Luke Bryan wins entertainer of the year at CMAs

Country's power couple came up big again at Wednesday's Country Music Association Awards, but it was Luke Bryan who took home the night's top prize.

Bryan was named entertainer of the year — his first CMA honor — at the 48th annual awards show at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, and former winner Garth Brooks presented him with the trophy.

"First of all, I've never met Garth. Hey, Garth. Can I hug you again?" Bryan joked before getting serious. "I have some angels in heaven, my brother and sister are up there and making this night possible for me."

Miranda Lambert won three major awards — including her first single-of-the-year honor — and husband Blake Shelton nabbed his fifth consecutive trophy for male vocalist of the year.

"This is a big night for my family, so it's amazing to be a part of this," said Shelton, who dedicated his award to his idol, singer-songwriter Earl Thomas Conley.

Shelton is tied for most male vocalist wins with Vince Gill and George Strait. "To be in that category, with those two guys, that's beyond a dream come true," he said backstage. "That's stupid."

Lambert took four awards total: a record fifth in a row for female vocalist of the year, while Platinum won for album of the year, her hit Automatic took best single, and her duet with Keith Urban We Were Us earned musical event of the year. She also kicked off the show by teaming with Meghan Trainor to perform a version of Trainor's pop hit All About That Bass.

"I really poured my heart and soul into this one more than ever," Lambert said when accepting her album trophy, her second win in the category. "I turned 30 last year and felt I needed to sing about new stuff.

"I wrote with a lot of my friends, sang with a lot of my friends … and I appreciate you fans supporting it and relating to it," she said.

Little Big Town snagged its third straight award for vocal group of the year.

"I don't know why we're the recipients of all these blessings coming from heaven, but I tell you we don't take it for granted for a second," said Little Big Town's Kimberly Schlapman.

The light-up outfits the four wore during their medley of Day Drinking and Bang Bang with pop starlet Ariana Grande required "so many people and so many wires in so many places," Schlapman said backstage. "It was a fragile and delicate situation. We couldn't bend over or turn to the side or we would short out."

Added Karen Fairchild, "You don't just sew light that does that into a costume. It takes a lot of planning."

Florida Georgia Line continued making its mark as one of country's hottest acts with a repeat win for vocal duo of the year. "I tell you what, it feels good to be back this year," said FGL's Tyler Hubbard.

"Our fans, night after night after night you continue to blow our minds," Brian Kelley added. "Thank you for letting us do what we love. All we ever wanted to do was play country music."

Kacey Musgraves followed up her 2013 new-artist win with a trophy for song of the year for Follow Your Arrow.

"This award means so much because our genre was built on strong, simple songs about real life," said Musgraves, accepting the award.

Backstage, she called her song "an anthem for all kinds of people" and said it couldn't make her more proud. "For a song that I was told could never, and would never, be a single, it just blows my mind. It gives me a lot of faith that people still love connecting with a message and spreading something when they love it."

Brett Eldredge, who had back-to-back No. 1 singles with Don't Ya and Beat of the Music, got the nod for new artist of the year, three years after he snuck into the seats of Bridgestone Arena early to see what it was like to be a nominee.

"I was just dreaming of what it would be like to be up here," he said. "This is a dream."

To celebrate his two hits, Eldrdge went sky-driving and shark-diving. But he said backstage that he hasn't yet made a death-defying plan for winning the CMA's new artist of the year award. "I've got to do something really crazy," he said. "If anybody has any ideas, bring it on."

Singer/songwriter Mac McAnally won musician of the year for a record seventh consecutive time, and Dierks Bentley won best video for Drunk on a Plane.

Gill was honored with the CMAs' Award of Excellence, and he spoke directly to today's country stars. "I admire so much how you treat each other, your generation of artistry. I'm envious of it. I watch you all love each other and hug each other and high-five each other. It's a pretty amazing thing to watch."

Contributing: Brian Mansfield