Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley will host the 2011 CMA Awards. Photo courtesy of the CMA.

Nominations were announced this morning for the 45th Annual CMA Awards, to be held Wednesday, November 9 at 8/7c on ABC. What do you think of the list? Leave us a comment below!

Entertainer of the Year
Jason Aldean
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Taylor Swift
Keith Urban

Male Vocalist of the Year
Jason Aldean
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban

Female Vocalist of the Year
Sara Evans
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Vocal Group of the Year
The Band Perry
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Rascal Flatts
Zac Brown Band

New Artist of the Year
The Band Perry
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Thompson Square
Chris Young

Vocal Duo of the Year
The Civil Wars
Montgomery Gentry
Steel Magnolia
Sugarland
Thompson Square

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

It was quite a year for the Coal Miner’s Daughter — 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of Loretta Lynn’s emergence as a national star, and she was honored in a slew of ways, including parties, awards and a tribute album by some of today’s top artists.

Loretta was joined by several other legends as 2010 honorees, including Merle Haggard, Jimmy Dean and now Dolly Parton. The recognition paid to the genre’s pioneering acts represents the No. 10 entry in our countdown of country music’s dozen top stories of the year.

Loretta’s first single, “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl,” came out in 1960, and it seemed like every few months during 2010, the music business found some way to pay homage to her impact. Early in the year, she was accorded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, though she was unable to attend the Los Angeles ceremony. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was added to the National Recording Registry, she was saluted with an anniversary party at her Tennessee home, she was celebrated with a Reba McEntire-hosted Recording Academy Salute at the Ryman Auditorium, and a bunch of her classics were remade in the album Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn.

That latter project brought Loretta the opportunity to sing the title track with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow on the Country Music Association Awards. The album also features Lee Ann Womack, Kid Rock, the White Stripes, Alan Jackson and Carrie Underwood, among others. Loretta hand-picked all of the contributors — appropriate, because she’s not one of those veteran stars who dislikes newer versions of country music.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Loretta Lynn was not the Lynn that earned acclaim for recording “Rose Garden” — that would be Lynn Anderson.

But Loretta can grow her very own, self-named rose garden now, thanks to the creation of the Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose. The apricot-colored hybrid was created by Brad Jalbert of Select Roses in British Columbia. He named it after Loretta’s Grammy-winning album Van Lear Rose after being approached by Sony Music Nashville, which then presented the flower to her. Loretta will receive a shipment of the strain at her home in Tennessee this spring, and it will go into wider distribution next fall.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

When Loretta Lynn showed up on Wednesday’s Country Music Association Awards, a lot of anniversaries lined up in the process.

She’s currently celebrating 50 years as an entertainer. And 40 years ago, she was on the national country charts with the biggest hit of her career, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” the song she sang on the awards with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow.

Sissy Spacek had a role in the CMA tribute, too, and even that marked an anniversary, since 2010 is 30 years since the release of the movie Coal Miner’s Daughter.

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Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton on the Black Carpet at the 44th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 10, 2010 in Nashville. Photo by Brian Kaplan Photography.

In a night that was short on surprises, Blake Shelton had one big moment that injected a shocking new name into the proceedings at the 44th annual Country Music Association Awards and helped keep some parity in his future family.

As expected, Blake’s fiancee, Miranda Lambert, won Album of the Year from the CMA for Revolution, and she added to her first-time haul by picking up Female Vocalist and the Music Video trophy, for “The House That Built Me.”

Not surprisingly, Blake’s “Hillbilly Bone,” a collaboration with Trace Adkins, also swiped the Musical Event of the Year. But when Blake took Male Vocalist of the Year in the show’s final hour — well, who the heck saw that coming?

Certainly not Blake, who stood in a surreal state of disbelief before he stomped up the steps at the Bridgestone Arena to claim his prize.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

In the 1960s and early ‘70s, when Loretta Lynn was at her commercial peak, country hits were notably short musical affairs.

“Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” ran a quaint two minutes and nine seconds. “Fist City” came in at 2:13. “You’re Lookin’ At Country” was a scant 2:20.

So it was apropos that when the Recording Academy honored the Coal Miner’s Daughter Tuesday, it took just 45 minutes — short and sweet and pretty neat. Host Reba McEntire started the night off with a zippy western-swing version of “If You’re Not Gone Too Long,” bolstered by the Time Jumpers’ triple-fiddle section, pass-around solos and a walking stand-up bass.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Five decades ago, Loretta Lynn and her husband-manager, “Mooney” Lynn, drove station to station around the U.S. promoting her first single, “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl.” All these years later, she’s a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and a global symbol for country music, and she was honored Friday at her Coal Miner’s Daughter Museum in Tennessee for 50 years as an American icon.

A bevy musicians and music-industry executives were on hand for the occasion, including Marty Stuart, Crystal Gayle, Jack Greene and Terri Clark. Ronnie McDowell presented Loretta a painting he had created, depicting her when she was 10 years old and living in Kentucky. A string of presenters included John Carter Cash, arranger Bill Walker and Ray Walker, of the Jordanaires, the Hall of Fame vocal quartet that backed Loretta on such classics as “You’re Lookin’ At Country,” “Blue Kentucky Girl,” “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

There were also video tributes from Wynonna, Big Kenny, Keith Anderson, Martina McBride, Kellie Pickler and Dolly Parton. The ceremony took place in a sweat-filled tent outside the museum. The museum houses an extraordinary volume of memorabilia, including letters from presidents, stage wear and a string of awards — none of which have led Loretta to think of herself as anything other than the little girl who grew up in poverty in an eastern Kentucky shack.

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Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley.

Jaw-dropping.

There’s probably not a better phrase to describe an all-star band that’s being put together by producer T Bone Burnett. Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, who sung the Grammy-winning “O Death” on T Bone’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, will share the stage with keyboard players Elton John and Leon Russell, eclectic rocker Elvis Costello, Americana artist Neko Case and actor Jeff Bridges under the banner T Bone Burnett’s Speaking Clock Revue. They’ll be assembled Oct. 24 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., during the second day of Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit.

The rock-and-country mix in T Bone’s ensemble is reflective of the multi-genre texture of the event’s larger lineup. Country-rock pioneers Buffalo Springfield will reunite for the weekend, and country’s Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson will play the same stage as Americana’s Lucinda Williams, classic-rockers Jackson Browne and Billy Idol, and modern-rock bands Pearl Jam and Modest Mouse.

The link between country artists and their pop and rock peers is strong these days. And it’s in full force in a lot of ways. Among other notable examples:

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry.

Last week, Loretta Lynn got doubly good news when her “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was entered into the National Recording Registry and Vintage Books announced it was re-releasing her autobiography in September.

Now her autumn schedule is looking even more attractive. The Recording Academy has announced that Loretta will be recognized during the second Grammy Salute To Country Music Oct. 12 at the historic Ryman Auditorium. During the night, she’ll receive the Recording Academy President’s Merit Award. She’ll also be given her Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; she was unable to attend in January when the Academy recognized her — alongside Bobby Darin and Michael Jackson — with that honor in January.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Interscope Records.

This fall will mark a whopping 40 years since Loretta Lynn hit radio waves with “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” but the song is enduring enough that it made news in not just one, but two different ways on Wednesday.

For starters, the book that carried the same name, Coal Miner’s Daughter, will be reissued in September by Vintage Books, which will market the autobiography as a paperback, an e-book and an audio book, narrated by Sissy Spacek. Sissy is, of course, a natural for that job, since she won an Oscar for portraying Loretta in the movie that was built around the book and even got a Grammy nomination for her own recording of “Coal Miner.” The movie, in fact, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

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