"Obama Must Be Glad They Didn't Wait To Give Out The Nobels Until November..."

Today, Randy Travis and I have something in common.

He wrote it. I said it.

I Told You So.

Yesterday morning, during my "special CMA Day" show, I predicted on air that the winner of the Best New Artist CMA Award would be Darius Rucker.

But rather than just spitting out a name at random, I explained why I thought it was going to shake out that way. And with the asterisk attached that all awards are based on subjective criteria, here was the madness behind my method.

If the award was going to live up to its name then, I said, the most likely choice was Jamey Johnson. He is new, his work is certainly unique, which qualifies it, in my book, as "artistry" and while the adjective "best" is always a slippery slope, I thought that he "best" represents what one might expect to find in a "best new artist."

Here's why, in the judgement of the CMA, Darius is and Jamey isn't.

The best new artist, that is.

Like the Motion Picture Academy and the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Country Music Association likes to posture itself as an "artistic" organization, paying homage and doing due dilligence to those of its members who exhibit the highest caliber of the aforementioned artistic achievement.

As my granny used to say...oh, poo.

In large measure, the CMA Awards, like the Oscars and the Grammys are, at the heart of it, awards given to the most popular performer, performance, etc in any given category.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

But, come on, kids. Does anyone with an ear older than six honestly think that Taylor Swift is a "better" singer than, say, Martina McBride?

I'd love to get Taylor and Martina on a show some morning, have both of them sing the National Anthem and then open the phones to let listeners decide which one brought the house down.

Game, set, match, McBride.

But Taylor Swift is this year's CMA Female Vocalist of the Year.

The comparisons can go on ad nauseum.

Does the "show" that Taylor puts on hold a candle to the show that Chesney puts on? Or Paisley?

But Taylor Swift is this year's CMA Entertainer of The Year.

And Darius Rucker, who is an established pop star with an obvious talent who brought a whole CD buying crowd of skeptical pop fans over the fence with him when he jumped into the country cooker, is this year's CMA Best New Artist of the Year.

In the news..."Pop Star Sees the Light...Turns Country and Sells Millions..."

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Darius Rucker being embraced by the country music industry and country music fans.

You go, Hootie.

But giving him the Best New Artist award over folks like Jamey and Zac Brown, et al, reminds me of a very funny thing Jay Leno said a long time ago.

It was in the early days of Madonna's career. She had a couple of hits under her bustier and MTV, in its own award giving wisdom, chose to bestow upon her its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Leno announced that during a monologue the next night and added...

"...wow...that oughta give Ella Fitzgerald something to shoot for...."

My guess is the odds are good that Darius is a lock for next year's CMA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Alright...indeed...