Carrie Underwood wins Female Vocalist of the Year at "The 42nd Annual CMA Awards," on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, live from the Sommet Center in Nashville on the ABC Television Network. Photographer: John Russell / CMA 11/12/2008 Photo by Country Music Association
Nov. 14, 2008 — Carrie Underwood had quite a busy night during the 42nd annual Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday. She co-hosted the show for the first time with Brad Paisley, sang "Just A Dream" and had nine -- count ‘em, nine! -- wardrobe changes.
If that’s not enough, she won the Female Vocalist of the Year honor for the third year in a row, putting her in elite company. Only three other women have claimed that trophy back to back to back, including Country Music Hall of Fame member Tammy Wynette, 1968-1970; and Martina McBride, 2002-2004. Martina added one other victory, in 1999, bringing her career total to four, which ties her with Reba McEntire in the category, though Reba’s four were all won in succession, from 1984-1987. Thus, if Carrie walks away with yet another CMA Female win in ’09, she’ll tie Reba’s consecutive mark.
So how will Carrie remember this year’s CMAs? Well, just after the show, she was still trying to catalog all of it in her mind.
"There’s a lot of things I’ll remember," she said. "One, of course, is this award. Another is Brad’s quick change from his performance to the opening monologue. I’ve never seen so much of Brad Paisley!"
"I don’t know," she added. "I ruined a couple jokes. It was a good night. It was a blur. I’d like to go back and watch it and critique us in case we’re up for doin’ something like this again."
The mere fact that she introduced the idea suggests that Carrie is indeed up for hosting the CMAs again next year. For now, she’s got two other awards shows in her sights. Carrie is a double nominee for the American Music Awards Nov. 23 and a triple nominee for the People’s Choice Awards Jan. 7.