An Overview of the 44th ACM Award Nominees

Brad Paisley Leads with 6 Academy of Country Music Nominations

Feb 28, 2009 Lisa L. Rollins

The Academy of Country Music recently announced the nominees for its 44th annual awards presentation, which will air live from Las Vegas on April 5, 2009.

The West Coast-based Academy of Country Music recently announced its award contenders for the 2008 contest year, with the majority of winners set to be announced in a live broadcast from Las Vegas, Nev., on April 5, 2009.

The 44th annual ACM contest, which will air on CBS-TV, will be hosted by country star Reba McEntire, who will mark her 11th year as mistress of ceremonies for the country-music awards show.

In addition to serving as this year’s ACM hostess, the red-headed songstress also is a nominee in the ACM’s Vocal Event of the Year for Cowgirls Don’t Cry, a still-on-the-charts collaboration with Brooks & Dunn.

Although the televised ACM program and awards will be presented in 2009, the honors will be bestowed for creative works that were produced during the 2008 calendar year, according to information from the ACM Web site.

Brad Paisley & Heidi Newfield Land Most ACM Nominations

Leading the current crop of ACM contenders is recent double-Grammy winner Brad Paisley, the reigning ACM Top Male Vocalist, who has six ACM nominations this time around, including Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist. He also secured nominations for Single of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year for Waitin’ on A Woman, as well as a nod for Vocal Event of the Year for his duet with Keith Urban titled Start a Band

The top female contender in the upcoming contest is Heidi Newfield, former lead singer for Trick Pony, who’s collected five nominations in her first turn at the ACM’s as a solo artist. The California-reared vocalist is up for Top Female Vocalist, as well as Single Record of the Year for her 2008 hit, Johnny & June. Additionally, Newfield’s nominated as both an artist and composer for Song of the Year and for Video of the Year, again for Johnny & June. (She previously won an ACM in 2001 when Trick Pony took Top New Group.)

Kenny Chesney, George Strait & Jamey Johnson Each Score Three ACM Nominations

Three country artists, Kenny Chesney, Jamey Johnson and George Strait, each received four ACM nominations. Chesney is up for Entertainer of the Year, Top Male Vocalist and on the ballot as both an artist and a producer for his Vocal Event of the Year for Down the Road his number with songwriter-picker supreme, Mac McAnally.

Also, country fans may want to note that if Chesney takes this year’s Entertainer title, it will be his fifth consecutive win, which would cause him to tie Alabama for the most consecutive wins in this category.

Newcomer Johnson, an established songwriter in Music City, is in the ACM running this year for the first time ever as an artist. He’s nominated for Top Male Vocalist, Single Record of the Year and as an artist and composer for In Color, a song he co-penned with tunesmith Lee Thomas Miller. (Johnson scored an ACM in 2006 for penning the Song of the Year, Give It Away, by George Strait.)

Speaking of “King George,” he’s on a roll this year, too, after finally winning his first Grammy in 30 years of country hit-making. Strait’s on this year’s ACM roster in the Entertainer of the Year category. He took that prize in 1989, so if he manages to do it again, he’s a two-time winner in that contest.

The Texas-based singer also is up for Top Male Vocalist and Song of the Year for his 2008 hit, I Saw God Today. In the Video of the Year competition, he’s nominated for his music clip in honor of Troubadour, a recent single. Strait already is a winner this year, having garnered the Academy of Country Music’s Artist of the Decade. In turn, he’ll be honored in a television special to air later in the year on CBS.

Country Singer Carrie Underwood Lone Female Up for ACM Entertainer of the Year

Meanwhile, another recent Grammy winner, Carrie Underwood, has yielded three ACM nods in the 2008 ACMs in the Entertainer of the Year, Top Female Vocalist and Video of the Year categories. She nabbed the last nod, thanks to her video for Just a Dream.

As the lone female in the running for this year’s Entertainer prize, if Underwood manages to take the big prize, she will be only the seventh female ever to do so in ACM history. Previous winners are Loretta Lynn (1975), Dolly Parton (1977), Barbara Mandrell (1980), host McEntire (1994), Shania Twain (1999) and Dixie Chicks (2000).

Aussie Keith Urban has scored a trio of ACM nominations, too, including in the Entertainer of the Year competition and in the Top Male Vocalist and Vocal Event of the Year areas, with the latter nod for his collaboration with Paisley on their Start a Band single.

Taylor Swift, Brooks & Dunn and Other Country Music Stars Yield ACM Nominations

Finally, country artists who landed two nominations each in the 2008 ACM contest include Trace Adkins, Brooks & Dunn, Little Big Town, Sugarland, James Otto, Jake Owen and Taylor Swift. Related to this, country fans might be interested in knowing that if Brooks & Dunn win Top Vocal Duo, it will be their 14th consecutive win. (They also have the highest wins of any nominee, with 26 awards to date.)

Other than Johnson, other first-time Academy of Country Music Award nominees this year include Julianne Hough, Otto, Joey & Rory, Randy Rogers Band, Ashton Shepherd, and Zac Brown Band, respectively. Additionally, multi-platinum artist LeAnne Rimes was named as the ACM’s Humanitarian of the Year winner.

FYI: The ACM presented its annual ACM Radio Awards in an off-camera presentation on Feb. 24, 2009. For winning country stations and personalities, please see my country music blog on Suite 101.

The copyright of the article An Overview of the 44th ACM Award Nominees in Country Music is owned by Lisa L. Rollins. Permission to republish An Overview of the 44th ACM Award Nominees in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.