Country music power couple Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert stole the show at the CMA Awards Thursday night, picking up male and female vocalist of the year, respectively, as well as the song of the year honor, making them the first married couple to do so.
Shelton also won entertainer of the year for the first time. "The Voice" coach told CNN that his career is "in uncharted territory, and we’re trying to figure out what the right things to do are."
Taking home the coveted entertainer of the year award, he said, "I guess we’re doing the right thing! And it’s such a good feeling, because everything I do, first and foremost in my mind is how I’m representing country music. I will always try to push the boundaries as much as I can because that’s what every important artist that came before me did."
Shelton won the song of the year award for the track "Over You," which he wrote with his wife. Lambert told CNN that her husband doesn't always have the confidence to write, so they did it together.
"We wrote 'Over You' about his brother that passed away 15 years ago, and it came out in January as my single. His dad passed away that same month," Lambert said. "And the whole story is just so real, and so raw and emotional, and Blake’s not a super-confident songwriter. I mean he’s a really great artist, but he never has a lot of confidence as a songwriter and I’m a songwriter first and foremost, so sometimes I have to force him to write."
So to win the song of the year CMA Award "not as artists, not as a couple, but as two songwriters, and to celebrate it together, it’s really amazing," she added.
The lead nominee at the CMA Awards was Eric Church, who picked up the album of the year title last night with "Chief."
The "Springsteen" singer told us that he actually wasn't expecting to take the win, considering he was just a best new artist nominee last year.
"To go from there to here in a year I think is a testament to the record, I think it’s a testament to the fans, I think it’s a testament to the path that we’ve been on," he said. "It’s been longer, but I think it’s been the right way, and we’ve built it the right way and I’m proud of it."
Country music as a whole has become a major force in pop culture - see, ABC's new series "Nashville" and Taylor Swift setting records with her latest album, "Red" - and Church recalls a time when the music wasn't so mainstream.
"When I started in 2005 ... I remember playing college campuses, and it wasn’t cool to have a country artist’s face or name on your shirt. It wasn’t cool, it wasn’t hip," he said. But now, "that's all I see. ... I see country artists with that demographic, with that age."
What's brought about the change, he thinks, is that country artists have become more creative.
"We're killin' it," he said, noting how country burns up the Billboard charts. "I think a lot of that is that we've let creativity be the driver."