LIVE WONGIE: carrie underwood and steve tyler, sugarland, taylor swift, rihanna and jennifer nettles (sugarland), keith urban, zac brown band and james taylor (academy of country music awards 2011 performances)

if you haven't figured it out yet, i really like country music (albeit a more crossover friendly kind). last nights academy of country music awards was an impressive collection of the best the scene has to offer (with some surprises thrown in). not all the performances are available online (keith urban, zac brown with james taylor and a killer opening from sugarland), but the second they do show up, i'll add it for you. check out what i have found so far below!]


blake shelton and reba mcentire opening
[it's so cheesy, but i still giggled]


carrie underwood and steve tyler - undo it / walk this way
[her vocals are amazing! throw in steve tyler and this duet is probably the best of the evening. just awesome!]


sugarland - tonight (unstaged)
[UPDATE: found this performance by the AMAAAZING jennifer nettles and kristian bush! how strong is her vocal? it's just epic!]


taylor swift - mean
[the song is super cute and probably my favorite track off her album, so it's nice to see her perform it in an old school style for her peers.]


rihanna and jennifer nettles (sugarland) - california king bed
[it all kind of starts off meh, but then jennifer nettles shows up and riri ups her vocals to match the sugarland lead singers' genius. probably one of the best vocal performances by rihanna i've seen in awhile!]


keith urban - without you
[UPDATE: just a wonderful song that keith performed so intimately on the ACM stage. he just seems so happy when he's singing this beautiful song (which surprisingly wasn't written by him)]


zac brown band and james taylor - colder weather / sweet baby james
[UPDATE: there was something so touching when james taylor took to these lyrics, which was a wonderful ending to a really strong show!]