Clockwise from top left: Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley & Taylor Swift.

Topping the list of final nominees with five nominations each for The 45^th Annual CMA Awards are Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Taylor Swift. Right on their heels are The Band Perry and Zac Brown Band, who each received four nominations as a group, while individual members Kimberly Perry (of The Band Perry), Coy Bowles and Zac Brown (of Zac Brown Band) each earned a solo nod as a songwriter.

“‘Country Music’s Biggest Night(tm)’ is shaping up to be a tight race with an outstanding group of new and established nominees topping the list,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “With no clear frontrunner there will be a heightened level of excitement and anticipation for the CMA Awards in November.”

The 45^th Annual CMA Awards will be hosted for the fourth time by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and broadcast live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 8-11 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

For the sixth year, the announcement of the final nominees in five of the 12 CMA Awards categories was made live on ABC News’ Good Morning America with The Band Perry and Jake Owen delivering the news from the heart of New York City’s Times Square. Finalists in the other seven categories were announced by Jerrod Niemann and CMA Vocal Duo and New Artist of the Year nominees Thompson Square from the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which was home to the first broadcast of the CMA Awards in 1968.

Jason Aldean received first-time nominations in five categories in 2011 including Entertainer; Male Vocalist; Album for My Kinda Party, produced by Michael Knox; and Single and Musical Event of the Year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson, also produced by Knox. Jason has two prior nominations including the Horizon Award in 2007 and in 2008 when the category changed names to CMA New Artist of the Year. Kelly was last nominated in 2007 for Musical Event of the Year with Reba McEntire for “Because of You.”

Jason’s golden touch in 2011 extended to songwriters Brantley Gilbert and Colt Ford, who penned his “Dirt Road Anthem,” nominated for Song of the Year.

CMA’s reigning Entertainer of the Year, Brad Paisley, received five nominations for Continue Reading

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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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Keith Urban at the Hard Rock Cafe on Monday, November 8, 2010.

It’s a tough time for a lot of people: bad economy, some folks in Nashville are still piecing their lives back together six months after a major flood.

But it’s good times for some, including Keith Urban, who was the subject of a party at Music City’s Hard Rock Café on Monday. It served a dual purpose: It allowed Capitol Records to present him a platinum award for selling a million copies of his last album, Defying Gravity. It also celebrates the release of his next album, Get Closer.

You can be sure that Keith is aware of — and sensitive to — the hard times others have experienced. Those floods in May bordered the Hard Rock — the same place they held the party — and Keith showed up in a lot of places to help raise money for water-logged victims in the past six months. He’s also aware of the tough financial times. They’ve hit the music business with a vengeance, and Capitol’s parent company, EMI, just went through a difficult lawsuit in New York from a financier who was unhappy with the way his investment worked out.

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Mel Tillis at the ACM Honors on September 20, 2010. Getty Images/Courtesy of the Academy of Country Music.

Martina McBride, Randy Travis, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Kenny Rogers were among the artists who showed up to perform on their behalf.

Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Toby Keith and Barbara Mandrell were among the acts who sent their support via video.

But even more can be said by taking an inventory of the artists who were not on hand that were affected by the people who graced the stage Monday at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium: George Strait, Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker, Josh Turner, Rascal Flatts, Alan Jackson, George Jones, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain… The real task would be to find artists who did not benefit from the raft of people — musicians, producers, concert executives, songwriters and pioneering artists who were honored at the fourth annual ACM Honors.

The event allowed the Academy of Country Music to give a more detailed account of the behind-the-scenes people and the pioneers of the genre than it could provide during its fast-moving televised awards.

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Keith Urban photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

With the 45th annual Academy of Country Music Awards a dozen days away, the ACM dropped a long list of trophy recipients Tuesday that’s tattooed with a few publicly recognizable names — including Keith Urban and Mel Tillis — as well as a bunch of significant songwriters, musicians and executives. The off-camera winners, as they’re called, will be formally recognized when the West Coast-based Academy presents its annual ACM Honors in Nashville Sept. 21.

Keith is being honored with the Jim Reeves International Award for bringing global attention to country. Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, he’s done that somewhat naturally by connecting the dots between his homeland, the U.S. and Canada. Named for one of the first country stars to establish a strong presence overseas, the International Award has previously gone to such figures as Garth Brooks, Roy Clark, Dick Clark and Dolly Parton.

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Keith Urban photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

When BMI threw a Music Row party Tuesday to celebrate Keith Urban’s No. 1 single “Only You Can Love Me This Way,” the event took on an international air.

The international part is easily apparent: Not only is Keith Australian, but both of the song’s writers — British-born Steve McEwan and Scottish John Reid — are from across the Pond. But the “air” part of the event was significant, too. Keith spent the bulk of his day flying from Los Angeles to make the Nashville soiree, then travelling back to California before he finally called it a night. John was unable to attend because he was in flight from the U.K. to Thailand.

Despite the global history of the participants, “Only You Can Love Me This Way” has taken foot particularly well on U.S. soil, becoming the second release from Keith’s Defying Gravity album to top the charts.

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The title track of Jimmy Wayne’s new Sara Smile album is a remake of a 33-year-old Daryl Hall & John Oates hit, but it’s not the only song on the CD Jimmy picked up from another recording act.

In fact, Jimmy made the other song, “Things I Believe,” the opening track on the disc. He got it from Keith Urban but only after a phone call to make sure Keith really wanted to surrender it.

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Hall & Oates (l) sing on Jimmy Wayne's single, the Hall & Oates classic, "Sara Smile." Photos courtesy of The Valory Music Co.

When it came time to find a producer for his next single, Jimmy Wayne‘s label president, Scott Borchetta, knew just who to call — hit maker Dann Huff. Dann’s worked with some of country’s biggest stars, including Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Rascal Flatts and many others.

“I chose Dann Huff to produce ‘Sara Smile’ because I’ve paid close attention to Dann’s work over the past ten years and I’ve met him several times,” says Jimmy. “Each time he was genuinely nice and humble. I felt that I have the song that’s been my shield and my sword since the beginning of my career and the most incredible record label, mirrored by the image of Scott Borchetta, so why not have the best producer out there! It was like magic when Scott called me and suggested, ‘We should ask Dann Huff to produce ‘Sara Smile’.’ There was a million pounds lifted off of me instantly.” Continue Reading

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