Country Music's Amazing Night In The Spotlight

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

I used to think Fan Fair week was the most exhausting week of the year; maybe it's now CMA week ... or it sure was, 2010 version.

Add a Tim McGraw movie premiere to the mix and you have too much candy.

I have no voice ... add the emotions to the exhaustion for the artists and you have need for a vacation now!

The CMA Show in its 44th edition has found new life on ABC. They do the synergy so much better than the stodgy CBS. It's by far the best thing the CMA ever did. The ratings for the show are in:

• In viewers and young adults, ABC posted its strongest Wednesday results in one year - since 11/11/10.
• The Network hit its best Adult 18-49 number on any night this season, while delivering the top non-sports rating for any evening on any night this season.
• Retaining 96% of its overall audience from last year (16.5 million vs. 17.2 million) with its second most-watched telecast since 2005, the "CMA Awards" posted its highest Men 18-34 number in four years and its best number with Kids 2-11 in five years - since 2006 and 2005, respectively.
• An estimated 33.8 million viewers watched at least some portion of "The 44th Annual CMA Awards" on ABC during its three-hour broadcast - unduplicated Viewers 2+ who watched six minutes or more of the telecast.

Impressive for a show that started out without TV at all...1967. Unrecognizable now.

With a red carpet that stretched a crazy one block, it was a big affair on any scale. Smaller than Grammys, but not by much these days.

With three Oscar winners in the house, there was no lack of star power. The production design is among the best of any award show -- including the Grammys. The sound still has its bad moments, but they all do. It's a LIVE show and nearly impossible to do.

The winners this year went like many of us thought they would. Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert took over the night in all important categories. I'm so glad she didn't sweep. That would have been bad and overkill. It went down just right.

Reaction from folks? Everyone has an opinion. Some artists choose to take more chances than others. The new Brad song was great ... The duet with Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson was first-class, too.

Taylor was sophisticated and Dierks was fun. So was the Zac Brown/Alan Jackson segment.

I'm still trying to figure out why Zac Brown and company seemed to avoid the media spotlight all week. Must have a reason, but I never got one. The rest of the stars seemed to get a work-out. Part of the point of doing these shows is media contact and awareness.

Some choose to do it one way and that has in the past blown up. Be very careful of staying away when you get hot, then ask to get in when you are not.

Brad Paisley winning Entertainer of the Year topped up a great week. So well deserved! I'm glad the voters got it right this year with Brad, Miranda and Blake. Lady A is a gem. Country music is a good hands right now.