Academy of Country Music Alters ACM Awards Categories; Rodney Carrington’s Christmas Tribute to the Troops
- The Academy of Country Music announced that eight nominees will now be eligible for the fan-voted entertainer of the year prize at the 2010 ACM Awards. They’ve also merged the top new male and new female vocalist categories into one top new solo vocalist category and split the new duo-or-group category into top new vocal duo and top new vocal group categories.
- The newest single from Rodney Carrington’s Make It Christmas CD, “Camouflage and Christmas Lights,” isn’t a novelty song like it’s title might suggest, but instead pays tribute to the troops who can’t be home during the holidays. Watch the video on YouTube.
- In the first of a two-part list, Country California’s C.M. Wilcox checked off the best albums of the year.
- This year’s Tin Pan South songwriters festival will be held from from March 30-April 3.
- The folks at Hear Ya recorded an exclusive live session with Lissie.
She writes beautiful country-tinged songs that were like Americana comfort food as the snow capped mountains raced by outside my windows. Her unassuming girl next door appearance and demeanor is sharply contrasted by her powerful voice, reminiscent of Neko Case or Emmylou Harris.
- The staff at American Songwriter picked its best albums of the year.
- Ralph Stanley will take the Opry stage on Dec. 18 and a few days later an “ever-shaggier” Ricky Skaggs will return to the Ryman with his Skaggs Family Christmas show.
- My Kind of Country is attempting to compile a list of the 50 greatest posts from the past 12 months and needs your help.
- Keith Urban is a supremely talented entertainer, but The Sydney Morning Herald’s Bruce Elder suggests that he isn’t really all that country:
But there’s a small problem. However you spin it, what Urban is performing ain’t country music. He is playing a main course of 1980s rock and pop with a light basting of country.
[...]
While at times there are no fewer than four guitar pickers, there’s no fiddle, lap steel or dobro and the music doesn’t even hint at Hank Williams, George Jones or Johnny Cash.
- Jesse Winchester, whose had songs popularized by Jimmy Buffet, Wynonna, and Jerry Jeff Walker, talked to CMT about his career and recent record, Love Filling Station.
- Watch Brad Paisley’s new video for “American Saturday Night.”
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Brad Paisley // Emmylou Harris // George Jones // Hank Williams // Jerry Jeff Walker // Jesse Winchester // Jimmy Buffet // Johnny Cash // Keith Urban // Neko Case // Ralph Stanley // Ricky Skaggs // Rodney Carrington // Tin Pan South // Wynonna
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December 17, 2009 at 11:08 am Permalink
Uh-Oh, jon is gonna have a serious problem with a writer saying that Urban is anything but “country”..
December 17, 2009 at 11:08 am Permalink
Who’s in charge of the ACM awards. Did I read that right that they are giving out an award for top new duo and another for top new group? How many new duos are there in a given year? You could probably win this award just for getting signed.
Adding 3 more nominees to entertainer seems pointless.
December 17, 2009 at 11:25 am Permalink
Adding a best new duo category does seem wierd. Unless the ACM is hell-bent on recognizing the creative efforts of Fast Ryde and the Lo-Cash Cowboys.
December 17, 2009 at 11:41 am Permalink
The Carrington song is really good, but that video is just some cheap powerpoint slide show that someone did with a bunch of still photos. Definitely not an official vid or anything and I doubt RC’s people had anything to do with it.
December 17, 2009 at 11:45 am Permalink
I don’t understand why the ACM would “merge” the Top New Male/Female Artist Awards into a single “Solo Artist” award? Politically correct “gender neutral” dopiness run amok? What the hell is the matter with these people? I sense Obamavoters behind this assinine decision…
After looking at the picture of those obvious Obamavoter hippies at “Hear Ya” with Lissie, I have no desire to hear anything they have to say, about anything. And by the way, Caitlin Rose kicks Lissie’s ass music wise but I wouldn’t expect those groovers to grasp that…
C.M.’s list is pretty good so far, while the American Songwriter lists are “out there”. Caine O’Rear looks like a contributor to the “Bird List”, or should have been.
I’m not sure at this point that Ricky Skaggs can get any “shaggier”! Crikey!
Of course Bruce Elder’s take on Keith Urban’s music these days is spot on. Sadly many younger members of the Aussie country music scene are getting more Nashvegas Pop-Rock Non-Country Schlock oriented and Keith is one of their big influences. What a shame…
December 17, 2009 at 11:48 am Permalink
Maybe not Noeller, but they did include a link to it with the press release.
December 17, 2009 at 12:10 pm Permalink
I posted this on another message board, and I’m too lazy to re-word it except for a few minor tweaks:
I’m of the opinion that having a fan vote is less legitimate than having country music “experts” (music industry professionals, journalists, etc.) select the winner. A number of awards (Billboard, MTV Video Awards, CMT) use the public participation method, and that’s fine. But I think the Grammys, CMAs and ACMs should work to choose the best candidates by having a knowledgeable group of people pick the winners. I’d never claim they always make the right decisions, but it does help control the quality of the victors.
I feel Carrie Underwood was a deserving winner at this year’s ACMs and she could have very well won under the old system. I have issues with fan voting, though, due to the inherent issues with internet ballots. At this point in time, many country fans are still not active internet users, especially among older generations. Someone like Alan Jackson, George Strait or Reba McEntire would never win ACM Entertainer with fan voting in place—their core audience is just simply not as tech-savvy. It’s an ageist policy.
I dislike the fact that the ACMs allow the internet vote and are so unclear about how the winner is selected (How much does the internet vote count? How much does the ACM member vote count?).
Now, can we just announce Taylor Swift as the next ACM Entertainer of the Year? I don’t think the honor is totally undeserved by any stretch (though I think Brad Paisley is way overdue), but her fanbase’s devotion to online voting makes it a near-certainty, cutting all the suspense out of it. (I’ve seen a few message boards for various artists that have learned how to trick the system and cast multiple ballots—another issue I have with fan participation.)
There would be no need to increase the amount of nominees in this category if the voting academy would not focus so much on concert sales/live performances and instead consider the whole package that an artist brings to the table. In that way, Romeo’s reasoning feels way off. But who cares if there are eight nominees when the one winner is guaranteed?
December 17, 2009 at 12:20 pm Permalink
Just so we are all clear, HearYa is one of the finest music sites on the web. Of course, one might be able to gather that from the fact that Rick seems to hate it so much…
December 17, 2009 at 12:26 pm Permalink
Gotta agree with you, Blake. A fan vote is nothing more than a popularity contest without any sort of criteria, and like you said some artists are at an automatic disadvantage (the study from a couple months ago that said half the core country audience doesn’t have the internet at home comes to mind). And most nearly any online voting system is plenty easy to circumvent.
I didn’t see Romeo’s reasoning in The Tennessean post, but the change in the Entertainer category doesn’t appear to be about credibility–it’s a marketing move meant to personally invest fans in the outcome of the awards. More artists equals more fans.
December 17, 2009 at 12:28 pm Permalink
They turned top new male and top new female into one, yet changed top new duo/group into two separate ones? Are they retarded?
December 17, 2009 at 1:10 pm Permalink
Yeah Rick & Brody…just jump on Keith Urban every chance you get!! You’re the ones that ought to be ashamed. Some of you people irk me! I read that whole review and it was a great review. He ended it with saying the people didn’t care they were just on their feet, singing every word to every song and loving every minute of his concert.It’s obvious this site doesn’t care for Keith and that’s ashame. Here is Mr. Elder’s last paragraph!
“The audience loves it. They sing along at every opportunity, know all the words, scream and shout and clap. They don’t care that it’s not country; it’s Our Keith and he’s a good-looking boy (in a rough around the edges kind of way) with a bunch of memorable pop songs. Surely that is enough.”
Brody just picked out what he wanted to make it sound like they were putting Keith down.
As far as the award shows…they have turned into a circus and most country fans have lost total respect for the music industry.
December 17, 2009 at 1:13 pm Permalink
Let’s face it, the ACM Awards are simply not worth bothering with anymore.
December 17, 2009 at 1:18 pm Permalink
MaeB, just because something isn’t country doesn’t mean it’s not high quality and saying something isn’t country isn’t necessarily negative. Besides, I’m sure the couple sentences you excerpted could be used to describe the fans at just about any mainstream show; it’s not an especially interesting observation.
And what’s up with all the different aliases?
December 17, 2009 at 2:07 pm Permalink
Hello? Jumping on Brody? He’s the nicest guy around here.
December 17, 2009 at 2:58 pm Permalink
So entertainer and new artist awards are still fan voted? Then I agree, not worth the award given out but mainly just a popularity contest. Honestly, I do not like fan voted awards for it cheapens the real meaning of the award. Let the “People’s Choice awards be the fan voted awards and the American Music awards as well. C’mon Country professionals..lets start being real about these awards again. But then I guess radio needs to start being real again as well.
December 17, 2009 at 2:59 pm Permalink
Amusing tidbit … at work there are a LOT of sites we cant get (including about 98% of blog sites) because our “websense” software filters them. I just clicked on LeeAnn’s name to visit Country Universe and got this message …
The Websense category “Nudity” is filtered. I cant wait to get home and look to see what country music nudity is going on over there! LOL.
December 17, 2009 at 3:35 pm Permalink
Paula,
I know we’ve been having that problem lately. We’re not sure why. It’s frustrating.
December 17, 2009 at 3:48 pm Permalink
Leeann, it could be that y’all are hosted on the same server that’s been reported as hosting adult content. Just a guess since I haven’t looked into how the adult filters work, but if you share an IP address with an adult site, it’d make sense.
December 17, 2009 at 3:59 pm Permalink
We cant get most blogs anyway but usually it says “The Websense category “Social Networking and Personal Sites” is filtered.” (which is what it says for MyKindOfCountry). It gets blocked the same here though no matter what the reason. Anything with the words blog, blogspot, wordpress, typepad, are SURE to be blocked, and most of the others are too.
December 17, 2009 at 4:23 pm Permalink
I get the “nudity” message when I try to log onto Country Universe from work also. Like Paula, I was most anxious to get home and see what was going on there the first time it happened, but I was sadly disappointed. ;)
December 17, 2009 at 6:47 pm Permalink
The ACM will find endless excuses to allow Swift to win. You can expect her to win everything including Male Vocalist.
December 17, 2009 at 7:06 pm Permalink
nudity and country music are two of my favorite things so it would be great if countryuniverse or some other website decided to combine them!
December 17, 2009 at 7:30 pm Permalink
The people have spoken. CU will soon be celebrating its inaugural Nude Country Day.
December 17, 2009 at 7:43 pm Permalink
The people have spoken. CU will soon be celebrating its inaugural Nude Country Day.
Do the people have any say in who will be featured on Nude Country Day? Because I do have a shortlist as well as a list of those I definitely don’t want to see in the buff.
December 17, 2009 at 7:44 pm Permalink
The ACM will find endless excuses to allow Swift to win. You can expect her to win everything including Male Vocalist.
Don’t be ridiculous. She won’t win that one until 2011 when they combine Male and Female Vocalist into a single award.
December 17, 2009 at 8:08 pm Permalink
Hey Rick, CM was in on the bird list. Hear Ya was not….though we will be sure to include them next time.
December 17, 2009 at 9:07 pm Permalink
Adding 3 more Entertainer nominations is stupid – they basically will pick who they think should win (which will probably be Swift), and then add the other seven just so that they get some credit.
December 18, 2009 at 7:40 am Permalink
Quick, now, who was Johnny Cash’s fiddler?
December 20, 2009 at 1:02 am Permalink
I can second Lissie. Go to I-tunes and check out her cover of Hank Williams’ Wedding Bells. Its definately worth the money.
March 18, 2010 at 12:52 am Permalink
ACM won’t find excuses for Taylor Swift to win she would just win cause people actually like taylor swift. She is the one of the best song writers that writes her own songs. I hope she keeps winning awards to prove people wrong. She deserves the awards. Don’t get me wrong I like the other nominees, but Taylor Swift is amazing!!!!!!!!!!
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