Classic CMA Awards Moments [VIDEO]

It's country music's biggest week, and our friends at the Country Music Association, and their blog #countrymusic have reminded us of some of the AWESOME moments from awards shows past.

First, a bit of history - the very first (non televised) awards show was held in 1967 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.The second awards show was taped by NBC, who waited a few weeks to actually televise it - huh? Since then, it has been live, first on NBC from 1969 through 1971, CBS from 1972 through 2005, and now on ABC through present day. The location of the awards ceremony has also changed too - from the Grand Ole Opry to it's present location at Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville. For some unknown reason, the CMA thought it would be a good idea to move the show to New York City in 2005. A city, who, by the way, has no country radio stations AT ALL. Way to go, ya'll.

Some of the most memorable moments from the CMA Awards are completely unexpected - like the 2001 debut of Alan Jackson's 'Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning', right after the 9/11 tragedy. People were visably crying in the audience, and it was very, very, moving. Watch the video below.

And another Alan Jackson moment in 1999, who was irked at the CMA for what he perceived was their mistreatment of George Jones, so he cut his own performance short on live tv, to glide into the Jones tune 'Choices'. The slap in the face to the CMA was loud and clear.

One of my favorite moments was in 1997, when pop superstar Sting sang with Toby Keith on 'I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying'. It was one of the first times a rock star played his own song onstage during the live show, and they even managed to get the nominees out for the Musician of the Year category. Pretty awesome.

In 1999 our friends from Alabama performed with one of the hottest boy bands on the planet - NSYNC - on 'God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You'.

Check out some more memorable moments from the CMA Awards, and enjoy the show live on ABC at 7:00 pm Wednesday!