“The 54th Annual CMA Awards” take place on Wednesday (November 11th), and UMG Nashville will be represented in many of the night’s categories, including Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist, Male Vocalist, Album, Group, Duo, Music Video and more.
Eric Church, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban are vying for Entertainer of the Year, alongside Luke Combs and Miranda Lambert.
Keith earned three nods this year, including Entertainer, Male Vocalist and Musical Event of the Year for Thomas Rhett’s “Be A Light,” which features Keith, Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott and Chris Tomlin.
Eric Church and Carrie Underwood each earned two nods apiece – both have an Entertainer of the Year nomination, as well as Male Vocalist and Female Vocalist, respectively. Chris Stapleton is up against Church for Male Vocalist, but also has a Music Video nomination for his LEGO-themed “Second One to Know.”
Jon Pardi is nominated in the Album of the Year category for the acclaimed Heartache Medication collection.
Little Big Town is nominated for Vocal Group of the Year; Brothers Osborne and Maddie & Tae are up for Duo of the Year, while Kacey Musgraves is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year.
Reba McEntire is nominated alongside Keith Urban for Musical Event of the Year for Thomas Rhett’s “Be A Light,” which also features Hillary Scott and Chris Tomlin.
Caylee Hammack is also nominated in the Musical Event of the Year category for “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” with Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Elle King, Ashley McBryde and Tenille Townes.
“The 54th Annual CMA Awards,” hosted by Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker, will be broadcast live from Nashville on Wednesday (November 11th) at 8pm ET on ABC.
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
- Eric Church
- Luke Combs
- Miranda Lambert
- Carrie Underwood
- Keith Urban
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist and Producer(s)
- Heartache Medication – Jon Pardi
Producers: Bart Butler, Ryan Gore, Jon Pardi - Never Will – Ashley McBryde
Producers: Jay Joyce, John Peets - Old Dominion – Old Dominion
Producers: Shane McAnally, Old Dominion - What You See Is What You Get – Luke Combs
Producer: Scott Moffatt - Wildcard – Miranda Lambert
Producer: Jay Joyce
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- Miranda Lambert
- Ashley McBryde
- Maren Morris
- Kacey Musgraves
- Carrie Underwood
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- Eric Church
- Luke Combs
- Thomas Rhett
- Chris Stapleton
- Keith Urban
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
- Lady A
- Little Big Town
- Midland
- Old Dominion
- Rascal Flatts
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
- Brooks & Dunn
- Brothers Osborne
- Dan + Shay
- Florida Georgia Line
- Maddie & Tae
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer
- “10,000 Hours” – Dan + Shay (with Justin Bieber)
Producer: Dan Smyers
Mix Engineer: Jeff Juliano - “Beer Never Broke My Heart” – Luke Combs
Producer: Scott Moffatt
Mix Engineer: Jim Cooley - “Bluebird” – Miranda Lambert
Producer: Jay Joyce
Mix Engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce - “The Bones” – Maren Morris
Producer: Greg Kurstin
Mix Engineer: Greg Kurstin - “I Hope” – Gabby Barrett
Producers: Ross Copperman, Zach Kale
Mix Engineer: Buckley Miller
SONG OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Songwriters
- “Bluebird”
Songwriters: Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, Miranda Lambert - “The Bones”
Songwriters: Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins, Laura Veltz - “Even Though I’m Leaving”
Songwriters: Luke Combs, Wyatt B. Durrette III, Ray Fulcher - “I Hope You’re Happy Now”
Songwriters: Luke Combs, Randy Montana, Carly Pearce, Jonathan Singleton - “More Hearts Than Mine”
Songwriters: Ingrid Andress, Sam Ellis, Derrick Southerland
MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artists and Producer(s)
- “10,000 Hours” – Dan + Shay (with Justin Bieber)
Producer: Dan Smyers - “Be A Light” – Thomas Rhett featuring Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin, Keith Urban
Producer: Dann Huff - “The Bones” – Maren Morris with Hozier
Producer: Greg Kurstin - “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” – Miranda Lambert (feat. Maren Morris, Elle King, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes & Caylee Hammack)
Producer: Jay Joyce - “I Hope You’re Happy Now” – Carly Pearce and Lee Brice
Producer: busbee
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s) and Director
- “10,000 Hours” – Dan + Shay (with Justin Bieber)
Director: Patrick Tracy - “Bluebird” – Miranda Lambert
Director: Trey Fanjoy - “Homemade” – Jake Owen
Director: Justin Clough - “I Hope You’re Happy Now” – Carly Pearce and Lee Brice
Director: Sam Siske - “Second One To Know” – Chris Stapleton
Director: David Coleman
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
- Jimmie Allen
- Ingrid Andress
- Gabby Barrett
- Carly Pearce
- Morgan Wallen
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
- Jenee Fleenor, Fiddle
- Paul Franklin, Steel Guitar
- Rob McNelley, Guitar
- Ilya Toshinskiy, Guitar
- Derek Wells, Guitar
Audio / In 2019, Eric Church put on his amazing Double Down Tour in which he played 3 1/2 to 4 hours a night. He says loves performing live for his fans.
DownloadEric Church (performing energy) OC: …type of crowd. :40
“Well, I think for me every night I try to empty the tank. There’s always that energy floating around. It’s a palpable thing, and it’s up to me to start that exchange and get the crowd to give it back to me and then watch it build on itself and just to have that experience. We have one night here in whatever city we’re in, you know, we’ve got this night. I’m not gonna see you for a while you’re not gonna see me for a while, you know? And I love being able to capitalize on that moment and trying to live in that moment and get as much energy exchange between myself and the crowd as we can. I love that. That’s my favorite part of what we do. I love being around people, I’m very passionate about my music, and I love people who are passionate about the music too and I love playing a show for that type of crowd.”
Audio / In 2019, Carrie Underwood headlined the Cry Pretty Tour 360 with sold-out shows across the country. This year, she's put out a book, created a fitness app and released her first Christmas album. She says she loves performing live for fans.
DownloadCarrie Underwood (performing live on stage) OC: …a lot of fun. :35
“I think my favorite thing about performing live is just getting kind of lost in the music and the show. I have as much fun as hopefully everybody sitting out in the audience is having. I get to connect with the fans. I get to see people. The people that are streaming music and downloading music and buying albums, they’re finally in front of me. To get to have that moment with them is so much fun. The lights and the costumes and getting to have moments with my band members on stage, I mean it’s all a lot of fun.”
Audio / Keith Urban recalls winning his first CMA Entertainer of the Year Award in 2005.
DownloadKeith Urban (winning EOY in 2005) OC: …magical night. :43
“What I remember about the Entertainer of the Year category in 2005 was that first feeling when people say it’s just an honor to be nominated, and I thought, ‘I know what that means! I know what that feels like,’ because for me it was a huge honor to be nominated so soon into my recording career. To be in that category, it just felt unbelievably quick for me. And then when they read my name out as the winner, I think I actually said, ‘I thought I was just rounding out the category,’ because [laughs] I thought you’ve got to have four or five people in the category. I truly did not expect that to happen. It was just such a magical night.”
Audio / Jon Pardi talks about his nomination for CMA Album of the Year for his acclaimed Heartache Medication.
DownloadJon Pardi (CMA Album of the Year nod) OC: …I can, again. :28
“Having a CMA Album of the Year nomination is amazing. Just being acknowledged by my peers and all of the people in the industry is so awesome, and we worked so hard on this record and we’re still working hard on all our albums, and it’s just awesome. And so, as I get ready to make the fourth record, this is just telling me to stay on track. So, thank you for everybody for getting me this nomination, and it’s pretty awesome. And I will try to do the best fourth record I can, again.”
Audio / BACKSTAGE AT THE CMA AWARDS, CHRIS STAPLETON SAID AWARDS MAKE HIS DREAM OF MAKING MUSIC AN EVEN BIGGER DREAM.
DownloadChris Stapleton (realizing dream) OC: …larger dream. :15
“It’s an unimaginable, fairy-tale of a thing really, and we’re so proud just to get to just make music and go out and play it for people and make records and that’s the dream. Then when you have all of these other things that people are nice enough to give you, that makes the dream an even larger dream.”
Audio / Chris Stapleton, who is up for two awards at Wednesday night’s CMA Awards, including Male Vocalist and Music Video of the Year, says he’s always grateful for the moment of recognition.
DownloadChris Stapleton (grateful for awards) OC: …grateful for the moment. :30
“Well I’ll take ’em home with me I guess once they send ’em Yeah I guess you have to at some point, but it still is a very… I’m thankful for it and it’s very nice and there’s a lot of great people doing a lot of great things making a lot of great music and working really hard and so when you get this kind of a thing going, I don’t think anybody deserves it. It’s a lot of luck and a lot of stars lining up so, I’m grateful for the moment.”
