For essentially the past decade, country music fans have been clamoring for either Carrie Underwood or Eric Church to win the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year. They embody the spirit of the award – they are quality musicians, hitmakers, successful touring acts, and electric performers. They are truly beloved superstars in the genre.
Wednesday night, one of them received the long overdue recognition. Eric Church was named the 2020 Entertainer of the Year.
The category also included Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs, and Keith Urban.
The entire room – including the nominees who were present – seemed ecstatic about Church finally receiving his recognition.
Upon accepting the trophy, Church joked about being an odd year in which to win an Entertainer of the Year award (given that COVID-19 essentially nixed the live performances that are a key part of his aura) but praised the country music community for coming together – in person – for Wednesday’s show.