I’ll be the first to tell you I generally like to put down all these big magic acts because obviously there’s some mechanical secret behind them all, but I saw David Copperfield out in Las Vegas and… yeah man it was really, really wild… The Academy of Country Music Awards are this Thursday and already things are both off to a hot start and seem to be falling apart before they get going. The Red Clay Strays, who were absolutely robbed of the CMA for Vocal Group of the Year , took home an early trophy for ACM Best New Group of the Year, but that great news was coupled with the fact that Rascal Flatts would be performing with the Backstreet Boys, a combination that no one was asking for yet… somehow makes sense? Even when they get something absolutely right they balance it by getting something absolutely wrong… Well, as the ACMs get nearer, we’ve been taking a little trip down memory lane at some of the most iconic moments that have occurred during the 59 years the award show has been held.

There was Loretta Lynn being the first woman to win Entertainer of the Year, Alan Jackson laughing when the Dixie Chicks were booed , and George Jones thanking someone very interesting, but I want to take us back to 2009, when one of today’s biggest pop stars was still just a country act from Pennsylvania. Taylor Swift was right in the middle of her meteoric rise to fame in 2009. She had released her sophomore album, Fearless , the year before and her self-title debut album was still top of mind for everyone.

She had won the 2008 New Female Vocalist of the Year and was nominated for four awards in 2009: Video of the Year (“Love Story”), Album of the Year (“Fearless”), the Crystal Milestone Award, and Female Vocalist of the Year. Swift would go on to win Album of the Year and the Crystal Milestone award. But before she walked on stage to accept her awards, she made a grand entrance thanks to David Copperfield, the magician known for absolutely wild tricks, many of which involve making something appear.

When I saw him, he made a car appear over our heads and float away off stage… Still no clue how it happened… Wearing an ill-fitting cowboy hat, Copperfield went into his act and showed everybody an empty cage that was hovering off the ground. Curtains were drawn around it and wouldn’t you know, none other than Taylor Swift appeared inside. Take a look for yourself because it truly is wild: Like I said… Wild.

And I’d be the first to call BS if I smelled any. Taylor went on to play “You’re Not Sorry” that night and went on to become pretty much the biggest pop star we’ve ever seen in the years following, leaving country music behind to chase superstardom. Pretty funny compared to today, right?

Pop stars are clamoring to join country music while Taylor Swift was doing her best to leave it. Things sure to move fast these days… Here’s Taylor’s performance right after being materialized out of thin air: The post ACM Awards 2009: David Copperfield Magically Makes Taylor Swift Appear On Stage first appeared on Whiskey Riff