Blake Shelton sweeps US country music awards

US: Blake Shelton scored a hat trick late Thursday at the 46th annual Country Music Association awards in Nashville, Tennessee, where the victims of superstorm Sandy were not forgotten.

Shelton, 36, a three-time Grammy nominee, took the most-coveted entertainer of the year honor after collecting laurels for best male vocalist and, with wife Miranda Lambert, best song for “Over You.” “What is this? I don't even know,” said the clearly stunned Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter and judge on the musical reality TV series “The Voice.” “I know I'm not out there (touring) as much, and I don't know how this happened -- but I freakin' love it.” The three-hour awards show in Music City's Bridgestone Arena was peppered with mentions of the brutal storm that pummeled New Jersey, New York and other parts of the eastern United States earlier this week.

Jason Aldean, the opening act, dedicated the evening “to all our friends on the East Coast.” Brad Paisley slipped “let's hear it for New Jersey” into his song “Southern Comfort Zone” and fellow co-host Carrie Underwood performed her aptly titled “Blown Away.” “Country music has always lifted people up in hard times,” said Underwood, who encouraged viewers of the nationally televised gala to help Sandy survivors with donations to the American Red Cross.

AFP