42nd CMA Awards Nominees Announced

So it’s Jennifer Nettles then? Not Carrie, not Taylor and not really Miranda either (no songwriting nomination?) . . .

Are there any surprises, really? Aside from Miranda Lambert getting some recognition, it’s the same old crew. I wonder if Sugarland will break Kenny Chesney’s monopoly on the Entertainer award.

Alison Krauss somehow keeps getting nominated for female vocalist despite the fact that country radio avoids her like the plague. Hopefully she’ll at least get the collaboration award with Robert Plant.

Jason Aldean up for “Best new Artist?” Seriously? On his sophomore effort? Same for James Otto. I know it’s been a few years between releases, but it’s hit forst time at the rodeo etiher.

“As far as a CMA-voting barometer, the big news seems to be the lack of recognition for Rascal Flatts–who dropped from the Entertainer category and received only one nomination despite their industry domination in record and ticket sales. It suggests they aren’t all that respected within the industry, which says that these awards aren’t always only about commercial popularity. ”

The proverbial silver lining, eh? ;)

I wouldn’t go that far. It’s not as if the Entertainer nominees were not absolutely commercially viable. There’s no left field picks in that category per se.

It’s probably just a regular “quid-pro-quo” of Sugarland replacing Rascal Flatts for Entertainer more than any industry backlash for the trio.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that “Troubadour” will be the “Album of the Year.”

Rascal Flatts, although they are having a down year, would still have been expected in the nominees. Sugarland is a welcome surprise. Strait is great, and had another successful year, but I could have seen him absent from the list.

Taylor was bound to receive at least one nod, and Female was the most likely category. Yearwood will always be one of the genre’s best artists, and was sadly overlooked, I agree. A case could’ve even been made for Leann Rimes over McBride. McBride is a terrific singer, but this was not even close to her best year.

i also cant help but scratch my head at the “new artist” category. can we please limit the albums of these nominees to one please? also, aldeans first hit along with atkins first number one from this album was 2 years ago for cryin’ out loud…how boring is the video category!?!?!?

How ’bout Trace Adkins, Josh Turner, or Rodney Atkins for Male Vocalist?

Alison Krauss and Martina McBride in the Female category is quite a stretch. Are there NO other females of note from the past year? Martina’s done nothing exceptional; and we all know Alison is a default when there are no others.

Vocal Group/Duo: Rascal Flatts/Sugarland

New Artist: this slate of nominees prove why it should still be called “horizon,” or perhaps the CMA should consider re-defining the word “new” for its annual awards show.

Album: No. Let’s start over…

Single: Where’s “Our Song”? I’m not the biggest Swift fan, but there’s gonna be a whole lotta (confused) potential country fans watching, wondering why the biggest star of the genre is only nominated once. Also: “Laughed Until We Cried” “International Harvester”

Song: Let’s trade “Good Time” for “Better as a Memory”

Disappointed that Josh Turner wasn’t up for Male Vocalist & that Jamey Johnson wasn’t up for Album of the Year. I can’t remember the dates the “eligibility” for awards.

They must be desperate for nominations when they put the Wreckers and the Eagles in there for nominees…but I think the shocker that the committee didn’t bob their head yes to Rascal Flatts for everything under the sun. (sorry for the pun) Not a RF fan.

Waiting on a Woman should definitely get video of the year with the use of Andy Griffith!!!! :) Talk about emotional weeping factor with that video!

“I guess Rascal Flatts didn’t do enough head bobbin’ on their “Bob That Head Tour” to become eligible for the Entertainer of the Year category.”

Or maybe they did too much of it?

I think my biggest problem with the nominations is that I was very underwhelmed by them. Then again, I don’t think the past year was one of the better years of mainstream country music though. So, ultimately, I’m not too surprised.

Given the rules of the “New Artist” award, it’s crazy to call it that. It was better served being the Horizon Award as it used to be called.

My bad, I didn’t even notice they’d changed it. Yeah, that is puzzling.

Then again, I’m a voter and I didn’t notice the change on the ballot. So maybe idiots like me were using the old criteria.

I’d be willing to bet a Sugarland concert is more “entertaining” than an Underwood concert.

I agree with everyone on the Album of the Year category . That one stood out as being particularly weak. I bet everyone on here can name 5 better albums than those in the past year.

Also, I can’t believe “Shiftwork” and “Don’t Blink” got nominated for anything. Since Kenny knows he will get nominated every year regardless of what he does, he should take some responsibility for putting out better material.

I considered Ashton to be a shoo-in as well, but no fear, she has another 5 years to be nominated, judging from this category. Very few new stars truly made a splash this year, so the slate of nominees doesn’t surprise me. I figured Ashton would replace Rodney or Jason, as they have been semi-prominent artists for so long.

I agree with Brady. I don’t see how Ashton Sheperd doesn’t beat almost every name on the new artist list. She should be nominated for album of the year also. I’m losing what little faith I had in the future of this industry.

Brady, I agree that her critical acclaim has superceded her commercial success so far, so that would be a major reason why she isn’t here.

I could possibly have missed it, but I believe that the CMA only changed the title of the category, but had not adjusted any of the criteria. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. This further enhances the ambiguity of the whole thing. The moniker “New” is very misleading.

From the ’searchable database’ link provided in the article:

1967 – Female Vocalist of the Year
Lynn Anderson, Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith, Dottie West, Tammy Wynette

Now THAT was a good list of nominees. (Loretta won).

http://www.the9513.com/the-cma-tweaks-awards-process/

Thanks, Matt B. I was hoping I hadn’t gone crazy and dreamed it.

Razor X, although no minimum is in place, artists with more sales and mainstream achievements are generally viewed as those who are growing the genre, so they are given these nominations as a nice, big “thank you” for keeping the genre’s commercial success thriving.

every time they release these nominations it’s like another trip to beatdown town.

I was shocked to see “Carnival Ride” on the list of Album of the Year. While it had commercial success I think that it lacked a certain something to be considered the album of the year. Mainly the over-singing and vapid lyrics. And this is coming from someone who has seen Carrie live more than once and bought the CD the day it hit stores.

Trisha’s absence from Album of the Year and Female Vocalist is ridiculous.

I am glad to see a female presence in the Entertainer of the Year category as it has been lacking for the past few years. Sugarland’s show is great and I think the recording studio doesn’t capture half of Jennifer Nettles’ talent. “Stay” is a shoe-in for Song of the Year. Single of the Year might be tougher battle vs. “Don’t Blink”. Personally, I am pulling for Miranda.

Speaking of Ms. Lambert – I thought her most recent album deserved a nod as well. She marches to her drum while enjoying commercial success and critic’s praise. Her most recent effort is more country than most of the other acts put together.

Also – where is Dierks? Sorry Alan, but Dierks deserved that spot on the Male Vocalist of the Year.

I’m glad the academy is giving Rascal Flatts a little timeout. They have been in desperate need of one. It makes laugh when I think back to their debut album and if “I’m Movin’ On” hadn’t been released where they would be now. My point being – where did that talent go?

“Better As A Memory” has been Kenny’s best single this past year and it disturbs me that “Good Time” is even being considered as Song of the Year.

Let’s just thank God that they have left off Kid Rock and that stupid Summer Song. It’s Sept. 10th and they are still playing it every 30 minutes. (Sorry this last bit is a tangent I have been meaning to go on)

What, while she’s perhaps a shade more enjoyable than Nettles to look at (close though), she doesn’t have the energy or the presence. Having been to both, I’ll take the Sugarland show hands down.

Fan quantity, and reason for those numbers, are a completely different conversation.

Voters are definitely instructed to take sales and airplay into consideration, which doesn’t keep me from nominating Allison Moorer every year.

Ugh, it’s such a boys’ club. It bugs that so many categories are some variation of George/Alan/Kenny/Brad/Token Woman.

Sugarland and Trace’s nods are well-deserved, though.

Chris, I can’t wait for Allison to have that one breakthrough hit so that she can be nominated for New Artist of the Year.

I hoped Taylor Swift would have got nominated Entertainer of the Year. Her album sales are still high a lot of airplay and her concert was one of the most entertaining that i saw. Keith Urban concert was very good to. Ive seen sugarland before didn’t like and didn’t like brad either.

I hate the album choices, but I’m pleasantly surprised at Sugarland being nominated for entertainer instead of RF!

“Oh how I wish there was a “Traditional Country Music Association” with a similar awards program where artists like Ashton Shepherd and Jamey Johnson would be recognized for their talent and all the pop-rock schlockmeisters would be completely absent from the nominations list.”

Oh, how I wish the CMA would just promote true country music and there wouldn’t be a need for a “Traditional Country Music Association”.

creating a ghetto for traditional artists in the form of an alternate “traditional country music association” which would have to start building infrastructure from scratch (a la the Americana Music Association) would be a catastrophe. what we need is the CMA, more like the ACM, to actually put their foot down and promote quality country music as a long term investment in the genre.

The people and commercial forces that control mainstream country RADIO these days have no love for quality country music nor financial motivation to promote it. These people (station owners and programmers) want a mass market, pop culture friendly format that will attract a large targeted demographic audience that appeals to their potential advertisers. These programmers are not interested in playing great country music that will attract a small but knowledgeable group of discerning listeners, but rather will play whatever they feel will attract the most targeted listeners. That type of environment can never foster top quality music in any format and its converting mainstream country into a bastardized conglomeration of pop-rock dreck!

I still stand by my assertion a traditional country support network would help keep quality country alive and viable if only on a moderate scale. I think it should be modeled after the Bluegrass establishment, not the Americana one. The number and diversity of Bluegrass Festivals keeps growing around the country fueled by people starving for a real form of traditional country music, and I would just love to see “Quality Country Festivals” in existence and doing the same thing.

Hoping for the entrenched mainstream country establishment to start embracing and supporting quality country artists seems like a pipe dream to me speaking as a pragmatic accountant. The old saying goes “Follow The Money” and these days that leads programmers directly to Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, etc……..

these are my predictions
Entertainer of the Year-Keith Urban
Male Vocalist of the Year-Keith Urban
Female Vocalist of the Year-Taylor Swift
Vocal Group of the Year-Little Big Town
Vocal Duo of the Year-Sugarland
Album of the Year-Carnival Ride, Carrie Underwood
Song of the Year-Letter To Me

I didn’t think any of the single or video of the year choices were good.

If Taylor actually wins “Vocalist of the year”, I’ll puke. I say it’s truthfully between Miranda and Carrie with Carrie having more hits.

I don’t think Carnival Ride will win album..it’s between George and Alan this year.

Sugarland may win ETOFY although Kenny will be surely upset with all what he went through this year.

Hollerin’ Ben said, “what we need is the CMA, more like the ACM, to actually put their foot down and promote quality country music as a long term investment in the genre.”

You think the ACM is doing a better job than the CMA of promoting quality country music, Ben? What are they doing that the CMA isn’t? I don’t know a thing about how either organization works, but there doesn’t seem to be a signifcant difference between the two as far as nominees and award winners go.

I guess I don’t really see the ACMs doing much better than the CMAs either. Maybe a little better. I can’t imagine that the Academy could do worse than the CMA this time around though.

The only awards show that matters is the one I hold annually in my basement for an audience of hand puppets.

Jim: “I just mean that the CMA only nominates artists within a very narrow artistic scope–it isn’t even fully reflective of the country mainstream, let alone the genres outer regions. The CMA, for awards purposes, defines country music by country radio.”

I’ll concur with that. I wish they’d be a little more like the Grammys. I don’t always agree with who wins Grammy awards, either, but there does seemt to be a bona fide attempt to balance the artistic with the commercial.

Hey! Those puppets are my friends. I would never abuse them.

It was consensual! I want my lawyer!

Who here thinks the hand puppet conversation may be more interesting than the CMA awards show?

Who here thinks the hand puppet conversation may be more interesting than the CMA awards show?

Raising (unpuppeted) hand. :-)

@Leeann Ward
“I think my other big problem is that I used to be much more excited about the CMA awards than I am today. Now, I can hardly muster up the enthusiasm to feel indignant about them. I miss that feeling of excitement, frankly. The CMA voters didn’t disappoint me, because this is what I expected from them.”

I totally agree. I am all for mainstream country music. I listen to the radio all day but this list put me to SLEEP! I don’t care either way and quite possibly won’t even watch the awards.

Why do you lot care about these things!? It is NOT a legitimate awards show. Votes are traded among managers, label people, publicists, and everyone else for purely political reasons. No one gets nominated or wins based purely on the skill or talent of the thing. Why just the other day Joe Galante sent out an internal Sony memo telling us who we’re voting for this year.

Turn off your TV’s – quit blogging about it – show your support for legitimate things by tuning this crap out.

Rand, who are you?

“That’s right, just say no to shallow, commercial, mediocre pop-rock crap that Top 40 Country Radio passes off as music these days! Turn it off, shut it down, change the station, don’t watch CMT, and especially don’t watch these awards shows!!!!”

It’s hard to argue with such a campaign.

@Chris N. I didnt have to smell your puppets! they made their way into my “puppetmasters day-out” classroom absolutely simmering with the various smells of day-old ho-ho’s, brut colgne soap-on-a-rope, and handsome-dan pomeade…

..and perhaps a cheetoes man as your puppets also must continually shake off the orange-zesty flakes of cheetoe from themselves everytime they walk-in….

Carrie Underwood deserved a nomination (not a win yet) for Entertainer of the year… I do not expect her to win for several years– she is not ready yet- but she worked her butt off and will have toured over 150 venues in 2008 when the year is over (if you count her co-headlining tour with keith urban and her solo tour). She sold out almost all her shows— and is just about at 3x platinum for her album. She had 3 number one singles- and Just a Dream will be hear 4th.

So I am dissapointed that they old boys club ruled again. Sugarland is great- they did not sell out their shows or sell as much as Rascal Flats did–or do as well as even Carrie did in box office sales. Rascal Flats deserved that slot. George Strait is getting redundant.. Give someone else a chance. Carrie should have got one of the slots.. or at least rascal flats.

Taylor Swift for Vocalist of the year = the biggest joke of the year. What is up with big Machine records not backing Trisha Yearwood– who is 100000x the artist and vocalist that taylor will never be.

If I were Trisha- I would drop Big Machine records like a hot potato as they are backing Taylor 24/7 to the point of nausea, and blowing off Trisha…who is incredible. Wow. what an insult to have to play second fiddle to an 18 year old spoiled brat who can’t even sing to save her life… and who remixes all her songs to pop radio. She is not even country..

Just curious: it seems the favorite to win album is george strait yet again (yawn) or perhaps alan jackson (love him- but again, more yawn). The old boys club is getting old. Time to give someone new a chance and breathe new life into the Album category.

So what about Carrie? I think she is a strong contender for this award, and she should have been nominated for Entertainer too (not win, just a nomination).

I love that they finally put a girl in it and gave Carnival Ride a nomination. It is a great album and got wonderful reviews (everywhere but this site- ironically-lol). I don’t understand the snarky comments about the album-it is highly under-rated, and I am sick to death of George Strait winning yet again.

I don’t care about the commercial success of an album and agree that artistry has more weight. But I am tired of the old boys club thinking only albums that don’t sell that well– have artistry.

Carrie’s album is fantastic– It shows great diversity in song selection, and her vocals shine. Despite your harsh opinions of the production— I feel that it is not over-produced except in a few parts. She does an amazing cover of Randy Travis’s I Told you so, and shows great artistic growth and maturity as a person and artist. She sings softly and very pretty on Wheel of the World, I Told You So, and You Won’t Find This…so not all the songs are belted.

I think people tend to bash albums that are commercially successful these days, for some reason– on blogs. lol But the rest of the world loves the album- so either we are all idiots (not true)– or sometimes critics are too close minded.

I do love some of carrie’s more under-stated songs, though, I admit. You Won’t Find This, I Told You So, and Wheel of the World are lovely and pretty, no over-production there. So she does show 2 sides to her artistry: she can belt like martina, and croon softly like Trisha or Patty loveless when she wants to.

I love george strait and alan jackson: But why can’t people open their minds to liking something a little more mainstream for once.

Is there a rule that only traditional country albums win this award?

^ there are 4 of us living here and using the same computer. So I am not actually using someone else’s names.

sorry for the confusion. I know it is the same IP address.

I told you this once before- we share this computer and are all here arguing about the cma nominations. lol

Leanne Ward– maybe I went too far in calling taylor a spoiled brat. sorry. But I am sick of her antics whenever she announces nominees for award shows. She is disrespectful to other artists and acts like it is all about her.

Case in point: At the announcement of the grammys nominees last december, and also at the CMA nomination announcements just the other day– she started jumping around like a 6 year old, hugging everyone in the room- and disrupted the whole procedure.. so much so that no one heard Carrie’s name being announced. Poor carrie did not get to have any recognition or applause- because once again, Taylor made it ALL about Taylor.

Give her a free pass for the grammy nominations because it was her first time -=maybe. But not twice. She did it again the other day at the cmas- once again disrupting the announcments for other artists and fans of other artists waiting on pins and needles hoping their favorites were nominated. She thinks she is the only one that mattered.

Many people watching tv did not hear carrie’s name being announced… and thought she was not nominated. I taped it and watched it back- and then finally heard the Rascal Flats guy say carrie’s name very softly- but you couldn’t hear it unless you really strained.

I do not blame rascal flats- they love carrie and are all good friends- so they would never disrespect her. But Taylor distracted everyone and even the GMA host, Robin, had to come back on tv later– and announce “sorry we forgot to announce carrie’s name for female vocalist because taylor was so excited.” not cool.

My radio djs announced that taylor disrupted the process so no one heard Carrie’s name.. and tons of carrie fans called in to express dismay that Carrie was not nominated (so they thought)- all because of taylor.

so that is what prompted my remark. sorry.

TexasForever – I like the song Kristofferson as well. And Tim did pretty good with it. But I much prefer the writer’s version.

You can hear it at: http://www.myspace.com/anthonysmithfans

Why does everyone talk about Taylor being business-savvy? Does anyone honestly believe that she’s making all the business decisions herself?

CraigR. – “As usual the CMA confuses me. Is it promoting the best in country music or the most popular? Jason Aldean and Kellie Pickler for best new artist? If they sang together they would still have less talent than my big toe.”

Labels and radio do most of the promoting and awards tend to follow them. By now it should be obvious to all that these awards are generally based on talent and performance plus promotion/commercial success.

Your big toe must be extremely talented and deserve a Toe of the Year nod because Kellie Pickler is one of the best singers and artists. She delivered 1 of the 2 best performances and earned a standing ovation on the 2007 CMA Awards for a song she co-wrote. Then she won the CMT Performance of the Year award for it, and she was the only new artist nominated. Kellie deserves to win New Artist just like when Miranda won her 2nd Horizon nomination. Overall the New Artist group is very talented so who knows who will win. My money is on Kellie or Rodney, and the brand new artists Lady A and Otto should have to wait until next year just like Rodney and Kellie had to wait last year. Both Rodney and Kellie deserve to win but at least 1 will get left out due to the 2 year nomination limit. Taylor Swift won last year due to her huge promotion and commercial success over the other nominees. Has Lady A or Otto sold 2 to 3 million albums and had about four #1 hits? No and they are just getting started. Rodney and Kellie have the most talent and commercial sucess. Since Lady A also got a nod in another major catagory, it could be a sign that they have the votes, and maybe some voters want a group to win this year. However if Kellie or Rodney does not win they will be snubbed so I hope 1 of them wins. Kellie also deseved a Female Vocalist of the Year nod but we’re back to that commercial success factor again.

i think Kellie should win to and i think she will

@New Artist of the Year:

I couldn’t agree more, Kellie Pickler is one of my absolute favorite country artists – she is a great performer and deserves Best New Artist this year!

I think CMT should just go ahead and give Taylor Swift EVERY award. Just give her all of them and then get her out of the way so someone else can win something. I am so sick of her being nominated for things and winning over Carrie, Kellie and Miranda. Awards are awarded to singers with the most popularity now not with the most talent and granted she is a good songwriter but to compare her singing abilities to that of Carrie Underwood is ridiculous. Does anyone voting for her have ears? Listening to the flat notes she manages to whine out in “Should Have Said No” makes my ears bleed a little and to make it worse the video airs on CMT and GAC about 600 times a day.

Maybe they’ll get the Horizon Award right this year. If I don’t hear Jason’s name called out, I hope Miranda literally does have a shotgun backstage. He should’ve been nominated for EOTY, Male Vocalist, Single, Song, and Music Video. “Laughed Until We Cried” was his 5th straight top ten single for goodness sake. And the video speaks for itself.