Well, this year’s CMA Awards are all wrapped up, but our man in Nashville, senior writer Dennis McCafferty filed one final report after watching last night’s show live. Read on:

The CMA Awards were extremely entertaining and sometimes surprising, as always. In an era where awards shows seemingly attempt to out-do each other as an exercise in time-stretching tedium, the CMAs remain a tight, entertainment-packed three hours — always beginning and ending right on schedule. The surprises of the evening were earned, especially Shania Twain presenting the Entertainer of the Year award. (The comeback begins now?) The winner for Entertainer, of course, was no surprise: Kenny Chesney (at right). He’s the hardest working tour-guy in Nashville and major talent, and this was his fourth for the CMA’s highest honor. But there were some noticeable groans in the audience when the result was announced, with many hoping that some other deserving performers — especially guitar gods Brad Paisley and Keith Urban — could take this one home. C’mon, voters, time to spread some love. (Oh, and ever wonder why Toby Keith somehow never gets nominated? Even though he dominated our WEEKEND reader poll for live performances? Maybe it’s time for CMA voters to put aside personal sentiment about the guy and evaluate him strictly on the merits of his music and show. Judging from our reader remarks, looks like Toby would be collecting HIS fourth straight Entertainer of the Year award last night if they had the vote.)

CMA results are further proof that USA WEEKEND Magazine is THE newspaper magazine to turn to for the very biggest stars on CMA night. Our cover boys this time were Rascal Flatts. And, once again, Flatts won Vocal Group of the Year for a record SIXTH straight time!

Click on read more to get the scoop on the performances by Taylor Swift and Kid Rock.

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Our Dennis McCafferty wasn’t just interviewing stars as they walked the red carpet at last night’s CMA Awards — he’s a multitasker, so he was able to snap a few up-close photos, too, of famous faces like Miley Cyrus and Nicole Kidman. Check them out in the slideshow below, and come back to the blog later today for a final recap of all the festivities.

The CMA Awards are happening right now, but our Dennis McCafferty was on the red carpet earlier as all the stars arrived and he took the time to fill us in on all the happenings. Read on for his full report, including which country starlet still doesn’t trust shopping online and what Miley Cyrus thinks of sharing her birthday with Thanksgiving:

Kellie Pickler (at left, shown on the red carpet), who was our first ever USA WEEKEND Breakthrough Video of the Year winner at this year’s CMT Awards, says she’s looking forward to her next video, which will be shot with one of her BFFs and fellow country superstar, Taylor Swift. “It’s a song we wrote together called Best Days of Your Life,” Pickler told me, of the song she’ll be performing tonight. “Taylor is like a sister to me. I’m very protective of her.” And while holiday shopping is just around the corner, don’t think you’ll catch Pickler shopping online. “I don’t do any of my shopping there. I’m still nervous about putting my credit card info online. I guess I’m stuck in the ‘90s,” she said.

The first thing you notice about Lady Antebellum, nominated for vocal group of the year, is that this must be the tallest country trio in history. Dave Haywood is 6’1”, Hillary Scott is 5’9 (“But tonight I’m 6’1”,” she told me) and Charles Kelley is 6’6”.  As Kelley put it, “We’re the tallest and thinnest act in country music.” But don’t expect that to last for long, as Thanksgiving is a big deal for this group, especially Kelley. “We have 60 people over at our house,” he said. “That’s a lot of turkey and a lot of hams going into the oven.” So of course I asked him what his official duty was for the holiday. “I’m the one who gets to stay outside and play basketball with all the little kids.” Nice work – beats washing the dishes.

Click on read more below for more scoop from the red carpet, from Darius Rucker, Taylor Swift, Josh Turner and Miley Cyrus.

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More from Dennis at the CMA Awards in Nashville: He got in late in the afternoon yesterday, and made his way to some media events and partying. For tonight’s show, he reports that "My sources tell me there will be two surprise appearances, one as a performer and one as a presenter. I promised to keep a lid on it, but I can say that the surprise presenter is a much-missed artist who’s been laying VEERY low for several years. Sign of a return to the Nashville hit parade? We’ll see. I promised not to say anymore — so check out the show tonight"

Dennis has touched down in Nashville for tonight’s CMA Awards, and he was up bright and early for the Good Morning America concert with Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus. Here’s his report from the show, and you can click here to see Miley’s performance:

How cool is this? CMA Awards day begins bright and early, with the traditional, downtown open-air concert for GMA. And today’s concert had mega-wattage star power, with teen queen Miley Cyrus (a.k.a. Hannah Montana) and her dad, Billy Ray, performing. The crowd started gathering at 3 a.m. to get the best spot. Not that I was actually THERE at 3 a.m.! That’s just what my new FOWs (Friends of WEEKEND) told me when I arrived after 6.

Billy Ray was very warm and gregarious with the crowd. Miley was, well, chilly. Not in a non-personable way, of course. She was downright cold, visibly shivering in between songs. "Are you guys staying warm?" she asked her fans, who roared in the affirmative. Within the crowd of about 500, there were lots of flashing camera phones, pre-teen girls in pink outfits (even one in a fancy ‘princess’ dress) and the requisite little-girl-holding-her "I Skipped School to See Hannah’ handwritten sign. With another young ‘un flashing her "CMAs Totally Wicked" sign, it clearly was a younger vibe here than at last year’s more Budweiser-and-peanut shells flavored crowd for Big and Rich. Miley sang I Thought I Lost You (which she’s singing with John Travolta, as the two are lending their voices to an upcoming animated flick from Disney called Bolt) and Simple Song. Billy Ray sang something about how much he likes coming home. (OK, it was Back to Tennessee. Thanks, Google!)

The official ‘cute’ moment happened when GMA’s Sam Champion (at the left in photo above, with Miley center and Billy Ray right) interviewed the two of them, asking Miley about her big 16th birthday, which is coming up soon, on Nov. 23. (And mine is the VERY next day!) Anyway, Sam was being a bit naughty and pushed Miley on what she was hoping to get as a present from dear ol’ dad. Y’know, something that she can slip into pretty comfortably … And start up with a set of keys … Hmmm … Nice to put Billy Ray on the spot there, Sam. But Billy Ray was more than cool with it. "As long as she wears her seatbelt, it’s OK with me," he said. Awww.

Anyway, the best up-close-and-personal view of the young star may very well have been, well, mine. After the concert, I headed to the local Renaissance Hotel to pick up some newspapers, and, as I’m walking outside the lobby door, who should come out of her black SUV but Miley herself. She good-naturedly posed for pictures. Not any with me — it was outside, after all. Let the girl come inside and get warm, people!

(photo by Adam Larkey/ABC)

Our Dennis McCafferty, resident country music expert for USA WEEKEND, is headed to Nashville for this year’s Country Music Association Awards. He was our man on the ground last year, with tons of inside scoop and great interviews. I’ll let him tell you what to look forward to this year, and be sure to click on read more below to get his picks for who the big winners will be. And keep checking back daily for his reports from the country music capital.

“I’m heading to the CMA Awards for the third year in a row, and you can bet that I’ll be looking to give some juicy blog feeds from the moment my plane touches down in Nashville. Is it possible not to have a great time in this town this week? It’s like Super Bowl week. Everyone is here — country stars, rock stars, ABC primetime and even soap stars. Two years ago, I was getting ribs in line with two stars from General Hospital at a downtown cafeteria-style restaurant. The fun starts with a Tuesday afternoon concert from 4 to 7 pm including Rodney Atkins and Kevin Costner, who — as we told you last week —is doing country these days. Then, Wednesday morning is the traditional open-air concert for Good Morning America — this year it’s Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus (at left). Then the red carpet fun begins around 4:30 pm.

The carpet should be star-studded this year. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, costars in the upcoming film Australia, are presenting. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood are hosting. Kenny Chesney is performing with the Wailers, and so are the Eagles, Kid Rock, Alan Jackson, Darius Rucker, George Strait, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and a bunch of others. Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus are presenting in addition to their GMA concert duties, along with Reese Witherspoon and other huge stars. The CMA folks also promise a couple of good ‘surprises.’ Can’t wait to know!"

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