Swift is the word at the CMA awards show

Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood each took a pair of trophies home at the 41st Country Music Assn. Awards ceremony in Nashville, but the night’s fairy-tale win went to a teenage singer-songwriter who hasn’t even finished high school.

Taylor Swift, a brash Nashville transplant from Pennsylvania who started knocking on music-industry doors when she was all of 11, won the CMA’s Horizon Award for the year’s most promising new artist.

“This is definitely the highlight of my senior year!” Swift, 17, said. “I want to thank God and my family for moving to Nashville so I could do this.”

Her debut album, “Taylor Swift,” came out at the end of 2006 and has sold nearly 1.5 million copies and yielded several country hits, including her breakthrough song about the power of music in ordinary lives, “Tim McGraw.” The CMA win won’t hurt her chances for a Grammy Award nomination; those nods are scheduled to be announced next month.

Chesney, meanwhile, picked up his third straight entertainer-of-the-year award, given to the artist who has the best year on tour. Chesney typically sells more tickets to his concerts than any act in any genre.

Paisley and Underwood won as best male and female vocalists, Paisley’s first win after seven nominations. “I have always wanted to win it once,” he said, “and this will do.” His second award was for the music video for his whimsical single “Online,” directed by and featuring actor Jason Alexander, about Web users who pump themselves up in their Internet profiles.

“American Idol” winner Underwood made it two in a row for female vocalist and took the best single award for her ode to retribution, “Before He Cheats.”

The closest thing to a surprise at Wednesday’s ceremony was Sugarland’s win as top duo over Brooks & Dunn, who had taken home the award the previous six years. But Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles had a stellar year with their “Enjoy the Ride” album, which has sold almost 1.4 million copies.

Rascal Flatts predictably won for vocal group of the year and George Strait’s “It Just Comes Natural” was named album of the year, giving the veteran Texan his sixth trophy in that category. The album also yielded a song-of-the-year win for Bill Anderson, Buddy Cannon and Jamey Johnson, the writers of Strait’s hit “Give It Away.”

--

randy.lewis@latimes.com