The ACM nominees for Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year were announced on Thursday (February 18th). Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush,” Eric Paslay’s “She Don’t Love You” and Chris Stapleton’s “Nobody to Blame” are on the ballot, as well as Keith Urban’s “Raise ‘Em Up,” featuring Eric Church.
The Academy of Country Music Awards will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas April 3rd at 8pm ET on CBS.
Song of the Year [awarded to songwriter(s)/publisher(s)/artist(s)]
“Burning House,” Cam
Songwriters: Jeffrey Bhasker, Tyler Johnson, Cam
“Girl Crush,” Little Big Town
Songwriters: Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose
“Nobody to Blame,” Chris Stapleton
Songwriters: Chris Stapleton, Barry Bales, Ronnie Bowman
“Raise ‘Em Up,” Keith Urban featuring Eric Church
Songwriters: Tom Douglas, Jaren Johnston, Jeffrey Steele
“She Don’t Love You,” Eric Paslay
Songwriters: Eric Paslay, Jennifer Wayne
Songwriter of the Year
Rodney Clawson (“Crash My Party”)
Ross Copperman (“Strip It Down”)
Ashley Gorley (“Play It Again”)
Shane McAnally (“Break Up in a Small Town”)
Josh Osborne (“John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”)
Audio / Eric Paslay talks about writing “She Don’t Love You” with Jennifer Wayne.
DownloadEric Paslay (She Don’t Love You) OC: …this album. :52
“We initially were trying to write a song for George Strait ‘cause he had just announced that he was doing Cowboy Rides Away tour, and Jen Wayne’s grandfather is John Wayne, so she knows a lot about cowboys. So, we were trying to just write that song, and we didn’t quite have it and in the midst, like songwriters do of writing a song, we were just cutting up and small talk and this and that. And I think I said ‘She don’t love you’ or she said ‘she don’t love you’ and I said ‘Yeah, she’s just lonely,’ just kind of joking around or something. And 45 minutes later we had written ‘She Don’t Love You,’ and I’m proud to have a great ballad. I believe it was probably the best ballad I’ve ever been a part of writing-wise. And I think when you think of country music, those songs that the whole room quiets down over or even all the guys at the bar turn around and listen, and that’s definitely that song on this album.”
Audio / KEITH URBAN SAID ‘RAISE ‘EM UP’ WAS THE PERFECT SONG FOR HIM AND ERIC CHURCH TO DO TOGETHER.
DownloadKeith Urban (Raise ‘Em Up) 3 OC: …sang on it. :15
“It wasn’t written as a duet, but it just struck me as the perfect song. There’s a particular theme really in the song, particularly in the second verse that I felt was just perfect for Eric. I sent him the song, and he loved it. And I was really happy that he came in and sang on it.”
