Country music legend tells of a certain powerful, polarizing breed of radio single, said to have been spun together out of magical cane sugar by Aphrodite herself (or her Southern Baptist counterpart, April-Jean the Angel. Depends who you ask.) The single appears only sporadically, sometimes waiting years to reemerge – but when it comes, it walks loudly and carries a big, hooked stick.
It’s been known to travel under many names: “Ooo, Turn It Up!”; “I’m Getting Kind Of Sick Of This Song”; “Damn It, AGAIN?”. All worthy monikers, to be sure. But for the purposes of this review, we’ll keep things straightforward and call it the “Shameless Pop Ditty.”
Now, wait one second there. We mustn’t confuse this special specimen with your standard country-pop numbers – those songs which, while heavily poppy in sound, still try to convey some kind of actual point. The Shameless Pop Ditty doesn’t care about points, you see. It cares only about making you sing.
“Sunflower”. “Islands in the Stream”. “I’m Gonna Getcha Good!”. What the hell do they mean? We can never offer fuller explanations than the song titles themselves, for each Shameless Pop Ditty comes embedded with a special charm that renders its message inarticulable. You can try to eek out, “it’s about Shania pursuing this guy she -,” but you won’t be able to finish. The explanation will sound too dumb, too redundant. You’ll feel silly for even trying, and will simply slip back into singing along.
Of course, now and then the Shameless Pop Ditty goes through a self-conscious phase, flirts with substance a bit. A few times it’s almost succeeded in making itself kind of mean something, with “I Love a Rainy Night” and “This Kiss” being two of the most famous results.
But in its heart of hearts, the Shameless Pop Ditty is content to be what it’s always been: totally infectious nonsense. And that’s why we love it. (Then hate it. Then maybe go back to loving it years later when we’ve had some much-needed time away from it.)
And with this country music mythology lesson under our belts, we can at last shift our sights to the present day, where we easily identify that Jerrod Niemann’s “Lover, Lover” is, in fact, a Shameless Pop Ditty of the purest pedigree.
Not so sure? Consider its bona fides. It was written and previously released as a (slightly superior) pop single by Sonia Dada, never even intended for country audiences. Its chorus features a mere nineunique words, rendered in chant-a-long style with thick, stacked harmonies. It has basically one verse which it just repeats twice to bide time between those chanted choruses. It features hand claps and a constantly-repeated acoustic guitar hook.
Story? Clever lines? Not here, friend. “Lover, Lover” is a sugar song pixie, delivered from the clouds to bring nonsensical joy to all unafraid to sing in their cars. And it has positioned itself as one of the key country singles of Summer 2010.
These are the facts. You can love it or hate it (or maybe love it and then hate it and then love it again like we discussed), but you can’t rewrite destiny. The Shameless Pop Ditty will triumph again. You will know all twenty or so words to “Lover, Lover” before August is out. James Otto will sit around kicking himself for recording a song generically titled “Groovy Little Summer Song” when he could have recorded this, the Grooviest Little Summer Song in years. Aphrodite/Angel April-Jean hath written it in the stars; your best chance of surviving is to give in, mortal, and sing along.
Oh, recreational blogging. One day, it’s as easy as finding a Waffle House exit on a Tennessee interstate. The next day, it’s like trying to digest what you ate there. You do your best, but you never really know when real life might start beckoning you and all your other writer buddies at once, leaving behind a skinnier website than any of you intended to keep.
Which is all good and well, of course; I certainly enjoy all my inadvertent time off, and I’m sure our more tasteful readers enjoy it, too. But Country Universe has always tried to stay on top of the album and singles markets, and in that regard, we’ve got a fair bit of catching up to do.
So that’s been our main focus for the last week or so, and we’ll keep at it until we’ve covered a good chunk of the pertinent material – or, you know, move onto a more awesome feature or something. We’ll keep updating this index post as we do so, so keep checking back!
I guess I like the origin of this song, which has a modern narrator marveling at how an elderly couple has actually managed to endure their whole lives together. It’s a nice little bit of social commentary.
But wouldn’t you know it, the thing quickly devolves into just another “how to live your life” chorus, like “Help Somebody”/”Don’t Blink”/”Voices”/”You’re Gonna Miss This” all over again. Seriously, when did mainstream country become all about old people rattling off sound bites at young people?
On the other hand, I guess the song must actually have some good advice, since the second verse talks about how the young version of the Wise Old Man fearlessly embraced retail technology and was financially rewarded for it by Microsoft, all because he was a best friend and told the truth and loved like crazy…wait, what?
I don’t know about y’all, but Dierks Bentley has been on this swift downward trajectory for me ever since his killer trio of “Every Mile a Memory”, “Long Trip Alone” and “Free And Easy (Down the Road I Go)” back in ’06/’07. I don’t know whether his team got spooked by Long Trip Alone‘s low sales and tried to force crowd-pleasers out of him or if he just ran out of interesting ideas on his own. Either way, it’s been a bummer.
I believe in second chances, though, and there’s no better way to prime me for one than to announce a roots-based or traditionalist project. (Like, even Kellie Pickler is getting me kind of curious.) So I was pumped to hear that Bentley was planning on releasing a full bluegrass album, especially one with actual radio singles. And here we are at the first one, the upcoming album’s title track.
Now, as Bentley is an A-minus-list country star who cut some of his teeth at Nashville’s Station Inn, it’s no surprise that he managed to corral the very finest pickers for this project, and it’s no surprise that those pickers sound very well-arranged here. “Up on the Ridge” has a dark, shimmering newgrass production that doesn’t quit, and that alone will easily make it one of 2010′s most memorable singles.
Unfortunately, that production is forced to prop up some pretty weak efforts by the headlining artist. The song – an extended invitation to join its singer for a sexy camping trip – sounds like it was written merely as a means to get to its cool-sounding title. The melody and lyrics are serviceable but stagnant, offering none of the excitement of similarly-themed singles like “Fishin’ in the Dark”, “Hey Bobby” or even “Mud on the Tires.” Even Bentley’s vocal sounds awkard and disconnected as it mulls over throwaway lines about his dog howling at an owl (or something). So while the record has a cooler style than, say, “Sideways,” its substance suffers from many of the same shortcomings.
Worse still, the juxtaposition of the awesome guest players and the thoroughly bland song and performance by Bentley makes the single sound like a premature vanity project, something no one would’ve wanted to contribute to if the chief creator weren’t a star. That’s probably not the case, as Bentley seems like a great guy and a genuine friend to the bluegrass community. But it’s abundantly obvious who’s doing the heavy lifting here; I can only hope that the rest of the album showcases Bentley’s own talents much better.
Country, blues and rock ‘n’ roll – mostly the lattter two – combine for a hearty serving of frat boy fun on Jack Ingram’s latest single. “Barbie Doll” has been a fan favorite since its initial release on Ingram’s 1999 set Hey You, but this latest iteration boasts a driving arrangement that may finally get the track on mainstream radio.
The song marries Ingram’s straightforward hook sense to Todd Snider’s rambling barroom-sage style, wringing as much talk as it can out of a pretty slight premise (“dude, that girl you’re checking out is a total B-word”) and culminating in a big group shout-a-long.
It would probably be annoying as hell coming from a Jason Aldean-type, but Ingram sells it, delivering the kind of loose, grinning performance that can only be honed by performing one’s art for untold numbers of drunk guys.
I must say that part of me misses the slow-burning spite of the song’s earlier arrangement, but this rocked-up reinterpretation works in its own way, and the track still sounds fresher than most Nashville product. Plus, this single edit omits the distracting Dierks Bentley cameo featured on the album. Plus, Todd Snider still co-wrote it.
So “Barbie Doll” 2.0 turns out, y’know, pretty darn fun. A little mindless, maybe a bit of a sellout, but hey – I’ll get drunk to it.
Vocal Event of the Year – Blake Shelton & Trace Adkins, “Hillbilly Bone”
Video of the Year – Miranda Lambert, “White Liar”
Song of the Year – Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now”
Single of the Year – Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now”
Top New Artist: Luke Bryan
Album of the Year: Miranda Lambert, Revolution
Top Vocal Group of the Year: Lady Antebellum
Top Male Vocalist of the Year: Brad Paisley
Top Vocal Duo of the Year: Brooks & Dunn
Top Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
Entertainer of the Year: Carrie Underwood
- – -
10:10 TS: Overall a solid show, with some colorful and sincere moments. And I had a blast doing my first live blog, y’all! Thanks so much.
10:07 DM: Anyway, it’s certainly been an interesting awards night. Thanks so much for your participation, everyone!
10:04 DM: I suspect the Carrie base was rattled by the CMAs and really buckled down this time. It’s hard to make numbers judgments, since Taylor has won other fan awards before (CMT Awards, for example).
10:03 KC: Maybe the Grammy performance did Swift in, though I suspect she was only hurt in the race for Female Vocalist because of that. Carrie Underwood has a stronger fan base voting for her, I guess.
10:02 TS: I’ve been hard on him in the past, but I enjoyed Darius’ bluegrass-y performance.
10:01 DM: Also significant: After the major CMA sweep, a completely award-free night for Taylor Swift! Interesting.
10:00 KC: Carrie Underwood is the first woman in history to win ACM Entertainer of the Year more than once.
9:58 DM: Now Darius is up playing “Forever Road”, which has a pretty country arrangement here.
9:58 KC: No complaints from me on this one. I do love having this woman as a genre standard-bearer. She seems to actually give a darn about it as a cultural commodity, not just a radio format.
9:57 TS: Back to irrational fan mode. So insanely happy right now.
9:56 DM: Not terribly surprised, actually. I feel like fan-voting guaranteed it’d be her or Taylor.
9:56 TS: Speechless.
9:55 KC: SHOCKER! I’m actually speechless!
Entertainer of the Year: Carrie Underwood
9:50 TS: This is trippy.
9:48 DM: So Keith is letting his fans film him or something. Whatever. Important thing is that he’s doing “I’m In”, the great Radney Foster song he covered on the latest album. Hope it’s the new single; even though it’s not my favorite version of the song, it does have the rare cool guitar solo.
9:44 TS: Miranda’s moment. Finally. (Not trying to stir anything up, but when she listed the people she couldn’t take this award from in a recent article, she left off Swift. Wonder if it was intentional or not considering she included her just now.)
9:44 KC: Not surprised, but happy to see Miranda win. Surprisingly Swift-free evening so far, but I still expect her to win entertainer.
9:43 DM: That was a Kool-Aid Guy thing, incidentally. Just the first thing I thought.
9:41 DM: OH YEAAAAAH.
Top Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
9:38 DM: Wow, and now Reba is performing “Keep on Loving You” right before the announcement of Female Vocalist. COULD IT HAPPEN?!?
9:31 DM: Third straight time tonight that an artist has performed right before the announcement of their win, if I’m counting correctly.
Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
9:29 DM: Well, sound came back for the very end. Ronnie sounded great; bummed I missed most of it.
9:28 TS: Wow. Talk about anti-climatic. Come on.
9:25 DM: WHO IS F—ING UP THE SOUND ON THE FINAL BROOKS & DUNN PERFORMANCE? Someone’s getting fired tonight.
9:25 DM: The final Brooks & Dunn! “My Maria”!
9:18 DM: Brad Paisley makes a shirtless Matthew McConaughey joke.
Male Vocalist of the Year: Brad Paisley
9:15 DM: Well, he fell into a pool. Pretty close.
9:15 TS: I like everything about this song but the lyrics. Who thinks water’s going to come pouring down “Should’ve Said No” style?
9:11 DM: Brad Paisley shows up with “Water”. Most of his singles I either really like or really don’t. This is one of the few I feel pretty much nothing about.
9:03 DM: Another song I’m indifferent to on record, but which gains something from the added visual element of live performance. Tired of these guitar solos, though.
9:03 KC: KC: Four months into 2010, “Still” remains my favorite single of the year.
Vocal Group of the Year: Lady Antebellum
9:00 KC: Funny that a ridiculously fake award produced the most genuinely real acceptance speech of the night.
8:59 TS: Excuse me while I turn into an irrational fan. So proud of that girl!
8:59 DM: A heartfelt moment is weirdly followed by the presentation of a totally weird “Triple Crown” award to Carrie for winning a bunch of other stuff. The new Crystal Milestone, I guess.
8:57 TS: Here’s the thing: this is as honest a moment as Miranda’s, regardless of how much more flash or vocal bombast it includes. Carrie’s emotion in this song is so incredibly pure. And I really wish people would see that.
8:57 KC: As always, I love Underwood’s sincerity and conviction. Her vocal isn’t up to her usual par, though.
8:54 DM: Carrie doing “Temporary Home”. Looking super pretty in pink-purple. Guitarist needs a tune-up, though, and I question the producer decision to have this performance directly after the other quiet, well-sung acoustic number of the evening.
8:50 TS: I feel like Seacrest should be giving out the EOTY voting numbers. There’s an amusing visual in my head of George Strait holding up four fingers and mouthing “Please!” OK, no more Idol references from me. Promise.
8:49 DM: A very frat-tastic performance with Jack, Dierks Bentley and a bunch of random crowd girls.
8:46 DM: Love that the ACMs gave Jack Ingram a performance slot, and love that he’s doing his old fan favorite, “Barbie Doll.” Good song.
8:45 KC: Nice to see MG get some love though, as they’ve had to play Bellamy Brothers to Sugarland and Brooks & Dunn for so long.
8:44 KC: Country Universe is proud to present the CU Humanitarian Award to the viewers at home for enduring this evening so far.
8:42 TS: Such an honest moment. And I’ll say it again – Miranda does not get enough credit as a strong vocalist. Although I think she’s about to get some.
8:41 DM: There’s a projector image of what looks like the Ryman in the backdrop toward the end. Intriguing.
8:38 DM: Miranda doing “The House that Built Me”. Excuse me while I actually listen to a performance.
8:33 TS: Miranda’s wonderful, fabulous, etc., etc. AOTY win made me immune to Jason Aldean’s performance. Thanks ACM!
8:31 DM: Jason Aldean’s terrible “Crazy Town” sounds exactly like Jason Aldean’s pretty bad “She’s Country”, miraculously making the latter sound good by comparison. Is that mean? Sorry.
8:31 KC: Lambert looking like a lock for Female Vocalist at this point. If she wins that, she gets to claim “big winner of the night” bragging rights that she’s currently sharing wtih Lady Antebelum.
8:28 KC: As for studio albums, only Dixie Chicks can claim two wins among those with XX chromosomes.
8:28 TS: Woah, not cool.
8:28 DM: Frank Liddell or Mike Wrucke (didn’t see which) gets cut off just as he’s starting to talk.
8:27 KC: Wow! First solo female artist in ACM history to win this award twice, unless you count Emmylou Harris for Trio and O Brother.
8:26 TS: YES!
8:26 DM: D@@#0wF%$*#*#W YES
Album of the Year: Miranda Lambert, Revolution
8:21 DM: As much as I still dislike a lot of mainstream country, I can’t tell you how much happier I am with the genre now that we’ve definitively cleared Rascal Flatts’ peak.
8:19 DM: Hey, butterfly reader! If you can’t get enough live-blog snark, might I shout out the good people at Entertainment Weekly and The 9513.
8:16 KC: Nobody’s owning the stage the way Bundy did. Perhaps we’ll make a stint on Broadway a new requirement for country music stardom.
8:16 DM: The chorus has a pretty melody, I’ll say that.
8:16 TS: Loved the intro to “Ameri-kin Honey,” but not so much the vocals. The song still makes me teary every time I hear it. I’ve moved past feeling like I need to explain why (I think).
8:11 TS: That was an awkward way to present an award, with mini sing-offs.
Top New Artist: Luke Bryan
8:08 KC: If the nineties were country music’s spin on seventies California rock, this decade must be country’s spin on eighties hair bands.
8:08 TS: I prefer Gloriana’s 25 seconds of cheese-tastic performance to Taylor’s pseudo-epic performance. So kill me.
8:07 KC: Hough apparently celebrated her Top New Artist win last year at the tanning salon.
8:07 DM: “Last year’s Top New Artist, Julianne Hough.” THIS IS WHY YOUR SYSTEM IS BROKEN, ACM.
8:05 KC: A big, loud choir should accompany every Taylor Swift glory note.
8:04 DM: Ah, here’s the outfit change. I was beginning to wonder.
8:01 DM: People keep describing Taylor Swift’s writing her own songs like it was a completely revolutionary idea.
7:59 DM: The Laura Bell Bundy haters are already coming out in droves on the social networking sites.
7:58 DM: Grumble, grumble.
7:58 TS: So predictable, but so deserved.
7:54 DM: I started typing that “Need You Now” was the winner before it was even announced.
Single of the Year: Lady Antbellum, “Need You Now”
7:46 DM: I don’t mean this cynically (especially since they were my choice), but I bet Zac Brown Band is currently receiving a good last-minute boost in the Entertainer race thanks to all the attention given to their USO stuff.
7:44 TS: TS: I think Toby is the only artist that elicits from me such polarizing feelings. That was lovely.
7:40 DM: “Cryin’ For Me (Wayman’s Song)”. Never been able to get into the recorded version personally, but it makes for a moving live performance.
7:35 TS: Ok, maybe a lot happy.
7:34 KC: Well, that was the best thing of the night so far. The most country, too. Things are weird.
7:34 TS: I’m having a similar reaction to Kara DioGuardi’s after Adam Lambert sang “Ring of Fire.” LBB left me “confused but sort of happy.”
7:31 DM: Laura Bell Bundy’s much-anticipated (by me, at least) performance going on now. She’s done well keeping up with the song so far. I think people are either going to hate this or kind of love it.
Song of the Year: “Need You Now”
7:28 TS: Faith looks younger. How is that even possible?
7:28 KC: Great. The first person I want to hear perform is presenting! Love Faith Hill.
7:27 DM: Reba wants to remind you to vote for the song Brooks & Dunn will perform tonight. “My Maria”, “Red Dirt Road”, or “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone”. I love all of them, but I’d rather one of the two oldies.
7:24 TS: Touche.
7:23 KC: I thought they were all non-country performances, and I’m hardly a purist.
7:23 TS: Four performances so far, and I’ve only enjoyed the non-country one. I feel a little bad.
7:19 KC: I think Kenny Chesney is lip-syncing.
7:18 DM: Kenny Chesney performing his current single, “Boring Freewheeling Lifestyle Song #7″.
7:16 DM: Billy Currington performing his recent #1, “Stupid ‘Country Boy’ Mentality Song #14″.
7:13 KC: NYC people know about country music, and we’ve all been south of Queens. This entire song is built upon a ridiculous stereotype.
7:13 DM: Blake and Trace doing “Hillbilly Bone.”
7:12 DM: Miranda looked like she had NO IDEA who that person was. Love it.
7:12 TS: Is anyone else completely blind-sided by Cher? What…?
7:11 KC: Cher and Reba share a doctor.
7:08 KC: A Kirstie Alley fat joke? Really?
7:05 KC: KC: Couldn’t this have been done just as easily with a country song and a country legend?
7:05 TS: Um, I kind of ridiculously loved that. FIERCE vocals.
7:03 DM: Carrie, Miranda, Brad, Fogerty, and CHARIE FREAKIN’ DANIELS rocking out to “Travelin’ Band.” Pretty kickass, although it might have been nice if they’d done a slightly countrier CCR song like “Lookin’ Out My Back Door.”
7:00 DM: Yes, Matthew McConaughey is back! His Carrie speech shout-out last year was classic.
6:58 TS: Let the shenanigans begin. I’m pretty stoked for this much-buzzed-about opener…ready to see Miranda and co. rock out!
6:51 DM: RAaAaaaAAAHH DANNY GOKEY RaAAaAH GO AWAY!!!
6:50 DM: John Fogerty on the carpet now. He’ll be playing tonight with Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, and Carrie Underwood. Shaping up to be a super-cool night.
6:30 DM: I’m happy to see Sarah Buxton staying in the public eye on the orange carpet, but I’d be happier if she still had a record deal. Stupid Disney.
6:15 DM: Apparently CMT is going to be re-airing this past year’s CMA Awards at the same time as the ACMs. Doesn’t that seem kind of like a cheap attempt to grab confused viewers?
6:08 DM: All right folks, Kevin, Tara and I will be triple-teaming it tonight! And Blake Shelton is on the orange carpet doing some great fake-bragging about his Vocal Event win.
Let’s be real: to most core readers of this blog, it’s probably old news that Miranda Lambert is releasing this unusually good song to radio. And it’s probably old opinion for me to proclaim that she’s playing a more sophisticated game than just about any mainstream artist out there. You know: “she’s real, everyone else is a phony!”. Is there some amount of truth in that? Sure. But you don’t need another country music Caulfield to tell you. You just have to listen to the song. The difference between this record and most of the others at radio can be felt within seconds.
So blah blah, it’s very good. Maybe great. The best on the album, which is itself quite good. She’s all that. Know what I find myself thinking? It shouldn’t be like this.
Meaning, it shouldn’t come as a pleasant shock when a major label sends out the best track on the album. Or when the track has that distinction because of its grace and intelligence, not because it happens to be more disposably catchy than the others surrounding it. We shouldn’t feel so tempted to put Miranda Lambert on a pedestal just because she’s one of the only acts who bothers (or, perhaps, gets away with) picking music with a few brain cells. We should feel better about noticing that “The House That Built Me” has a few hackneyed turns of phrase, that the second verse seems underdeveloped compared to the first.
I’d like to tell you about the beautiful craft, depth and delivery that make this single worthy of its almost-certain coronation as the best of the year. But all I can think is that that coronation shouldn’t be so almost-certain. Miranda Lambert is a great young artist; she deserves to compete with other great artists, ones who will elicit her admiration and secret envy and drive her to seek yet better songs, better ideas. It infuriates me that this single sticks out so plainly on the Billboard charts. It infuriates me that it’s such a fluke, that mediocrity is so dominant now that I have to focus all my country-music-fan energy on hoping this one really strong release will hit the Top Ten.
Because we used to have a genre full of this stuff, you guys. We used to have a bunch of of artists at once trying to find or write songs like this in between the standard fluff of the day. Hank, George, Emmylou, Dwight, Mary Chapin, whoever – even a lot of less consistent, less celebrated artists. They didn’t all sound the same, but there was a common thread: they tried to be great.
I don’t know all the political intricacies of country music’s current problem. I’m some guy on the internet blogging from an on-campus apartment. But I know that a lot of problems get fixed when individuals stop trying to please everyone and simply try to be great at what they do. Miranda Lambert has been trying to be great from Day One. And what a pleasure it is when her end result is worthy of the same grade as her effort:
Grade: A
Now, what do the rest of you have to say for yourselves?
Acclaimed Nashville artist Paul Burch, whose recent Still Your Man landed at #13 on our Best Country Albums of 2009 list, is taking an innovative approach to distributing new music this year. The Asides/Besides project he launched earlier this month will hook fans (or hip, curious newbies) up with twenty singles released steadily throughout the year, with varying affordable price packages to accommodate varying levels of Paul Burch appreciation.
The official lowdown:
On March 1st Paul Burch & WPA Ballclub began the streaming and sale of an A side/B side single every month throughout the rest of the year. For a one-time fee of only $5 fans can join the Paul Burch Record Club which allows them to subscribe to the entire year-long series. For $10, in addition to receiving all 20 tracks in mp3 form, Paul Burch Record Club members will receive, at the end of the year, a CD of the singles with custom artwork. An additional $15 level will get fans all the mp3s, a CD at the end of the year, and a personalized thank-you note from Paul!
To subscribe to Asides/Besides or sample some of Burch’s fine wares, visit PaulBurch.com.
You know the drill. For each of the categories, we’ll look at who’s broken in since last year, who’s been excused, and then make a totally judgy statement about what it all means.
Entertainer of the Year
Kenny Chesney
Toby Keith
Brad Paisley
George Strait
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Keith Urban
Zac Brown Band
Who’s In: Who isn’t?
Who’s Out: No one.
Snap Judgment: My best guess about the surprise expansion of this category is that ACM thinks the Oscars are onto something. They’re not. But while the Oscars risk having a Best Picture nomination lose some of its prestige, I don’t think the same quite holds true for ACM Entertainer, since an artist can already be nominated multiple times throughout a career anyway (and most are). So this could actually work, I guess. If nothing else, it’ll be interesting.
Top Male Vocalist of the Year
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Darius Rucker
George Strait
Keith Urban
Who’s In: Darius Rucker
Who’s Out: Toby Keith
Snap Judgment: No surprises here; it’s the same pool the CMA picked this past fall.
Top Female Vocalist of the Year
Miranda Lambert
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Lee Ann Womack
Who’s In: Reba McEntire
Who’s Out: Martina McBride
Snap Judgment: Martina shaft! Drama drama!
Top Vocal Group of the Year
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Randy Rogers Band
Rascal Flatts
Zac Brown Band
Who’s In: Zac Brown Band
Who’s Out: The Lost Trailers
Snap Judgment: I imagine Love And Theft’s and Gloriana’s managers will be spending the morning trying to figure out who the hell Randy Rogers Band is. Seriously, I don’t know how RRB keeps squeezing into this race. Not complaining, though!
Top Vocal Duo of the Year
Brooks & Dunn
Joey + Rory
Montgomery Gentry
Steel Magnolia
Sugarland
Who’s In: Steel Magnolia
Who’s Out: Big & Rich
Snap Judgment: What’s this? Five duos who actually did something in the last year? Get outta here.
Top New Solo Vocalist of the Year
Luke Bryan
Jamey Johnson
Chris Young
Who’s In: Chris Young, Luke Bryan (both re-entries from previous years)
Who’s Out: Jake Owen (won last year), James Otto
Snap Judgment: I’m just pretending this is the Top New Male category, since ACM’s annual changing around of award names and criteria can be kind of silly. This is going to be an interesting race to watch, especially since all three of these guys are nominated their second time here. It’s the last chance any of them will have to win it.
Top New Vocal Duo of the Year
Bomshel
Joey + Rory
Steel Magnolia
Who’s In: This category was merged with New Vocal Group last year, so none of these duos (being duos) were there.
Snap Judgment: Seriously, doesn’t this whole “actually having semi-active vocal duos” thing kind of weird you out at this point? (P.S. Vote for Joey + Rory!)
Top New Vocal Group of the Year
Eli Young Band
Gloriana
The Lost Trailers
Who’s In: Gloriana
Who’s Out: Zac Brown Band (won last year)
Snap Judgment: Love And Theft HQ must be a grim, grim place today.
Album of the Year
Brad Paisley, American Saturday Night
Lady Antebellum, Lady Antebellum
Miranda Lambert, Revolution
Carrie Underwood, Play On
Zac Brown Band, The Foundation
Snap Judgment: Not a bad lineup, but the ACM’s lenience in the Album category never ceases to amaze. Lady Antebellum came out two full years ago.
Single Record of the Year
Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now”
Billy Currington, “People Are Crazy”
David Nail, “Red Light”
Zac Brown Band, “Toes”
Miranda Lambert, “White Liar”
Snap Judgment: I’m used to scratching my head in this category. Whatever.
Song of the Year
“Cowboy Casanova” – Mike Elizondo, Brett James & Carrie Underwood
“Need You Now” – Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott
“People Are Crazy” – Bobby Braddock & Troy Jones
“White Liar” – Natalie Hemby & Miranda Lambert
“You Belong With Me” – Liz Rose & Taylor Swift
Snap Judgment: …It’s like, do people even pay attention to lyrics anymore?
Video of the Year
Randy Houser, “Boots On”
Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now”
Brad Paisley, “Welcome to the Future”
Miranda Lambert, “White Liar”
Taylor Swift, “You Belong With Me”
Snap Judgment: Actually not a bad pool. The Lady A video is pretty boring, though.
Country music legend tells of a certain powerful, polarizing breed of radio single, said to have been spun together out of magical cane sugar by Aphrodite herself (or her Southern Baptist counterpart, April-Jean the Angel. Depends who you ask.) The single appears only sporadically, sometimes waiting years to reemerge – but when it comes, it walks loudly and carries a big, hooked stick.
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