Country Music Herald

Buckle Up. Party Down. Enter to Win a CMT Music Awards Prize Package! That’s right! The Country Music Herald is running another great contest with a fun prize package…make that TWO contests and prize packages. Keep reading to find out about some great shows on CMT and how you can win. But you’d better hurry because the deadline for entries is April 13, 2008 11:59 PM ET.

“Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus are set to host the 2008 CMT Music Awards. This year, the CMT MUSIC AWARDS promise to be better than ever with more video categories, more live performances and more of your favorite country stars. Including performances by Rascal Flatts, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, Taylor Swift and Toby Keith, as well as Billy Ray and Miley, with more performances to be announced, the 2008 CMT MUSIC AWARDS continues to be the genre’s only fan-voted awards show. Mark your calendars for country music’s star-studded event - April 14 at 8 p.m. ET.”

“And after the CMT MUSIC AWARDS, catch the premiere of CAN YOU DUET, April 14 at 10:30 p.m. ET. The producers of American Idol have teamed up with CMT to find the next great country music duo in the most original singing competition ever, CAN YOU DUET. In the tradition of powerhouse duos such as Big & Rich, Kenny and Dolly, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Brooks & Dunn, and even Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus, CAN YOU DUET is the ultimate singing competition looking to launch an unknown duo into country music superstardom.”

To find out how to enter this contest and what you could win, keep reading after the jump.

country music, CMT Awards, Can You Duet, country music contest, CMT contest

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Artists aren’t the only ones winning at the 2008 CMT MUSIC AWARDS on Monday, April 14, as CMT ONE COUNTRY will be gifting $2500 to winners in each category of the 2008 CMT MUSIC AWARDS for the charity of their choice, it was announced today by CMT’s Director of Public Affairs, Lucia Folk. CMT ONE COUNTRY, CMT’s pro-social initiative, was launched in the fall of 2005 to inspire CMT viewers to take action and bring about important change in their communities. Visit CMTONECOUNTRY.com to learn more information about the nominated artists’ charities.

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Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood got up with the birds to help announce this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards nominees, and both of their names were called more than once. Kenny Chesney led all country music stars with a whopping 11 nominations, including the coveted Entertainer of the Year award. He’s up against some stiff competition from Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, and George Strait. They are all worthy of the award, so it will be a great competition.

There were few surprises in the nominees this year, in my opinion, but there were a couple worth mentioning. First of all, I’m thrilled Sarah Buxton got a nod in the Best New Female Vocalist category, although Taylor Swift surely has that category all wrapped up. I’m also excited for Miranda Lambert and her 3 total nominations, including single record of the year for “Famous in a Small Town”. Finally, I’m not sure how this will work, but The Wreckers are up for Best New Duo or Group and they’ve already split up. That should mean they should not win, but it could be interesting if they do.

If you want to see all nominees in all of the categories, keep reading after the jump and leave your thoughts on who was nominated (and who wasn’t) in the comments section below.

country music, 2008 ACM Award Nominees

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Country music awards season is kicking into high gear in the next couple of weeks. We’ve already gotten the word on the CMT Award nominees and some performers, and now it’s the 43rd Annual ACM Awards’ turn in the spotlight. Reba McIntyre will again, for the tenth time, host the festivities from the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The show is set to air on CBS on May 18th.

Nominees have not been announced yet, but an announcement about who will be announcing the nominees has been announced (did you follow that?). The nominees will be revealed on March 4th from the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum in Nashville. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will do the honors this year in announcing the nominees. The following day kicks off the annual Country Radio Seminar. Brad Paisley will kick off those festivities by headlining the Music City Jam special concert for the seminar.

Look to see both Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood read their own names a few times. I also think Sugarland and Taylor Swift will get a few nods for both having outstanding breakout years in the country music industry last year. Who else do you think will show up on that list of nominees? Let me know in the comments section below!

ACM Awards, country music

Now that the Grammy Awards are over, it’s time to start looking forward to the CMT Awards! They are slated to air on CMT on April 14th and tickets go on sale this Saturday, February 23rd.

CMT announced quite a few acts that are going to perform live at the show. The already announced acts include Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson, Sugarland, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and Toby Keith. It is shaping up to be an amazing show already. To get tickets to the show, you can hop on Ticketmaster.com on Saturday starting at 10 AM CT, or visit the CMT Official Website.

While you’re over at the CMT website, you can start voting for your favorites in some of the already announced categories. Those categories are: Video of the Year, Male Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, Duo Video of the Year, Group Video of the Year, Breakthrough Video of the Year, Collaborative Video of the Year, Wide Open Country Video of the Year, Supporting Character of the Year, Tearjerker Video of the Year, Comedy Video of the Year, Video Director of the Year, and Performance of the Year.

More categories will be available for voting on March 6th at CMT.com. So head on over and start voting!

country music, CMT Awards 2008

Yesterday we took a look at the fashionable country music couples at the Grammy Awards. Now lets take a look at what everyone else was wearing. Check out the rest of the pictures after the jump and then let me know what you think in the comments!

Carrie Underwood sure can sing, but I think after this mess, she needs to fire her stylist. Her dress looks like my Grandma’s drapes that weren’t hemmed and I have no idea why she thought adding more hair was a good idea. She’s so classically pretty, why would she want to look like this?

country music, country music Grammy fashion

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What a better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than to check out pictures of the country music star couples we love from the 2008 Grammy Awards. Who is a hit and who is a miss with their red carpet looks? Check out all of the couples after the jump and let me know what you think in the comments!

Cute couple Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert cruise the press scene on the red carpet of the Grammy Awards. Blake looked a little disheveled, but that’s usually his look. Miranda was beautiful in this chocolate colored dress. It looked much better on television than this picture, but she still looks great!

country music, country music Grammy fashion

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How did your favorite country music artists do at the Grammy Awards this year? Well, I’ve got that answer for you! Here is a list of all the categories country music artists were nominated in and who actually won in those categories. The winners are are in red. Check them out after the jump.

country music, 2008 country music Grammy Results

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The Grammy Awards are here! This Sunday night at 8 pm ET on CBS you can watch some of your favorite country music stars walk the red carpet, perform, and hopefully win some awards. I’ve previously written about the country music Grammy Nominees (so check them out if you need a refresher), and tomorrow I will highlight my picks as to who I think will win the awards in those categories.

There are a lot of great presenters and performers slated to appear as well. Among the country music acts will be Brad Paisley and Kid Rock. Brad Paisley is hot on country charts right now, releasing nothing but number one singles. Kid Rock has been more country than anything lately, but back in the day let’s not forget he started out in the rock arena (his name is Kid ROCK afterall). Both should be great performances.

Taylor Swift is among the presenters. She’s hot on both the country music charts and she’s making a splash in the pop world right now getting a lot of airplay for a slightly remixed Teardrops on My Guitar. She’s a great choice for a presenter.

Who are you most looking forward to seeing on the red carpet? Let me know in the comments below!

country music, Grammy Preview

Country music sure can’t claim a shortage of awards for their craft, whether it be awards shows or accolades doled out by critics. The well respected Nashville Scene Critic’s Poll was the latest of these pats on the back released to the public and Miranda Lambert is the most decorated country artist to come out of the poll.

Lambert was given four awards including Best Female Artist and Best Artist, while also receiving top honors in the Best Album category for her latest CD Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as well as Best Single for “Famous in a Small Town”. Other winners included Brad Paisley (Best Male Artist), Sugarland (Best Group), Keith Urban (Best Live Act), Taylor Swift (Best New Artist), and Emmylou Harris (Best Reissue).

The awards were voted on by almost 100 critics representing such publications as Billboard, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and Country Weekly.

country music, country music awards, Nashville Scene, Nashville Scene Critic’s Poll

The Grammy nominations were announced today (by Taylor Swift, among others) and there are plenty of country acts across the board to root for this year. There were a few surprises, and even a couple of acts I’ve never heard of in the country categories–who are the Time Jumpers that are nominated for Best Vocal by a Group or Duo (if you know anything about them, help me out with a post in the comments section!), which, I am sad to say, did not include Sugarland for “Stay” or any of their songs, for that matter, silly Grammy voters.

The Grammy Awards broadcast isn’t for another couple of months, yet, but it’s never too early to check out the nominations and start rooting for our favorites! To see the complete list of categories that include country artists, keep reading after the jump.

country music, 2008 Grammy Nominations, 2008 country music Grammy Nominations

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This weekend’s country music clip is of Tim McGraw performing “If You’re Reading This” live at the ACM awards earlier this year. The song, a tribute to our troops fighting overseas, became a hit and is still holding strong on the charts. Enjoy!

country music, country music clips, Tim McGraw, Tim McGraw performance live ACM awards

Such a big deal was made over The Eagles performing live for the very first time on any awards show at the 2007 CMA Awards, I just had to get the clip of their song for my collection here. Now their new album is dominating the charts and has already gone platinum. So here is The Eagles performing “How Long” live at the 2007 CMA awards.

country music, CMA awards performances, The Eagles, The Eagles 2007 CMA awards

While I’ve been off stuffing myself with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, Nashville news kept on cranking out, so let’s take some time and see what I’ve missed in my tryptophan induced sleepiness.

File This Under “It’s About Time!”

Charlie Daniels has become the latest country superstar to be asked to join the Grand Ole Opry ranks. Current Opry member Martina McBride surprised him during one of his concerts on November 19th. He was performing a Christmas concert for children at the storied Ryman Theatre in Nashville when she extended the invitation. Daniels became emotional and was pleased with the offer. All I have to say to that is “it’s about time” considering the decades of country music classics the Charlie Daniels Band has been producing. Josh Turner was the most recent inductee into the Grand Ole Opry.

Grammy News

Country music’s teenage phenom Taylor Swift will be helping with the announcing duties for nomination ceremony for the 2008 Grammy Awards. Taylor will join other stars like Akon, Linkin Park, and Qunicy Jones at 8:30 am on December 6th to read the nominees. The 2008 Grammy Awards will be broadcast on February 10, 2008 on CBS.

Garth Brooks Concert to Help Fire Victims

Garth Brooks just finished up a string of 10 concerts in Kansas City with his wife Trisha Yearwood, and now the entertainer will be performing a show in Los Angeles to benefit the victims of the recent widespread fires in Southern California. Brooks will perform on January 26, 2008 at the Staples Center. More information, including how and when to purchase tickets, will be available on Monday November 26th.

country music, Charlie Daniels, Grand Ole Opry, Taylor Swift, Grammy Award Nomination Ceremony, Garth Brooks, Garth Brooks concert, Garth Brooks Concert Los Angeles

Okay, now that the “experts” have chosen their winners and handed out the CMA awards, it’s your turn to vote and pick your favorites. The People’s Choice Awards have announced their nominees, and while there is a country music category (Favorite Country Song), there are also a couple of country music artists nominated in other categories as well.

In fact, Tim McGraw and Rascal Flatts have received two nominations each in different categories at the fan elected awards ceremony. Not only are they nominated in the Favorite Country Song category, they garnered nominations in the Favorite Male Singer and Favorite Group categories, respectively. Kenny Chesney is the other nominee in the Favorite Country Song category.

The People’s Choice Awards in 2008 will be hosted by the multi-talented star of stage, screen, and radio Queen Latifah. The actual awards show itself doesn’t air until January 8, 2008 at 9 PM ET on CBS. However, the polls are now open, and you, the fans, get to decide the winners! Head on over to the People’s Choice Awards site and vote for your favorites. Hurry over there and let your voice be heard in all of the categories, because the voting ends on December 5th!

If you want to see the country music nominees and their competition before you head over, keep reading after the jump.

country music, People’s Choice Awards, People’s Choice Awards Nominees, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney

Favorite Country Song
“I Need You” Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
“Stand” Rascal Flatts
“Never Wanted Nothing More” Kenny Chesney

Favorite Male Singer
Tim McGraw
John Mayer
Justin Timberlake

Favorite Group
Rascal Flatts
Daughtry
Maroon 5