CLICK HERE to check out photos from the event!

Following is the list of final nominees. Winners in each of the following categories, except where noted, will be presented with an ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARD during the live television broadcast:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
•Kenny Chesney
•Toby Keith
•Brad Paisley
•George Strait
•Taylor Swift
•Carrie Underwood
•Keith Urban
•Zac Brown Band

TOP MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
•Kenny Chesney
•Brad Paisley
•Darius Rucker
•George Strait
•Keith Urban

TOP FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
•Miranda Lambert
•Reba McEntire
•Taylor Swift
•Carrie Underwood
•Lee Ann Womack

TOP VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
•Lady Antebellum
•Little Big Town
•Randy Rogers Band
•Rascal Flatts
•Zac Brown Band

TOP VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
•Brooks & Dunn
•Joey + Rory
•Montgomery Gentry
•Steel Magnolia
•Sugarland

TOP NEW SOLO VOCALIST OF THE YEAR *
•Luke Bryan
•Jamey Johnson
•Chris Young

TOP NEW VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR *
•Bomshel
•Joey + Rory
•Steel Magnolia

TOP NEW VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR *
•Eli Young Band
•Gloriana
•The Lost Trailers

ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company(s)]
•American Saturday Night – Brad Paisley (Arista Nashville)
Produced by: Chris DuBois, Frank Rogers
•Lady Antebellum – Lady Antebellum (Capitol Records Nashville)
Produced by: Victoria Shaw, Paul Worley
•Play On – Carrie Underwood (19/Arista Nashville)
Produced by: Mark Bright
“Quitter” Produced by Max Martin & Shellback for Maratone Productions and Mark Bright
•Revolution – Miranda Lambert (Columbia Nashville)
Produced by: Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke
•The Foundation – Zac Brown Band (Southern Ground / Bigger Picture / Atlantic)
Produced by: Keith Stegall, Zac Brown
SINGLE RECORD OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company(s)]
•Need You Now – Lady Antebellum (Capitol Records Nashville)
Produced by: Lady Antebellum, Paul Worley
•People Are Crazy – Billy Currington (Mercury)
Produced by: Carson Chamberlain, Billy Currington
•Red Light – David Nail (MCA Nashville)
Produced by: Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke
•Toes – Zac Brown Band (Southern Ground / Bigger Picture / Atlantic)
Produced by: Keith Stegall, Zac Brown
•White Liar – Miranda Lambert (Columbia Nashville)
Produced by: Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke

SONG OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Composer(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]
•Cowboy Casanova – Carrie Underwood
Composers: Mike Elizondo, Brett James, Carrie Underwood
Publishers: Brett James Cornelius Music (ASCAP), Carrie Okie Music (BMI), Rincon Ave Music
(ASCAP), Stage Three Songs (ASCAP)
•Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Composers: Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott
Publishers: EMI Foray Music (BMI), Darth Buddha (ASCAP), Dwhaywood Music (BMI), Hillary Dawn Publishing (SESAC), Radiobullets Publishing (BMI), Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI), Year Of The Dog Music (ASCAP)
•People Are Crazy – Billy Currington
Composers: Bobby Braddock, Troy Jones
Publishers: Crozier Music Enterprises LLC (BMI), Mighty Nice Music (BMI), Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Tiltawhirl Music (BMI)
•White Liar – Miranda Lambert
Composers: Natalie Hemby, Miranda Lambert
Publishers: Pink Dog Publishing (BMI), Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Tiltawhirl Music (BMI)
•You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift
Composers: Liz Rose, Taylor Swift
Publishers: Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Taylor Swift Music (BMI)
VIDEO OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)] (Off Camera Award)
•Boots On – Randy Houser
Producer: Eric Welch
Director: Eric Welch (Drake footage: Vickie Vaughn)
•Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Producer: Clarke Gallican
Director: David McClister
•Welcome To The Future – Brad Paisley
Producers: Mark Kalbfeld, Jim Shea, Peter Tilden
Director: Jim Shea
•White Liar – Miranda Lambert
Producer: Tameron Hedge
Director: Chris Hicky
•You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift
Producer: Randy Brewer
Director: Roman White
VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company] (Off Camera Award)
•Hillbilly Bone – Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins (Reprise Records / Warner Music Nashville)
Producer: Scott Hendricks
•Honky Tonk Stomp – Brooks & Dunn featuring Billy Gibbons (Arista Nashville)
Producer: Ronnie Dunn, Terry McBride
•I Told You So – Carrie Underwood featuring Randy Travis (19/Arista Nashville)
Producer: Mark Bright
•I’m Alive – Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews (Blue Chair/BNA)
Produced by: Buddy Cannon, Kenny Chesney
•Seeing Stars – Jack Ingram featuring Patty Griffin (Big Machine Records)
Produced by: Jack Ingram, Jeremy Stover

It seems that a Grammy, an appearance on Oprah, multi-week No. 1 songs, and writing another No. 1 song for Luke Bryan (”Do I”) are not enough for Lady Antebellum.

During Nashville’s
Country Radio Seminar, the trio played a late night concert for several country radio programmers, including songs like “Need You Now,” “American Honey,” and “Hello World.” Halfway through the concert, label president Mike Dungan came onstage to present them with a plaque commemorating sales of 1 million for Need You Now.

The group took the time to personally thank and hang out with radio programmers for playing their songs before leaving the party around midnight.

The trio also posted a behind-the-scenes look at their new “American Honey” video on their website.

Courtesy of CountryWeekly.com

Brad Paisley’s recent trek to the West Coast yielded some pretty good results—he sold out four shows in Fresno, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Reno. His concert at the Staples Center boasted 13,000 fans and celeb attendees like Sheryl Crow, members of The Jonas Brothers, William Shatner, and members of REO Speedwagon. Not a bad weekend.

Brad’s set to make another journey to California when he appears on March 1 as the musical guest for Jay Leno’s first show back as host of The Tonight Show. Also on the line-up are Jamie Foxx and Olympic Gold medal skier Lindsey Vonn.

Courtesy of CountryWeekly.com

Josh Turner

Source: theboot.com

There’s no quaking at the music chart summit this week, but there’s lot of lyrical lava boiling underneath. Josh Turner’s “Why Don’t We Just Dance” and Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now still sit at the top of Billboard’s country songs and albums charts, respectively — Turner for the second week, Lady A for the third.

And Turner has more to celebrate. His new album, Haywire, makes its muscular debut at No. 2, with first-week sales of more than 85,000 copies.

The other new albums and their curtain-opening spots are Reckless Kelly’s Somewhere in Time (No. 22), The Best of Chris Cagle (No. 34), Rascal Flatts’ Fourteen Love Songs for the Fourteenth (No. 41) and the various-artists collection, Best of Country Gospel (No. 70).

Five CDs return to the chart: Bill Engvall’s Aged and Confused (No. 71), Robert Earl Keen’s The Rose Hotel (No. 72), Three Wooden Crosses: The Inspirational Hits of Randy Travis (No. 73), Willie Nelson’s American Classic (No. 74) and Rodney Carrington’s El Nino Loco (No. 75).

Kenny Chesney scores the highest charting new song, “Ain’t Back Yet,” which enters at No. 23. Also presenting their calling cards this week are Katie Armiger’s “Kiss Me Now” (No. 57), Jessica Harp’s “A Woman Needs” (No. 58) and Steve Azar’s “Sunshine (Everybody Needs a Little)” (No. 60).

Rascal Flatts’ “Close” comes back on at No. 56.

Parading behind Need You Now and Haywire within this week’s Top 5 albums cluster are Taylor Swift’s Fearless, the Zac Brown Band’s The Foundation and Carrie Underwood’s Play On, in that order.

The No. 2 through No. 5 songs are Brad Paisley’s “American Saturday Night,” Jason Aldean’s “The Truth,” Darius Rucker’s “History in the Making” and Billy Currington’s “That’s How Country Boys Roll.”

Have you spotted the song yet you’ll be singing all summer?

Click here to see this week’s Top 30 Country Songs

Josh Turner Photo Gallery>>>

Josh Turner Live Country at Joe’s Bar>>>

Reba McEntire & Blake Shelton will read the nominees for the 45th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, Country Music’s Party of the Year™, LIVE from CBS’ The Early Show. Blake Shelton will also perform.
The 45th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, a three-hour special hosted by Reba McEntire, will be broadcast LIVE from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.

Read more!

Source: theboot.com

She’s a multi-platinum selling recording artist who’s conquered the pop, folk and country worlds. And in addition to penning the majority of songs on her eight studio albums, she’s also written books of poetry. If there’s one thing in which Jewel prides herself, it’s being a writer.

In today’s blog, Jewel tells the sweet story of meeting her future husband. She also shares some painful, yet poignant, memories from her childhood. Read below, in Jewel’s own words, the first in her series of exclusive blogs, as she opens up to fans like never before.

I’d like to tell you a love story. I warn you first though, that I do not believe in “love like the story books say.” I guess it’s the overly simplified romance movie plot lines that fill our heads since birth that could be partly to blame for our unrealistic expectations of what love is actually like – and frankly, for depriving us of a lot of the grit it takes to not only be in love, but stay in love. (more…)

-AUDIO: Listen to Woods news conference (CLICK HERE)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Tiger Woods has apologized for having affairs and says he is unsure when he will return to competitive golf.

“I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did was not acceptable,” said Woods, looking composed and speaking in a steady voice. His wife, Elin, was not obviously present.

As for coming back to the PGA Tour, Woods said: “I do plan to return to golf one day. I just don’t know when that day will be. I don’t rule out it will be this year.”

Woods talked for more than 13 minutes Friday from the clubhouse at the TPC Sawgrass, home of the PGA Tour. About 40 people were in the room, including his mother.

Woods said he is solely responsible for his actions and was in treatment for 45 days. He said he will return for more therapy. He also insisted there were no instances of domestic abuse in his marriage.

The world’s No. 1 golfer had not talked in public since his traffic accident Nov. 27 triggered shocking revelations about Woods’ serial infidelity.

Friday’s event was tightly controlled, with only a few journalists allowed to watch Woods live.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. CLICK FOR PHOTOS RELATED TO THIS STORY

Source: www.theboot.com

He may be an Olympic athlete, but alpine skier Will Brandenburg has something on his mind besides a gold medal — specifically, Taylor Swift!

“I have one of her albums,” he admits to MTV (quote via CMiL) Listing Kings of Leon and Rogue Wave as two of his favorite bands, Taylor may seem like an odd choice in that company, but he admits it’s much more than her musical talents that he finds appealing.

“It’s just the girl next door image that she has going on. I think it’s great,” says the 23-year-old, adding that his teammates “like to give him a hard time about that.”

Not only does Will have a crush on the recent Grammy winner, he took to the airwaves to ask her out on a date! “I think me and Taylor could have a good time. I was just thinking a nice little dinner and a movie date, something like that, so if you’re out there, Taylor … ,” he said during an interview. (more…)

Source: theboot.com

Blake Shelton participated in a live chat on Facebook Tuesday night, to answer a variety of questions from fans on a variety of subjects, including hunting, NASCAR, and, of course, music.

One fan wanted to know if Blake was a fan of pop star Lady Gaga. And while he admitted he doesn’t really know what she sings, Blake did say he likes the way she dresses, especially her outfit at the recent Grammy Awards, “because some of that stuff could come in handy.” He joked, for instance, that if you’re “sitting next to her in the audience, you could set your beer on her hat. It’s practical.”

As for his absence from Twitter for the past several days, he says he needed a break. “Twitter got to be for me a little bit of an addiction,” says Blake. “About a week ago or two weeks ago, I deleted [the application] off my phone because I wanted a break for two or three weeks … it [also] gives the tree huggers a deep breath knowing I won’t be popping off at ‘em anytime soon.”

Blake also discussed his interest in pursuing acting roles. “It’s not like anybody is beating down my doors. I have read for some parts, gotten a part or two for movies that never were made. I think I’m doing what I was meant to do. God’s plan was for me to be a country singer.”

He also revealed that in addition to the Six Pak album, ‘Hillbilly Bone,’ he’ll be releasing in a couple of weeks, there will also be another one in stores this summer, and hopefully, a third one in the fall. The Oklahoma native loves the idea and says, “If I find a great song or write a great song … in a matter of months, I can get it to the fans.” He wrote one of the songs on the new album titled ‘Delilah,’ after watching girlfriend Miranda Lambert’s dog, Delilah, for a day. (more…)

Source: theboot.com

Lady Antebellum is on fire — winning a pair of CMA Awards, having a multi-week No. 1 album and song, performing on the Grammys and coming home with their first Grammy award. Now they’re celebrating another amazing first … a call from Oprah! The trio is set to make their debut appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, live on Friday (Feb. 19).

Lady A will perform a medley of their No. 1 hits, ‘I Run to You’ and ‘Need You Now, as part of ‘Oprah Fridays Live’ show, where the talk show host chats about the latest news and headlines. They believe the coveted invitation, along with the rest of their success, all goes back to a hit song. “There’s nothing more powerful than a No. 1 song or even just a Top 5 song,” (more…)