The only consolation for anyone with a serious case of FOMO, the fear of missing out, is that for now, almost everything is cancelled. But that’s small consolation. Nowhere feels the impact of the quarantine more than Nashville. In Music City, Broadway is closed, venues are locked, and even restaurants are limited to curbside pickup and drive through. The impact hits big name and struggling musicians as well—not just the ones that played Bridgestone and the Ryman, but every corner bar and small venue too.
Tonight would have been a big night for Country Music, with the Academy of Country Music Awards scheduled for Las Vegas with Keith Urban as host. Instead, the awards show is rescheduled for September, but music plays on. With Gayle King of CBS as host, a star-studded lineup of the biggest stars in country music performed from their own homes, introducing ACM’s Lifting Lives program, introduced to offer relief to members of the country music industry experiencing need as a result of the current pandemic.
Keith Urban, scheduled to host the award ceremony, opened the night by pointing out that “music is such an incredible healing mechanism . . .that brings us together.” Like all the performers who followed, he began with thanks to the medical personnel, first responders, public safety officers on the front lines day and night.”
The theme most reported in the night is the reminder “We are in this together, and we’ll get through this together.”
The evening continued as performers in casual clothes, recording themselves on iPads, cell phones, and tablets, shared their music from their living rooms, back porches, and even from pickup trucks. Even without fancy equipment and close proximity, the music didn’t disappoint. Members of Lady Antebellum performed “What I’m Leaving For,” a particularly timely song evoking images of those who are still leaving home to fight the Coronavirus. They sang from their separate homes with their children sharing the spotlight with their antics.
Carrie Underwood, more familiar belting out her songs in front of a full orchestra wearing glamorous costumes, sang “Drinking Alone from her sofa with a small pour of wine on the side table.
Little Big Town sang “Next to You”—playing from Florida and Tennessee—with the same iconic harmony fans expect in live shows, this time accompanied by a single guitar.
Between the home performances, flashbacks to earlier ACM Awards performance of years past reminded viewers of what they are missing right now.
Tim McGraw sang “Humble and Kind” with his accompanist on guitar, percussion and keys in three separate locations.
Before playing “Homecoming Queen,” Kelsea Ballerini admitted this was “not how we pictured this night going. But what a time for music,” she told audience. “Let’s grab our guitars, sit in our living rooms, and play our hearts out for each other.”
Matthew Ramsey and Trevor Rosen, members of this year’s ACM most nominated group Old Dominion, managed to sit across from each other in the same room while practicing social distancing at Trevor’s house in Franklin, performing “Some People Do.”
Before singing “Never Break, Heart,” Eric Church had a message from the heart for his audience about fear of the unknown: “Here’s what I know. I have hope and you should have hope because since the beginning of time, people have gathered for worship, for fellowship, for prayer, for song, for communion, and for grief but they gathered. And they will gather again. Be brave and endure.”
Brad Paisley performed with his friend Darius Rucker, whom he inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. They Face-timed between Nashville and Charleston to perform a medley of “Mud on the Tires” and “Wagon Wheel,” returning at the close to perform a tribute to Kenny Rogers.
All of the country stars sang from comfortable settings of their choosing—home studios, living rooms, back yards.. Shania Twain joined in from Las Vegas, singing “Honey, I’m Home” and a stripped-down acoustic version of “I Feel Like a Woman” in her barn, photo-bombed but not fazed by her horse who kept trying to steal the scene.
Power couple Blake and Gwen sang their new duet “Nobody but You,” fireside from Tishimingo, Oklahoma, “also in lockdown like the rest of you all. . . hiding away doing what we’re supposed to do,” Blake added, “and also like everybody else, drinking all day. “
Nashville radio personality Bobby Bones shared information about ACM Lifting Lives, a COVID-19 response fund, pledging $250,000 and planning to match an additional $250,000 in contributions (receiving pledges at acmourcountry.com).
Thomas Rhett from his home studio in Nashville performed “Be a Light,” a song he released on March 30, his birthday, singing, “Don’t hide in the dark. You were born to shine. In a world full of hate, be a light,” then repeating the mantra of the night: “We’re all in this together.”
The show also highlighted songs by Brandi Carlile, Luke Bryan, and Luke Combs, as well as Dierks Bentley and Florida-Georgia Line. Cane Brown and John Legend delivered their world debut of “Last Time I Say Sorry,” the song they had hoped to perform first on stage at the ACM Awards.
Miranda Lambert sang “Bluebird” from her farm near Nashville with her guitar and iPad on the porch where she has “done a lot of healing, a lot of thinking. . . [and I] got married here.” She told listeners, “Thanks goodness we can still connect. Lean into your music, your guitars, your pianos, your voices.”
Florida-Georgia Line played from the living room with well-behaved kids, singing “Blessings, a song to encourage. From Nashville, Sheryl Crow sat at her piano and played “I Shall Believe” in front of a fire as she reminded fans that “when things are most challenging, it’s my faith that I fall back on. We’ll come out on the other side and we’ll be better for it.”
Host Gayle King celebrated all the stars who “said yes” when asked to help pull off a most unusual alternative, ending the show remembering Joe Diffie, who died recently from the Coronavirus and then ending with a salute to the late Kenny Rogers, ending with a medley of the Gambler’s best loved songs by some of his biggest fans and closest friends in the industry.
With no idea when Music City will once again bring live music to fans, the country music industry is setting high standards for keeping music playing as we all get through this together.