Chesney gets wedding gift at country awards

A brash newcomer, an Australian and a newlywed recording veteran took away the top honors at the 40th annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

Gretchen Wilson won for both female vocalist and best new artist despite a sometimes in-your-face approach to the Nashville establishment.

Australian Keith Urban took male vocalist and album awards and Kenny Chesney was named entertainer of the year, just eight days after his surprise marriage to actress Renee Zellweger, who was on a movie set and missed Tuesday night’s show.

Urban and Wilson were stunned by their awards.

“I’m just blown away that we’ve come to this point,” Urban said from Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he was touring. “If there’s just one award that I could have picked to win, it’s album of the year.”

Wilson cried as she accepted the female vocalist of the year trophy, ending a three-year run for Martina McBride.