Keith Urban, Band Perry: “Downright Excited” Over CMAs
Keith Urban photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of Capitol Nashville.
A bunch of country artists got really good news over the last couple of days — Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and The Band Perry were just a few of the acts that found out they’re finalists for the 44th annual Country Music Association awards show.
And, guess what: They’re happy! Different forms of happy — in shock, completely elated, humbled — but they’re happy nonetheless.
Here’s what some of the CMA nominees are saying about being on the ballot for Nov. 10:
• Blake Shelton: “After 10 years of being in this business I finally began to tell myself that nominations don’t matter anyway…turns out that’s bull crap…Daddy likey!!!! Thanks to all!”
• Kimberly Perry, of The Band Perry: “We are so humbled and just downright excited to be nominated for CMA Vocal Group Of The Year. The three of us are huge country music fans and are honored to be in this category with some of our favorite artists. Big love and our deepest thanks to everyone for your rich support.”
• Kimberly Schlapman, of Little Big Town: “We are so blessed to have our album debut at the top of the charts, and to have news of this nomination in the same week is just amazing.”
• Joshua Scott Jones, of Steel Magnolia: “Any time we get to set foot in the Ryman [Auditorium] it’s an honor. We [went to the Ryman] honored just to be asked to read the nominations. Country music is such a timeless genre — it’s iconic. And to be accepted as a part of it is the ultimate honor. It was a really good morning.”
• Chris Young: “Any time you hear your name called for something like this, it’s a good day. I mean, it’s just a great feeling… You know, everybody is always excited to hear their name, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard my name called for this. So, it’s a really big deal for me, and it feels just as good as I thought it would. It’s pretty awesome.”
• Jerrod Niemann: “[It’s] just an unbelievable feeling, because I’ve been in Nashville a long time and been part of the community. Nashville’s been my home. I got started as a songwriter, so I’ve been in the trenches a long time and so for everybody to recognize that and give you a pat on the back and say thank you for hangin’ in there… it’s a huge honor.”
• Dave Haywood, of Lady Antebellum: “The year just keeps getting better and better. Charles [Kelley], Hillary [Scott] and I are so thankful for our families and also the family we’ve made in Nashville within the music industry who continue to support us on this crazy ride.”
• Miranda Lambert: “It’s just hard to believe, because it’s so many [nominations], and it’s so many big ones. I guess the most shocking was, obviously, Entertainer of the Year, because at first I didn’t really feel like it was time for me to get nominated for something like that. It just doesn’t seem like it was real at first, so I guess I’m coming to terms with it at this point, but I just can’t believe it.”
• Keith Urban: “What can I say? Huge, massive thank you to everyone who not only made these nominations possible, but also brought a whole new level of passion to our shows this year — from the fans to country radio to the Nashville community. I appreciate it more than you can possibly imagine!”
See the full list of nominees here.
Tim McGraw Hosts “Country’s Night To Rock”
- Tim Mcgraw performs at the Nightly Concerts at LP Field on Thursday, June 10 in Downtown Nashville during the 2010 CMA Music Festival. Photographer: John Russell / CMA.
Now that the Country Music Association has wrapped up its annual nominations process, the organization is looking forward to tonight’s broadcast of an ABC special, “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock.”
The three-hour show is packed with heavy hitters, including Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts and Darius Rucker, and it’s hosted for the first time by Tim McGraw, who’s making it just one of several firsts on his agenda.
For starters, he’s set to play Australia for the first time this month, beginning Sept. 16, and he’s already got some extra-curricular plans. Tim and Faith Hill are making a family vacation out of the trip — he’s earned a pilot’s license and plans to fly out over the outback. In addition, one of his daughters has been working at getting certified to take a scuba expedition in a shark cage and see some great white sharks.
Also on Tim’s agenda is making a new start in his recording career. October will mark 20 years since he first signed a recording contract with Curb Records, and Tim’s said publicly that his next studio album will be his last for the label. He hasn’t announced what his next plans are, though he did start a label of his own, StyleSonic Records, in 2006. Whether he puts out his music on his own label or another one — or even a combination of releases on several labels — Tim’s adamant about getting more creative control over his career.
“I like the idea of not havin’ any restraints about what you can do musically where you really own your music,” he says. “It’s always been sort of frustrating to me as an artist that we don’t own our music. We pay for it. I mean, everybody thinks a label pays for the music. They don’t.”
Record companies do, in most cases, pay the cash up front for recordings, but they recoup those costs later.
“It comes out of the artist’s royalties,” Tim says. “The artist pays for their music, they pay for the recording process, and at the end of the day we don’t own our music. So it’s always been very frustrating to me that we can’t do what we want. So for me, it’s sort of a wild blue yonder for me to be able to own my music, be able to do any kind of music I want at any time and release it any way I wanna release it, and I plan on doin’ that. I plan on doing projects where we’re hangin’ out at the barn rehearsing and recording that live, where we’re doin’ ‘70s rock covers or we’re doin’ a club one night and we’ll record that, put that out — along with sort of a flagship album, too.”
In the meantime, look for Tim on tonight’s “CMA Music Festival” special. A few highlights you can expect to see: Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins doing their CMA-nominated “Hillbilly Bone,” Dierks Bentley and Jamey Johnson performing the CMA-nominated “Bad Angel,” and Keith Urban covering the Beatles’ classic “With A Little Help From My Friends” using a support cast that includes Sarah Buxton and two members of Little Big Town. It all kicks off at 8 p.m. ET.
Here’s a sneak peek at the show and some fun behind the scenes clips:
Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum Take Early CMA Lead
Miranda Lambert photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville. Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.
In a day of firsts, the Country Music Association began a two-day unveiling of the nominations for its 44th annual awards Tuesday, leaving Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and Zac Brown Band in an unprecedented overnight drama as they wait to see if they can maintain the lead positions in the list of finalists.
Miranda’s “The House That Built Me” and “White Liar” each ended up as finalists in both Single and Music Video of the Year, accounting for four of her five first-day nominations. Additionally, both titles are up for Song of the Year, though Miranda received only one nomination in that category; she was a co-writer on “White Liar” but did not compose “The House That Built Me,” which brought Song of the Year nods to songwriters Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin.
Lady A rode “Need You Now” to four nominations, and Zac Brown Band came through with three as Chris Young, Steel Magnolia and Justin Moore read the entries in seven of the CMA’s 12 categories at the Ryman Auditorium. It marked the first time in history that that historic venue has hosted a CMA nominee ceremony, appropriate since it was the venue when the awards were televised for the first time in 1968.
By turning the nominations announcement into a two-day event, the CMA increases the number of stories that media are likely to devote to the process, stretching public attention to the awards over a longer period of time. Finalists were acknowledged Tuesday for New Artist, Single, Song, Music Video, Vocal Duo, Vocal Group and Musician of the Year.
Still to come during Wednesday’s ABC telecast of “Good Morning America” are the nominees for the five remaining categories: Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Female Vocalist, Vocal Event and Album of the Year. Miranda and Dierks Bentley are set to read the results in those fields from New York at 8:30 a.m. ET.
“It’s a huge honor to have your peers in the music industry [recognize you] — it makes you feel like you’re gaining some ground,” said Meghan Linsey of Steel Magnolia, which swiped a nod for Vocal Duo. “We’ve been workin’ really hard the last year and been out on tour and haven’t really had a chance to look up and see what’s goin’ on. So to have a nomination, I think it’s always nice to be noticed by your peers.”
Chris Young was certainly noticed by fellow nominee-reader Justin Moore, who complimented Chris for his “stunning” silver jacket. After Chris picked up a New Artist nomination, Justin was the first to give the selection a thumbs-up.
“This guy’s an incredible singer,” Justin said, “but he’s even a better person.”
Chris quickly reached in his pocket and handed Justin a little cash for the positive p.r.
“I think I gave him 40 bucks and a receipt,” Chris said later. “I love that guy, and it was so cool to have him be so cool with what he said about me. Just an amazing guy, an amazing singer, and we’ve known each other entirely too long at this point, so we always goof off with each other every time we see each other.”
Justin did, by the way, give Chris the back later.
Blake Shelton, Trace Adkins and Easton Corbin were all double nominees. Blake and Trace earned Single and Music Video recognition for “Hillbilly Bone.” They’re likely to pick up a third nomination apiece on Wednesday, since “Bone” is a probable finalist for Vocal Event.
Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will host the 44th annual CMA Awards on ABC Nov. 10 from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Click here for the list (thus far) of the 2010 CMA Awards Nominees.
Lee Brice Finds Patience Pays
Lee Brice photo courtesy of Curb Records.
When “Love Like Crazy” was released to radio stations in August 2009, Lee Brice had no idea how long it would take for the song to hit its stride.
It’s now been on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 53 weeks — that’s more than a year that it’s been in circulation, and it’s still on the move in the Top 5. That longevity is so rare that only one song has ever lasted longer on the country chart: Eddy Arnold’s “Bouquet Of Roses,” which began a 54-week run in 1948.
Still, because it’s been around so long, “Love Like Crazy” could have driven Lee crazy. Plenty of artists admit that they watch the charts obsessively, and his ascent — 56 chart positions in a 53-week period — was agonizingly slow. But Lee had a pretty good method for dealing with it.
“I try and not watch it,” he told The Tennessean. “I try and keep my head down and go play a couple shows.”
It’s not the only way Lee has been forced to wait in his career. He signed with Curb Records in 2007, but it took three years for his first album to make it into the marketplace. The label wanted him to have a Top 20 single before releasing the full CD, so it waited until June 2010 to finally put out Lee’s debut.
His patience might be thinning, though. Lee’s already itching to get to work on the next album.
“I’ve been living with that record for three years,” he said. “I’m ready to start making a new one, just artistically to be able to stay ahead of the ballgame. Artistically I’m nowhere near where I was three years ago when I made that record. I’ve grown as an artist.”
Not that he’s complaining about the wait. Lee does, after all, have a hit that’s on the verge of setting an all-time record. And “Love Like Crazy” is one of country’s 10 best-selling singles online.
“The label has its process,” Lee said. “The [positive] is that right now I have a big Top 5 song and I’m selling records.”
It’s also picked up an awards nomination. “Love Like Crazy” is in the running for Mainstream Inspirational Country Song of the Year in the 16th annual Inspirational Country Music Awards. Lee’s competition is “That’s God” by Jo Dee Messina, “Temporary Home” by Carrie Underwood, “The Man I Want To Be” by Chris Young and “This Ain’t Nothin’” by Craig Morgan.
Can Lee win? To find out… he’ll have to wait. Until Oct. 14 when the trophies are handed out at the Trinity Music City USA Auditorium.
Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood to Host 44th Annual CMA Awards Show
Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will host the 44th Annual CMA Awards Show. Photo courtesy of the CMA.
For the third year in a row Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will return as hosts on the 44th Annual CMA Awards Show. The show will take place in Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 10, airing on ABC starting at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 Central.
“The CMAs are different from any other awards night,” said Brad. “You’re looking at a roomful of people who love each other. And any new viewer will be pleasantly surprised at what they relate to on the Awards and what they like that they had no idea they would like. For that reason alone, this is the most important night of the year for country music.”
“It’s all about country Music,” said Carrie. “We all live here. This is our community. The CMA Awards are in Nashville, the home of country music. It’s great to come here and celebrate that every year.”
Brad has won 13 CMA Awards since receiving the Horizon Award (now the New Artist Award) in 2000, including Male Vocalist (2007, 2008, 2009) and Album (2006 for Time Well Wasted). He also won Musical Event three times, first in 2004 with Alison Krauss for “Whiskey Lullaby,” second in 2006 for “When I Get Where I’m Going” with Dolly Parton, and a third in 2009 for “Start a Band” with Keith Urban; Vocal Event in 2001 for “Too Country” with Bill Anderson, George Jones and Buck Owens; and Music Video of the Year three times, first in 2002 for “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song);” second in 2004 for “Whiskey Lullaby” (again with Krauss), and third in 2007 for “Online.” He is No. 5 on the list of top CMA Award winners of all time.
Carrie has received five CMA Awards in her career, including three consecutive wins as Female Vocalist (2006-2008), as well as Single of the Year (2007 for “Before He Cheats”) and the Horizon Award (2006).
