ACM Awards 2012: Eli Young Band, Miranda Lambert win first awards Co-host Blake Shelton and album of the year winner Miranda Lambert arrive at the 47th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards on April 1, 2012, in Las Vegas. Credit: Getty Updated 9:05 p.m. (CBS/AP) LAS VEGAS - The Academy of Country Music Awards got under way Sunday night with a red hot performance of "Good Girl" by Carrie Underwood. Wearing a sexy black and magenta mini-dress, Underwood mixed country with a blast of rock 'n' roll. Pictures: ACM Awards 2012 red carpet Pictures: ACM Awards 2012 show highlights It didn't take long before co-hosts Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire started cracking jokes, calling out everyone from Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney to Taylor Swift and Tim Tebow. The first half-hour saw performances by The Zac Brown Band, Chris Young, The Band Perry and Keith Urban. Eli Young Band took home the first award of the night, scoring song of the year for "Crazy Girl." The album of the year award went to Miranda Lambert for her 2011 release, "Four the Record." Lambert looked surprised upon hearing her name. Seriously? Lambert said when she hit the stage. Rock band KISS announced Lady Antebellum as winners of vocal group of the year. The country trio thanked fans, family and country radio for the win. While country's biggest stars remain the top nominees at the awards - Kenny Chesney has nine and Jason Aldean has six - youthful acts like Chris Young and new artist of the year nominees Scotty McCreery, Brantley Gilbert and Hunter Hayes are on the rise. Young is among the most promising and popular of those young acts, earning his way with a deep voice and the ability to write his own songs. Friend and fellow nominee Luke Laird, who co-wrote Young's latest hit, "You," thinks Young deserves the attention he's getting. "I know a lot of that stuff is political, but I will say and I've written with a lot of artists strictly if you're going by vocals, he's hard to beat," Laird said. I've sat in a room with him and I was blown away. He's a real singer. Among the stars who strutted on the red carpet included the Band Perry, the Eli Young Band and Carrie Underwood, who arrived in a long strapless nude-colored dress with silver details. She said she kept stepping on the hem of her own dress. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland described her custom Max Azria dress color as "watermelon Jolly Rancher." Swift joins the quartet of country's leading men in the chase for the academy's top award, the fan-voted entertainer of the year. Chesney is going for his fifth win, which would move him into a tie for second most trophies in that category with Alabama behind Garth Brooks' six. Swift is the reigning entertainer of the year. Many of country's top stars are slated to perform or appear, along with non-country acts like LL Cool J, Marc Anthony, Ashton Kutcher and KISS. Actor-comedian Steve Martin, who is also an acclaimed banjo player, will help remember the late bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs, who died last week.