Taylor Swift Becomes Youngest CMA Entertainer of the Year

Taylor Swift turned heads at Wednesday night's 43rd Annual CMA Awards in Nashville. Swift took home four awards for Video of the Year ("Love Story"), Album of the Year (Fearless), Female Vocalist of the Year and the prestigious Entertainer of the Year. This makes the 19-year-old the youngest CMA Entertainer of the Year.
"In this moment, everything that I have ever wanted just happened to me," Swift said during her acceptance speech for Entertainer, choking back tears.
Earlier in the evening, the young superstar made reference to the now-infamous Kanye West incident during the Video Music Awards; as she accepted the Female Vocalist award, Swift quipped, "I want to thank every single person in this room tonight for not running up on this stage during this speech."
Brad Paisley, who co-hosted the awards show with Carrie Underwood for the second consecutive year, also poked fun at the Kanye incident. During a mock acceptance speech by Paisley, 88-year-old Little Jimmy Dickens walked onstage and interrupted, saying, "Excuse me! Excuse me sir...I'll let you finish later. Now Brad Paisley, I know you had a nice video and all that, but Taylor Swift made the best video of all time. You go girl."
Meanwhile,Lady Antebellum took home the first award of the night, Single of the Year, for "I Run To You." The trio ended Rascal Flatts' reign in the Group of the Year category by nabbing that award as well.
Darius Rucker, who jumped into the crowd during a lively performance of "Alright," grabbed the award for New Artist of the Year. Rucker stepped into the Country world after his multi-platinum run with Hootie & the Blowfish and, according to Reuters, is only the second African American to win a major individual CMA Award. The first was Charley Pride.
Rucker told reporters backstage, "I'm proud to be that guy who picked up where Charley left off. But I'm a musician. I want to sing and all that other stuff is for you guys to talk about."
In other award news, Brad Paisley took the award for Male Vocalist of the Year and Sugarland snatched Duo of the Year for the third time in a row. A shocked Jennifer Nettles said, "Well, we don't usually expect this, but we definitely didn't this year."
Nettles also invited Brooks & Dunn onstage to say a few words as it was their last CMA Awards before they retire as a duo. However, Brooks & Dunn declined the offer, leaving Nettles to say, "Thank you for what you've done for us. Thank you for what you've done for Country Music. It's an honor to be in your category."
2009 CMA Award Winners:
Entertainer of the Year: Taylor Swift
Single: "I Run to You," Lady Antebellum
Album: "Fearless," Taylor Swift
Song: "In Color," Jamey Johnson, Lee Thomas Miller, James Otto
Female Vocalist: Taylor Swift
Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley
Vocal Group: Lady Antebellum
Vocal Duo: Sugarland
Musical Event: "Start a Band," Brad Paisley (duet with Keith Urban)
Musician: Mac McAnally
Music Video: "Love Story," Taylor Swift
New Artist: Darius Rucker