Brad Paisley wins CMA’s entertainer of the year award

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

It took five years, but Brad Paisley is finally the CMA’s entertainer of the year.

Paisley won the coveted trophy at the awards show Wednesday night. He had been nominated every year for the award since 2005 but come away empty-handed.

A tearful Paisley compared himself to a turtle on a fence post.

Paisley won in a category that featured two of the night’s big winners. Miranda Lambert won three trophies while Lady Antebellum won two. Keith Urban and the Zac Brown Band were also up for the award.

Paisley served as the host of the evening’s ceremony with Carrie Underwood.

Blake Shelton won the male vocalist of the year, ensuring a sea change in a genre that’s been dominated by very familiar faces.

“Ooooh, shake it up CMA,” Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles said as she watched Shelton hug fianc e Miranda Lambert on his way to the stage.

Country’s “it” couple this year after their spring engagement, Shelton won two awards and Lambert won three: album of the year for “Revolution”; video of the year for “The House That Built Me,” which also scored song of the year for songwriters Tom Douglas and Allan Shamblin; and female vocalist of the year.

And Shelton won music event of the year for “Hillbilly Bone” with Trace Adkins before ending Brad Paisley’s string of three-straight male-vocalist awards.

“After the night that Blake and Miranda are having, I think we can expect a baby in about nine months,” Paisley joked.

Shelton, who has long felt like an outsider in Nashville, gave Lambert a bear hug, then stomped on each step as he walked up to the stage. Reba McEntire, wife of Shelton’s manager, Narvel Blackstock, openly cried as Shelton made his way to the stage.

“It’s about 34 years worth of steps right there for me, y’all,” Shelton said. “This is a really big deal for me.”

Hailed by critics and musicians as the best album of the year, “Revolution” completed a sweep of major country music awards on Lambert’s 27th birthday.

“‘Revolution’ truly has caused a revolution in my life this year,” Lambert said.

Lady Antebellum had nothing to be blue about, riding their hit “Need You Now” to wins for single of the year and vocal group. The hit song about late-night hookups helped Lady A sell 3 million albums so far this year.

“Thank you to my brother, Josh Kelley, for making me to move to Nashville six years ago, I love you,” Lady A vocalist Charles Kelley said after his band took single of the year.

Charles Kelley made the journey with his good buddy Dave Haywood and the two met Hillary Scott a short time later. The rest has been nonstop success with their second album, “Need You Now,” selling more than 3 million copies this year.

The Zac Brown Band won new artist of the year, and Sugarland took vocal duo of the year.