The trio won three all-genre awards, Album of the Year for Taking the Long Way, plus Record and Song of the Year for “Not Ready to Make Nice.” They also were honored for Best Country Album, Taking the Long Way—despite the fact that the record was not played on mainstream country radio—and Best Country Performance by a Group or Duo With Vocal. Carrie Underwood came away with two awards for her hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel”: Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. Carrie also won the all-genre Best New Artist award. After the show, Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines commented on winning the awards in light of being boycotted at country radio for her anti-President Bush comments in 2003. “I think people are using their freedom of speech tonight with all these awards. We get the message.” Other winners in country categories include:

Best Male Country Vocal Performance—Vince Gill, “The Reason Why.”

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals—Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.”

Best Bluegrass Album—Instrumentals, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.