2016 ACM Awards: Personal Picks & Predictions

April 3, 2016 Kevin John Coyne 17

Tonight’s ACM Awards will be hosted by Dierks Bentley and Luke Bryan. Slated performances include a collaboration between Dolly Parton and Katy Perry, and Miranda Lambert joining up with Billy Gibbons and Keith Urban to cover the ZZ Top song, “Tush.”

Country music in 2016, y’all.

2016 Grammy Awards: Staff Picks & Predictions

February 14, 2016 Kevin John Coyne 19

The good folks at NARAS know how to keep things interesting, producing yet another diverse crop of nominees in the general, country, and country-adjacent fields.

Here are the personal picks from some of our contributing staff, along with who we predict will take home the gold tomorrow.

Single Review: Reba McEntire, “Just Like Them Horses”

February 5, 2016 Kevin John Coyne 8

It’s hard to put into words how exquisitely beautiful this record is. But if you’re familiar with Reba McEntire’s body of work, I’ll start by saying this. It could be dropped, as is, into the middle of the For My Broken Heart album and not only fit in, but elevate that collection.

Single Review: Carrie Underwood, “Heartbeat”

December 11, 2015 Kevin John Coyne 18

“Heartbeat” has been stuck in my head for days, which isn’t surprising, really. It has a solid hook that Underwood delivers with charm and sincerity, two qualities that I always find abundant in her work.

It’s a beautiful song, too. Romantic, heartfelt, and chock full of the specific details that make a song with a well-tread theme sound fresh and interesting.

2016 Grammy Nominations

December 8, 2015 Kevin John Coyne 3

Country music is well represented in the major categories – numerically, at least – and the overall nominee list proves once again that NARAS voters have the widest, most diverse, and yes, best taste of all industry award voters.

Here are this year’s nominees in the big four and all country and country-related categories. It’s worth noting that because Miranda Lambert won Best Country Album last year for Platinum, nothing from that set was eligible in any of the Country categories.

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