ACM Awards Presented a Utopian Picture of Country — Steeped in Tradition, and Dominated by Women.

Country queens (and princesses) and hat acts old and new were the order of the day on the 60th annual show. A completely representative picture of where modern country is at? Not necessarily, but the skew was welcome.

If you were to judge the current state of country music solely by what you saw on Thursday night’s Academy of Country Music Awards show, you’d be riding pretty high in the saddle in your feelings about where the genre is at, at least if you come from a position of harboring some deep respect for where the music has been and where it still could be. For one thing, neo-traditionalism is back, or it was in the ACMs’ vision of things. Not only were country’s relative elders constantly visible throughout the show, but even the still-rising stars and newcomers on view seemed to be echoing the sounds and attitudes of previous generations, in a way we haven’t seen so pervasively in years.

The ACMs’ producers seemed to have an agenda that went beyond just going with the will of the people in affording Wilson and Langley so many nominations and wins. The presentation of the female artist of the year trophy had an Oscars-style assemblage of previous winners forming a lineup to heap praise on this year’s nominees, something that was not afforded the menfolk in the equivalent gender category. The sight of Martina McBride, Gretchen Wilson, Sara Evans, Crystal Gayle and Wynonna Judd all in a row was a reminder of a time when female giants walked the earth. It would have been merely wistful, if the celebration of women ended there.