43rd Annual ACM Awards: Who Should Have Been Nominated

In a perfect world, The 9513 staff would select the ACM nominees and fans would not vote for Entertainer of the Year. Here in the real world, the Academy votes for the nominees, the fans vote for the Entertainer, and I make fun of both.

There are only two rules: as much as I’d like to, I didn’t change the eligibility rules for each category (e.g., no Jennifer Nettles for Top Female Vocalist). Second, I nominated only artists who I thought had a chance, however small, of actually receiving an ACM nomination.

Nominees who should win are bolded.

Entertainer of the Year

• Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
• Rascal Flatts
• Brad Paisley
• George Strait
• Keith Urban

Beyond Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley, no artist really put things together both on the radio and on the road in the past year. However, Tim and Faith deserve mention for the second consecutive installment of the record-setting Soul2Soul tour and Strait continued his remarkable run of radio hits. The final spot was a tossup between Urban and Kenny Chesney, and both have been major touring acts for long enough that their mega-shows aren’t making any waves. I give the nod to Urban, who doesn’t make country music anymore but is still releasing some of the best songs of his career while Chesney’s best material is far behind him. Paisley, who recently graduated to arena shows and had a very successful year at radio, gets the win.

Top Male Vocalist

• Brad Paisley
• George Strait
• Keith Urban
• Vince Gill
• Josh Turner

Sorry, in any category where “vocalist” is not preceded by “worst,” Kenny Chesney is ineligible. Making a four-CD display of vocal versatility that was nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys ought to be sufficient to earn Gill a nomination in this category, but Turner’s bass voice wins for a remarkable third album and an up-tempo radio hit.

Top Female Vocalist

• Miranda Lambert
• Martina McBride
• LeAnn Rimes
• Carrie Underwood
• Trisha Yearwood

Like Chesney, Taylor Swift simply isn’t a good enough vocalist to deserve nomination in this category despite her success. I replace her with Trisha Yearwood, who ought to win the award. LeAnn Rimes takes second for discovering the remarkably bluesy voice that she should have been using all along.

Top Vocal Group

• Alison Krauss and Union Station
• Eagles
• Emerson Drive
• Little Big Town
• Rascal Flatts

Both the CMAs and ACMs need to merge the Top Vocal Group and Top Vocal Duo categories. The fact that the ACMs also have a Top New Duo or Vocal Group category makes for an abundance of mediocre nominees. I honestly can’t think of a fifth group that even comes close to deserving nomination (and apparently the Academy couldn’t either: seriously, Diamond Rio?) so I’ll go with AKUS, an ACM and CMA favorite for a token nominee that has no chance of winning but makes it look like voters actually do care about musical integrity.

Top Vocal Duo

• Big & Rich
• Brooks & Dunn
• Montgomery Gentry
• Sugarland
• Tim McGraw & Faith Hill

If Johnny and June can win awards like this, why can’t Tim & Faith be nominated? They deserve nomination for “I Need You” alone, but “Stay” makes Sugarland the winner.

Top New Male Vocalist

• Luke Bryan
• Eric Church
• Bucky Covington

As much as I despise Bucky Covington, he does have two modest hits, which is more than any other nominee can claim. Eric Church has released two boring singles (”How ‘Bout You,” “Guys Like Me”), two very strong singles (”Two Pink Lines,” “Sinners Like Me”) and one good video (”Lightning”), and that’s enough to make him my winner.

Top New Female Vocalist

• Lori McKenna
• Kellie Pickler
• Taylor Swift

Seriously, how could you overlook McKenna in favor of Sarah Buxton? Both are quality artists, but McKenna made a sensational debut album and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and that’s more exposure than Buxton can ever hope to receive. However, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Swift will win this and she ought to.

Top New Duo or Vocal Group

• Eagles
• Lady Antebellum
• Whiskey Falls

I’m not sure how the Academy managed to nominate Halfway to Hazard for Top Vocal Duo but not for Top New Vocal Duo: that and the fact that one Top “New” Duo nominee has already broken up (The Wreckers) just reveals how silly these categories are. Since this is the Eagles’ first official foray into country radio, shouldn’t they be nominated?

Album of the Year

• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Miranda Lambert
• Everything is Fine, Josh Turner
• Heaven, Heartache, and the Power of Love, Trisha Yearwood
• Family, LeAnn Rimes
• Unglamorous, Lori McKenna

The inclusion of Kenny Chesney’s album and the exclusion of the Yearwood and Turner’s latest efforts pretty much suck all legitimacy out of this year’s nominees. I’d like to see Wagonmaster nominated but couldn’t suspend disbelief long enough to imagine that happening, so LeAnn Rimes takes the final spot on my list. Yearwood is the hands-down winner.

Single Record of the Year

• “Stay”, Sugarland
• “Close Up the Honkytonks,” Dwight Yoakam
• “Moments,” Emerson Drive
• “If You’re Reading This,” Tim McGraw
• “Nothin’ Better to Do,” LeAnn Rimes

At least the Academy managed to nominate “Stay,” the song that should and will win. However, I’m not sure how they managed to overlook Rimes’ smash and a great song that debuted on their own broadcast. Yoakam has gotten a lot more love from the ACMs than the CMAs so I can imagine him being in the mix for his courageous Buck Owens cover.

Song of the Year

• “Stay,” Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland)
• “Moments,” Dave Berg, Annie Tate, Sam Tate (Emerson Drive)
• “Nothin’ Better to Do,” Darrell Brown, Dean Sheremet, LeAnn Rimes (LeAnn Rimes)
• “I Need You,” Tony Lane, David Lee (Tim McGraw & Faith Hill)
• “Stupid Boy,” Dave Berg, Deanna Bryant, Sarah Buxton (Keith Urban)

It wasn’t a great year for the writers. I’d give the award to Nettles’ cheatin’ song.

Video of the Year

• “Online,” Brad Paisley
• “Stay,” Sugarland
• “Close Up the Honkytonks,” Dwight Yoakam
• “Lightning,” Eric Church
• “Nothin’ Better to Do,” LeAnn Rimes

There, now isn’t that better? Rimes wins by a hair for fulfilling one of my greatest fantasies.

Vocal Event of the Year

• “Because of You,” Reba McEntire with Kelly Clarkson
• “Find Out Who Your Friends Are,” Tracy Lawrence with Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney
• “I Need You,” Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
• “Another Try,” Josh Turner with Trisha Yearwood
• “What You Give Away,” Vince Gill with Sheryl Crowe

I suppose it’s hard to argue that McGraw and Hill singing together is a vocal event, but it’s better than near everything else that could be nominated. I give the award to Gill and Turner and Yearwood finish a close second.