ACM AWARDS 2018: A LOOK AHEAD

Artists: Chris Stapleton; Lauren Alaina; Luke Bryan

The ACM Awards are taking place a few days from now, and the show is promising to be inspiring, entertaining and poignant.

Going into Sunday night’s show, Chris Stapleton leads the list of nominees with eight nods in five categories, including Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Single of the Year for “Broken Halos,” Song of the Year for “Whiskey and You” and Album of the Year for From a Room, Vol. 1. He’s won numerous awards over the past few years, and while he’s grateful for every single trophy he takes home, he has a special affinity for the Album categories.

“They are all significant and if you get one award for anything it’s a treat. But any of the awards that awarded the album, the album awards, because I really wanted to make an album that was good,” says Chris. “I wanted that to be a thing, again, more than I wanted it to be, ‘Well here’s the single and eight other songs.’ So, the album awards for me were important in that we did our job in a good way, you know. Just I have such an affinity for albums that I don’t know if I want those more or if they mean more, but they are all meaningful.”

Luke Bryan has won a handful of ACM Awards over his career, including the New Artist of the Year Award in 2010 following it up with two Entertainer Awards just a few years later. He tells us he is honored to be included in that category. “[I’m] so honored to have another Entertainer of the Year nomination and I always think about winning my first Entertainer of the Year [Award] at the ACMs,” he says. “To go to the ACMs knowing that you’re one of those lucky people that have that nomination, it just tells me that I’m doing all I can and doing the right things out on the road and hopefully, the fans are still loving what I’m trying to give to them every night.”

Keith Urban has quite the plethora of nods going into this year’s ACM Awards, including Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year for “Female” and twice, as both artist and producer in the Vocal Event of the Year category for “The Fighter” (featuring Carrie Underwood). Urban won Top New Male Vocalist of the Year in 2000, and Top Male Vocalist of the Year in 2004 and 2005.

Keith’s “Female” was nominated for Song of the Year. The Top 10 hit was written by Nicolle Galyon, Shane McAnally and Ross Copperman, and he said he just had a feel that he needed to record the song and let everyone hear it. “The song spoke to me. It just spoke to me,” said Keith. “As I was singing it, I thought I feel like I’ve known this song my whole life. Something else was going on with it how it felt to me. So, I love it. I believe in it. I didn’t record it for any other reason than it was a heart reaction that I had to it.”

In addition to Vocal Event of the Year for “The Fighter” with Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, is also nominated in the Female Vocalist of the Year category.

Lauren Alaina was announced as the Top New Female Vocalist of the Year a couple of weeks ago, and she still gets emotional talking about the “love” and recognition she has received from her peers and industry insiders.

Previously announced ACM Awards performers include Carrie Underwood, Lauren Alaina, Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Kelly Clarkson, Florida Georgia Line, Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Midland,Maren Morris, Jon Pardi, Bebe Rexha, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and Brett Young.

The 53rd annual Academy of Country Music Awards will broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas April 15th at 8pm ET on CBS.

The nominees for this year’s ACM Awards:

Entertainer of the Year
Jason Aldean
Garth Brooks
Luke Bryan
Chris Stapleton
Keith Urban

Male Vocalist of the Year
Jason Aldean
Thomas Rhett
Chris Stapleton
Keith Urban
Chris Young

Female Vocalist of the Year
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Maren Morris
Carrie Underwood
Reba McEntire

Vocal Duo of the Year
Brothers Osborne
Dan + Shay
Florida Georgia Line
LoCash
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

Vocal Group of the Year
Lady Antebellum
Lanco
Little Big Town
Midland
Old Dominion
Song of the Year
Sam Hunt, “Body Like a Back Road”
Keith Urban, “Female”
Miranda Lambert, “Tin Man”
Chris Stapleton, “Whiskey and You”

Single of the Year
“Better Man,” Little Big Town
“Body Like a Back Road,” Sam Hunt
“Broken Halos,” Chris Stapleton
“Drinkin’ Problem,” Midland
“I’ll Name the Dogs,” Blake Shelton

Album of the Year
Breaker, Little Big Town
California Sunrise, Jon Pardi
From A Room: Vol. 1, Chris Stapleton
Happy Endings, Old Dominion
Life Changes, Thomas Rhett

Video of the Year
“Black,” Dierks Bentley
“It Ain’t My Fault,” Brothers Osborne
“Legends,” Kelsea Ballerini
“Marry Me,” Thomas Rhett
“We Should Be Friends,” Miranda Lambert

Vocal Event of the Year
“Craving You,” Thomas Rhett f/Maren Morris
“Dear Hate,” Maren Morris f/Vince Gill
“(Funny) How Time Slips Away,” Glen Campbell and Willie Nelson
“The Fighter,” Keith Urban f/Carrie Underwood
“What Ifs,” Kane Brown f/Lauren Alaina

The 53rd Annual ACM Awards, hosted by Reba McEntire, will broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas April 15th at 8pm ET on CBS.

Chris Stapleton (affinity for albums) OC: …any one of them. :45
“They are all significant and if you get one award for anything it’s a treat. But any of the awards that awarded the album, the album awards, because I really wanted to make an album that was good. I wanted it, I wanted that to be a thing, again, more than I wanted it to be, ‘Well here’s the single and eight other songs.’ So, the album awards for me were important in that we did our job in a good way, you know. Just I have such an affinity for albums that I don’t know if I want those more or if they mean more, but they are all meaningful. They are all are things that one of them would feel like a career. One of them. Any one of them.”

Luke Bryan (ACM 2018 Entertainer nod) OC: …work harder. [laughs] :39
“[I’m] so honored to have another Entertainer of the Year nomination and I always think about winning my first Entertainer of the Year [Award] at the ACMs. To go to the ACMs knowing that you’re one of those lucky people that have that nomination, it just tells me that I’m doing all I can and doing the right things out on the road and hopefully, the fans are still loving what I’m trying to give to them every night. You don’t want to say the same clichés about it’s an honor to be nominated, it is! The day that I don’t get nominated for stuff like that, then I’ll kinda be sad and I’ll be motivated to work harder.” [laughs]

Lauren Alaina (New Female Vocalist reaction) OC: …and achievement. :39
“You know, this is like a really rewarding moment for everyone on my team, because we have been fighting for so long and I just feel like we all won this award. [tears] Oh Gosh! Like Whew! I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I don’t know, I guess we’ve been at this for 8 years, 7 years? 7 years. And it’s just a big accomplishment to be able to start over and build it brick by brick and for it to be recognized by the people that we trust and respect to know music is the next level of love and achievement.”

Keith Urban (Female feeling) OC: …had to it. :42
“It’s a feeling. It’s more of a feeling. It’s not as cerebral for me, the song spoke to me. It just spoke to me. When I went down into the studio to put a vocal on it; my intention was to put a vocal on the demo. I called Ross Copperman and I said, ‘Can you send me the track that you recorded and leave the vocal off, and I’ll go down to my studio and I’ll sing over the top of it and I’ll see if this fits me because it feels really right.’ And I went down and I sang it, and as I was singing it, I thought I feel like I’ve known this song my whole life. Something else was going on with it how it felt to me. So, I love it. I believe in it. I didn’t record it for any other reason than it was a heart reaction that I had to it.”