best Country Song for "Need You Now"
Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "Need You Now."

Here's the full list of nominations for country artists:

Best Female Country Vocal Performance
Satisfied - Jewel
The House That Built Me - Miranda Lambert
Swingin' - LeAnn Rimes
Temporary Home - Carrie Underwood
I'd Love To Be Your Last - Gretchen Wilson

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2010 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year winner, Blake Shelton recently sat down with the Academy of Country Music for a chat about touring and plans for his upcoming wedding with Miranda Lambert who just happens to be the new CMA Female Vocalist of the Year. In true Blake Shelton style humor and outtakes are included.

The 2011 Country Stampede in Manhattan, KS won’t even take place for another 218 days but plans are in full swing and it looks as though June 23-26 is shaping up to be quite the party. The main stage line-up has already been confirmed to include Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum and Blake Shelton. Yes, that’s right…the 2010 CMA Entertainer of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year winners are all taking the same stage to perform within days of each other! Kansas sure knows how to land entertainment, don’t they?

And, that’s not all. Also guaranteed a performing spot on the main stage are Joe Nichols and newcomer Jerrod Niemann. Other acts to be featured on various smaller stages throughout the week are “Love Your Love The Most” singer, Eric Church, Sawyer Brown, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Collin Raye and Troy Olson. If you’re thinking the roster sounds full just wait, even more announcements are to come at a later date.

Toby Keith may have sat out the CMA Awards last week but he will be front and center performing on the inaugural American Country Awards on the Fox Network. He'll be joined by Rascal Flats, Reba, Blake Shelton and Josh Turner who are also scheduled to perform.

Other artists who will make appearances on the telecast include Lady Antebellum, Laura Bell Bundy, Rodney Carrington, Jewel and ex-Poison front man Brett Michaels. I guess the CMAs had Kid Rock, so why not Brett Michaels on the AMAs?

The awards are fan voted and will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand Hotel. They take place on Monday, December 6th.

Fans can still vote here for artist of the year through December 4th on the show’s website. The nominees are Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and the Zac Brown Band.

So, be honest, are you excited about this third major Country Music Award Show in the mix? Or is it too much?

http://theacas.com/

We already know that Miranda Lambert already celebrated her 27th birthday with a big night and three wins at the CMA Awards ceremony, but now we know what Miranda's fiancee CMA Award winner Blake Shelton got Miranda for her birthday gift. An Apple iPad.

"She's freaking rich, man." Shelton said, "She can get whatever she wants." So he does his best to keep up on what's new on the market so that he can buy them for her before she has a chance to get them herself.

The couple, which has been dating for five years now, is planning for a spring wedding next year. Shelton said that they're at the point in the relationship where they can just tell each other what presents they want. Seems like a pretty good system to me!

Blake and Miranda ware the reigning male and female CMA vocalists of the year.

Have you ever wondered what kinds of things go on during an award show like last nights CMAs that we just can't see on television? Well, Billboard dished the dirt on their web site for us.

Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton dominated the night both in front of and behind the cameras with their multiple award wins. Billboard points out that some people were just how talented their children will be!

With the soon-to-be-wed Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton dominating the night, Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley said he was anxious for them to have a child so they could "See how good that thing sings."

Loretta Lynn also gave her approval of Miranda saying that "Nothing in country music is more country than Miranda." I have to agree, she's got twang, she's got attitude and I hear she's just about always packing some heat in her handbag! Got to love that in a woman!

Miranda Lambert didn't have to throw herself a 27th birthday bash last night, the 44th Annual Country Music Awards had that covered for her. Miranda was nominated for a staggering nine awards and walked home, or more likely floated home, carrying three trophies. She won awards for Music Video, Album and Female Vocalist of the Year.

Miranda's style is more rooted in hard core Texas country than a lot of the artists around the country music scene, but that didn't stop her from rocking out in a Ramones-esque version of the John Prine song "That's The Way The World Goes Round," from her latest release Revolution, a song that rocks harder than most actual rock and roll songs on the radio today.

She then went into that pure country mode when she joined Loretta Lynn and Sheryl Crow on Lynn's classic hit "Coal Miner's Daughter." The difference in the style between the two songs couldn't be greater but Lambert handled both with ease. Even though she's been around the country music industry for almost a decade, I think we're seeing the true birth of a superstar here.

Watching the awards show is always exciting and this years show was no exception. For the third straight year Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood hosted the program and their quick witted banter was actually entertaining to say the least.

It's always fun to see who performs, who presents and how bent out of shape the fans get about it all. We all want our favorite artists to perform and when they aren't chosen things can get pretty heated out there on twitter and facebook and the like. I get a good chuckle out of that. Anyway, this years performers were all pretty darn good and nothing too unexpected took place.

At the end of the night these were the winners:

Musician of the Year – Mac McAnally

Music Video of the Year – “The House That Built Me” Miranda Lambert, Director: Trey Fanjoy

Vocal Event of the Year – “Hillbilly Bone” Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins

Single of the Year – “Need You Now” Lady Antebellum, Producers: Paul Worley and Lady Antebellum

Song of the Year – “The House That Built Me” Songwriters: Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin

New Artist of the Year – Zac Brown Band