Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift big winners at CMT Music Awards

Nashville – Brad Paisley and teen sensation Taylor Swift were among the big winners at tonight’s 2009 CMT Music Awards held at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn. Hosted by actor and comedian Bill Engvall the awards show featured live performances from a host of country music stars including Trace Atkins, Dierks Bentley and Keith Urban. The winners of tonight’s 2009 CMT Music Awards were based entirely on fan submitted votes through cmt.com.

Swift picked up the CMT Video of the Year Award and Female Video of the Year for her music video “Love Story” while Paisley snagged Male Video of the Year for his video, “Waitin’ on a Woman” along with the Collaborative Video of the Year Award with Keith Urban for their video “Start a Band” and CMT Performance of the Year with Alan Jackson, Dierks Bentley and George Strait for their rendition of Jackson’s “Country Boy.”

Country music power trio Rascal Flatts, under no surprise, took home the award for Group Video of the Year for their video, “Every Day,” and Sugarland, while nominated for five separate awards two in the same category, only picked up Duo Video of the Year for “All I Want to Do.”

“Fans, you guys have defined and redefined country music. Thank you for following us wherever we’ve been going,” said Sugarland’s Kristian Bush during the duo’s acceptance speech.

The evening’s first honor was given to the Zac Brown Band for the USA Weekend Breakthough Video of the Year for “Chicken Fried.”  Cross-over artist Kid Rock was selected for Wide Open Country Video of the Year for his video “All Summer Long.”

The show’s non-award highlights included an opening comedic skit where Swift shared her dream to rap in a music video with Rapper T-Pain. Paisley, with the help of his iPhone, tweeted, “Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!standing on stage in awards.. More later…” to his Twitter.com followers @paisleyofficial as he finished his acceptance speech for Male Video of the Year. Sugarland’s Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles surprised viewers with an unexpected performance of the 1989 hit “Love Shack” with the song’s original artist, the B-52’s.

Non country music celebrity appearances included actor Luke Wilson, news anchor Bill O’Reilly and Olympian and Dancing with the Stars winner Shawn Johnson.

For a complete list of winners and other show highlights, visit cmt.com.