Taylor Swift accepts Country Favorite Female Artist award onstage at the 2011 American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on November 20, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Taylor Swift’s winning streak continued as she swept the fan-voted American Music Awards, taking home the top prize for Artist of the Year. She was also named Favorite Country Female Artist and her Speak Now album was voted Favorite Country Album.

Check out our 2011 American Music Awards photo gallery >>

“I ended up writing the record by myself, so the fact that you would honor it this way, you have no idea what this means to me,” Taylor said after receiving the trophy for Favorite Country Album, presented to her by  Josh Kelley and his wife, Katherine Heigl. After the show, she took to Twitter to express her excitement.

“I had one of the most magical nights with my friends tonight! Hopping on a red eye to play our last 2 shows at Madison Square Garden!!” she tweeted . Taylor also received congratulations via Twitter from her pal Katy Perry as well as from Martina McBride.  Continue Reading

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Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Taylor Swift has received three People’s Choice Awards nominations while Blake Shelton and Lady Antebellum snagged two apiece. Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts are also nominated for a PCA Award each. The People’s Choice Awards will air live on CBS on November 11 at 9/8 CT from Los Angeles.

Taylor received nominations for Favorite Country Artists along with Blake, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts. She is also nominated for all-genre Favorite Female Artist with Adele, Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga as well as Favorite Tour Headliner with Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, U2 and Usher. Continue Reading

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Sugarland photo by Jennifer Tzar, courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Sugarland is known for their daring cover songs, whether it’s Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable,” Madonna’s “Like A Prayer”or The B52s “Love Shack,” they will put a country spin on any genre. Their cover of The Dream Academy’s “Life In A Northern Town” with Little Big Town and Jake Owen was even nominated for CMA, ACM and Grammy Awards. Continue Reading

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Country music stars sure love Twitter! Here at GAC, we follow them too. Tonight we’re giving you a special GRAMMY version of Top 10 Tweets of the Week. And yes, there are way more than 10 — but there were so many good ones we didn’t want to stop! Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week , GRAMMY style, starting with a cool photo of multi-GRAMMY winners Lady Antebellum on the red carpet. Here’s a little bit of what the stars tweeted during the GRAMMYS. Don’t forget to check out our GRAMMY wrap-up HERE!

Lady Antebellum on the red carpet at the 2011 GRAMMY Awards. Photo courtesy of Lady Antebellum/Twitter.com/ladyantebellum.

Laura Bell Bundy:  @LauraBellBundy    And @blakeshelton that was the sweetest intro I’ve ever seen. Those are gonna be talented and pretty babies!

Laura Bell Bundy:  @LauraBellBundy   @Miranda_Lambert that’s my girl!!! So raw, emotional and beautiful

The Band Perry:  @thebandperry    Beautiful @Miranda_Lambert , as always.

Emily West:  @emilywestmusic    Miranda. You are a beautiful flower tonight. Sing that song, girl…. It’s gonna win.

Little Big Town:  @LBTmusic    @martinamcbride you just looked and sounded amazing. So proud of you girl! KF

Jewel:  @jeweljk    Wow- loved the Aretha tribute- u guys?

Terri Clark:  @TerriClarkMusic    Ga ga has gone from a meat dress to a chicken getting ready to hatch – i want some of whatever she’s on…

Laura Bell Bundy:  @LauraBellBundy    Holy Fashion police! I have seen some doozy’s tonight! #grammy’s Continue Reading

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Sugarland photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Sugarland is at work on a new album with the title The Incredible Machine, but while the name has a mechanical tone to it, that doesn’t mean the duo is treating it like factory work.

There’s only one ballad scheduled for the project, dominated by uptempo songs that Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles tried to fill with very human qualities. They’re not turning their backs on country music, but they believe the Machine will connect with a lot of pop fans as they try to find new ways to play with Jennifer’s voice.

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Sugarland photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

For the 16th straight year, the Recording Academy is celebrating its awards show with the 2010 Grammy Nominees CD, with five of the 20 tracks on the latest edition coming from country acts: Taylor Swift, the Zac Brown Band, Sugarland, Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts.

It marks the most country releases ever featured on the multi-genre compilation, which has previously never had more than two from Nashville’s best-selling idiom in a single year. In fact, during four of the previous 15 years, no country artists made the nominees CD at all.

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Sugarland photo by Kate Powers, courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Oct. 5, 2009 — Sugarland’s current Live On The Inside album features remakes of songs by Pearl Jam, Beyonce and Kings Of Leon, but they covered another great band during a tour in the spring.

“We went to Abbey Road [studios],” Kristian Bush told The Toledo Blade. “Jennifer [Nettles] and I sat in there and re-recorded ‘Come Together’ to mark the 40th anniversary of the [Abbey Road] album. We were doing it in the same studio on the same mikes as the Beatles. I was just like, ‘Wow.’”

The duo’s recordings of its own songs have helped Sugarland become one of the top acts in the country music business since the release of its first single, “Baby Girl,” five years ago. Sugarland sessions have yielded a bunch of hits — “Everyday America,” “All I Want To Do” and “Stay,” among them — but the moments on stage are still the ones that mean the most.

“We love playing,” Kristian said. “For us, it’s a shared art. Continue Reading

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