Josh Turner has partnered with the Grand Ole Opry to give away a pair of tickets to his March 1st appearance, along with an autographed guitar and autographed Punching Bag CD. You can also watch his “Find Me a Baby” video, plus several behind-the-scenes clips (some are featured below). For more information, click here.

The nominations for the 48^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards were announced on Wednesday, and Eric Church leads the list with seven, including Male Vocalist, Album (Chief) and Video of the Year for “Creepin’.” He is twice nominated for Song of the Year for “Springsteen,” as both artist and composer. Church also earned nominations for Single of the Year for “Springsteen” and for Vocal Event of the Year for “The Only Way I Know” with Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan.   

Luke Bryan received four nominations, including his first-ever Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year nominations. He also received nominations for Album of the Year for tailgates & tanlines and Vocal Event of the Year for “The Only Way I Know” with Jason Aldean and Eric Church.

Little Big Town are also up for four awards, including their seventh nomination for Vocal Group of the Year. They’re also nominated for Album of the Year, Single Record of the Year for “Pontoon” and Video of the Year for “Tornado.” 

First-time ACM nominee, Kacey Musgraves is nominated for four awards including Female Vocalist of the Year, New Female Vocalist of the Year and twice for Video of the Year for “Merry Go ‘Round” as both artist and producer.

Lady Antebellum picked up their sixth nomination for Vocal Group of the Year. Lady A’s Hillary Scott tweeted, “So excited about our @ACMawards Vocal Group nom and that my fav Broke Girl @BethBehrs announced it!!!! Yay!!!” Vince Gill picked up a nod in the Vocal Event of the Year with Kelly Clarkson for “Don’t Rush,” while David Nail is also nominated in the same category with Sarah Buxton for “Let It Rain.” Eric Paslay also enjoys a nomination for writing “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” for Song of the Year, while Sugarland garners their eighth nomination for Vocal Duo. Sugarland’s Kristian Bush took to Twitter to give his reaction – “Excited about @ACMawards Duo nom this morning. Congrats, @JenniferNettles! It’s an honor to be nominated with you again.”

Luke Bryan will join Blake Shelton as co-host of the 48th Annual ACM Awards, which will be broadcast live from the MGM in Las Vegas April 7th on CBS.

For the sixth year, fans will help select the winner of the Academy’s most prestigious honor, Entertainer of the Year, and the winners will be announced live during the show.

Fan voting for New Artist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year begins on March 25th at 3pm ET/12noon PT at VoteACM.com. Fan voting for Entertainer of the Year will close during the third hour of the LIVE broadcast.

Nominees were revealed online via the second annual ACM digital press conference this morning on the Academy’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Iconic singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, The Band Perry, 2 Broke Girls star Beth Behrs, Little Big Town, Scotty McCreery, Ryan Seacrest, The Talk’s Julie Chen, Sarah Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Aisha Tyler, and Sheryl Underwood, plus Entertainment Tonight co-anchors Nancy O’Dell and Rob Marciano all announced batches of nominations in video postings during the approximately 35 minute online event, which culminated in music fans announcing the nominees for the Academy’s biggest prize, Entertainer of the Year.

Entertainer of the Year

Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Miranda Lambert
Blake Shelton
Taylor Swift

Male Vocalist of the Year

Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Toby Keith
Blake Shelton              

Female Vocalist of the Year

Miranda Lambert 
Martina McBride
Kacey Musgraves
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood 

Vocal Duo of the Year

Big & Rich
Florida Georgia Line
Love and Theft
Sugarland
Thompson Square

Vocal Group of the Year 

The Band Perry
Eli Young Band
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Zac Brown Band

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY KOHL’S DEPARTMENT STORES  [Winners of New Male, New Female & New Vocal Duo or Group  Of The Year]

Florida Georgia Line
Brantley Gilbert
Jana Kramer

ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Award to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company]

Blown Away – Carrie Underwood (19/Arista Nashville)
Produced by: Mark Bright

Chief – Eric Church (EMI-Nashville)
Produced by:  Jay Joyce

Red – Taylor Swift (Big Machine Records)
Produced by: Jeff Bhasker, Nathan Chapman, Dann Huff, Jacknife Lee, Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift, Butch Walker, Dan Wilson

tailgates & tanlines – Luke Bryan (Capitol Nashville)
Produced by: Mark Bright, Jeff Stevens

Tornado – Little Big Town (Capitol Nashville)
Produced by: Jay Joyce               

Single Record of the Year [Award to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company]

Even If It Breaks Your Heart – Eli Young Band (Republic Nashville)
Produced by: Mike Wrucke

Over You – Miranda Lambert (RCA)
Produced by: Chuck Ainlay, Frank Liddell, Glenn Worf

Pontoon – Little Big Town (Capitol Nashville)
Produced by: Jay Joyce

Springsteen – Eric Church (EMI-Nashville)
Produced by: Jay Joyce

Wanted – Hunter Hayes (Atlantic/WMN)
Produced by: Hunter Hayes, Dann Huff

Song of the Year [Award to Composer(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]

A Woman Like You – Lee Brice
Composers: Phil Barton, Johnny Bulford, Jon Stone

Even If It Breaks Your Heart – Eli Young Band
Composers: Will Hoge, Eric Paslay

Over You – Miranda Lambert
Composers: Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton

Springsteen – Eric Church
Composers: Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell

Wanted – Hunter Hayes
Composers: Hunter Hayes, Troy Verges

Video of the Year [Award to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)] *(Off Camera Award) [TIE]

Creepin’ – Eric Church
Producer: Iris Baker
Director: Peter Zavadil

Merry Go ‘Round – Kacey Musgraves
Producers: Perry Bean, Kacey Musgraves
Director: Perry Bean

Tornado – Little Big Town
Producer: Iris Baker
Director: Shane Drake

Wanted – Hunter Hayes
Producers: Stephanie Reeves, Eric Williams
Directors: Traci Goudie, Patrick Hubik

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together – Taylor Swift
Producer: John Nguyen
Director:  Declan Whitebloom

The Wind – Zac Brown Band
Producer: Ben Kalina
Director:  Mike Judge

Vocal Event of the Year [Award to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company] *(Off Camera Award)

Don’t Rush – Kelly Clarkson Featuring Vince Gill (19/RCA/Columbia Nashville)
Produced by: Dann Huff

Easy – Rascal Flatts Featuring Natasha Bedingfield (Big Machine Records)
Produced by: Dann Huff, Brian Kennedy, Rascal Flatts

Feel Like A Rock Star – Kenny Chesney (Duet With Tim McGraw) (Blue Chair/BNA)
Produced by: Buddy Cannon, Kenny Chesney

Let It Rain – David Nail  Featuring Sarah Buxton (MCA Nashville)
Produced by:  Chuck Ainlay, Frank Liddell

The Only Way I Know – Jason Aldean With Luke Bryan & Eric Church (Broken Bow) Produced by:  Michael Knox

AUDIO: Eric Church is the most nominated artist at this year’s ACM Awards with seven nods.

Eric Church (ACMs) OC: …get this done. :16
“I think it’s a testament to really fans that believed in the music and loved the music and told people about the music. I think it’s truly because of the fans and because they did something that’s, I think, really going to be judged as pretty special and pretty unique that we were able to get this done.”

Kacey Musgraves (Merry Go ‘Round) OC: …felt this way. :17
“So, ‘Merry Go ‘Round’ was inspired by growing up in a small, conservative Texas town. I think we all kind of grow up with expectations of breaking the cycle of life as we know it, trying to appear as if all is perfect under the surface. Coming from Texas, a small Texas town, I’ve definitely grown up with this. I think we’re all guilty of having something that keeps us distracted, no matter what the vice and our comfort zones kind of keep us settled, and I think there’s hope in knowing that everyone has felt this way.”

KACEY MUSGRAVES RECEIVES THREE NOMINATIONS FOR THE 48^TH ANNUAL

ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS

NOMINATIONS INCLUDE:

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

VIDEO OF THE YEAR (ARTIST & PRODUCER)

MUSGRAVES TO MAKE HER LATE NIGHT TELEVISION DEBUT ON

LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON TONIGHT

Nashville, TN – Singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves received three nominations, FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR and VIDEO OF THE YEAR for both artist and producer, this morning for the 48^thAnnual Academy of Country Music Awards.

“Holy sh*t y’all! I am speechless and so thankful,” said Musgraves. “As a newcomer it’s an honor to be included in such a talented group of ladies.”

Joining Kacey in the Female Vocalist category are Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood; making Kacey the newest artist to be nominated for FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR.

Kacey also received two nominations for VIDEO OF THE YEAR (both Artist and Producer) for her top 15 hit “Merry Go ‘Round.” The video was co-produced by Kacey and Perry Bean, whom also directed. 

Kacey will also make her late night television debut, tonight when she performs “Merry Go ‘Round” onLate Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC 12:35/11:35C).

Kacey’s debut album entitledSame Trailer Different Park is set for release March 19 and was co-produced by Musgraves, Shane McAnally and Luke Laird. She also wrote or co-wrote all tracks on the album.

VEVO LIFT recently tapped Kacey as their first country artist to be chosen for the program that celebrates emerging artists and gives fans access to exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and intimate live performances. Access Kacey Musgraves on VEVO athttp://smarturl.it/KaceyVEVOLIFT

Download ‘Merry Go Round’ on iTunes:http://smarturl.it/KMMerryGoRound

Little Big Town performed their latest hit, “Tornado,” on Late Night With David Letterman on Tuesday (February 12th).

AUDIO: Luke Bryan is usually on the road when Valentine’s Day rolls around…and such is the case for this year, as well. His Dirt Road Diaries Tour will head to Toledo, Ohio on Thursday night for a Friday show. So, Luke and his wife, Caroline, are celebrating Wednesday night with a romantic dinner for two and a night at a Nashville-area hotel.

Luke Bryan (Valentine’s Day) OC: …an evening. :36
“Valentine’s Day is kind of just me and Caroline’s day just to go and enjoy being with one another for a full day. Last Valentine’s was the first Valentine’s that we’d actually been together on Valentine’s Day. So, we’re just gonna have a nice dinner, grab a hotel room. We come into downtown and kind of treat Nashville like a little mini, one-night vacation. Her biggest thing, she’s like, ‘All I wanna do is be able to sleep in one morning,’ so that’s her Valentine’s present and we’ll go to a nice dinner and just enjoy being around each other for an evening.”

Josh Turner (romantic) OC: …to come. :27
“If you asked my wife, Jennifer, if I was a romantic, she would definitely say yes, but she knows that sometimes my hectic schedule and our busy lifestyles can kind of interfere with the romantic side of things. But we do try to make efforts towards being together and having adult conversations and taking time away from the children and doing things that husbands and wives do and so we’re definitely gonna continue that for a long time to come.”

With Valentine’s Day tomorrow, Lady Antebellum‘s Charles, Hillary and Dave sat down to talk about their favorite Valentine moments in this week’s webisode.

The holiday of romance and love is upon us, and that dastardly Cupid has been shooting his arrows all over the place. On this holiday, some of the Capitol/EMI artists have offered up their thoughts and ideas of love and relationships, just in time for Valentine’s Day (Thursday, February 14th).

AUDIO: Alan Jackson talks about his love for wife, Denise, over the years. 

AJ (Valentine’s Day) OC: …continue to. :24
“We got a lot of history together now, and we’re happier than we’ve ever been. So, she’s still beautiful, and she’s always inspired songs. I mean, one of my early hits was a song called ‘I’d Love You All Over Again,’ I wrote for her for our 10th anniversary. I mean, there’s been a zillion songs that have pieces of our good days and bad days inspired, and they continue to.”

AUDIO: Billy Currington recalls his first Valentine – when he was in first or second grade.

Billy Currington (first Valentine memory) OC: …off running. :21
“Yeah, I remember my first girlfriend. I was in first or second grade. But anyway, I remember, ‘OK, it’s Valentine’s Day,’ and your mom going, ‘You’ve got to get your girlfriend something and you’ve got to go give it to her. I’ll never forget, I got her a box of chocolates or whatever it was, and I remember going down to her classroom and knocking on the door and getting her to come to the door. And I remember I handed it to her, and I took off running.”

AUDIO: Darius Rucker knew he would marry his wife, Beth, on their first date.

Darius Rucker (wife) OC: …her and country music saved my life. :43
“I don’t know what it was about her. I mean, it was EVERYTHING about her. I knew, I told her I was going to marry her on our first date, [laughs] yeah. Beth’s a strong woman. It takes a strong woman to be married to a musician, especially a musician who was drinking and partying as hard as I was, and I think life for us is where we are now. It took a long time for us to get to where we are now, and we say to each other all the time, ‘I love us. I love our family. I love us.’ And I thank her every day for staying with me and being the strong woman she is, because with Hootie & the Blowfish, I could be gone for three months and then I’d come home for two days and then I’d be gone again for a month, and she put up with all that crap. You know, her and country music saved my life.”

AUDIO: Before tying the knot with wife Cassady, Dierks Bentley says Valentine’s Day wasn’t always a pleasant holiday for him. 

Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day) 1 OC: …want to. :19
“Well, before, as a single guy in the past, if you were dating someone, it’s that holiday that comes along where you have to really like stamp out on paper exactly where the relationship really stands. You don’t want to undershoot it ’cause then you’ll be in trouble, you know, if you don’t give the right present or don’t say the right things, you’re gonna be in the doghouse. But then if you overstate your hand, then you’re moving the relationship way faster than you actually want to.” 

Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day) 2 OC: …could before. :27
“You get married and that’s a long-term, bigger image of what love can be. Then you have a child, and your heart gets spread so thin and it’s so vulnerable, like it’s a really tough, tough feeling, and it can kill you. It can really be painful at times, and at the same time, it’s so great. But it definitely stretches your heart…and it doesn’t change anything, it just makes your heart, I think it just makes it bigger. I think you just find that you can love more than you ever thought you could before.”

AUDIO: Eric Church says his wife, Katherine, loves him “Like Jesus Does.”

 Eric Church (Valentine’s Day) OC: …love song is. :48
“True love to me is when you love a person in spite of all their fallibilities, and for me, I have a lot of ‘em. I’m definitely at times hard to love, and that’s what’s great about Katherine and the way she loves me. She loves me in spite of those things and really for those things. That’s what’s so neat about the song is it’s not getting around those things, that’s a part of who the person is and it can be challenging at times, and that’s what the song talks about, but it’s what true love is. I think if you ask Katherine, I mean her favorite song on the record is ‘Like Jesus Does.’ Wonder why that is? [chuckles] But it’s something that I’m proud that it’s on the record. And again, I just think it’s a great, realistic version of what a true love song is.”

AUDIO: Keith Urban says love means being aware of each other even as the newness of the relationship wears off.

Keith Urban (Valentine’s Day) OC: …just me or… [laughs] :60
“I mean for me, I think a lot of it has to do with just staying present, because you know, when we start relationships, we’re so capable of honoring each other at the beginning off a relationship with cards and flowers and chocolates and attention and affection and priority. And then all of that all too many times starts to drift away, and it drifts away because it’s easy at the beginning. It just happens naturally. You’re almost overdoing it sometimes in the beginning. I was listening to the radio, [and] they’re talking about when is a relationship too soon to give Valentine’s gifts? [laughs] If you’ve been dating a guy six days, and it just started before the 14th…[laughs] and some woman said, ‘I was dating this guy three weeks and it was Valentine’s Day, and he gave me an iPad for Valentine’s Day.’ [laughs] That’s a ridiculous gift for Valentine’s Day. Is it just me, or…[laughs]”

AUDIO: Kelleigh Bannen says her husband, Jeff, wasn’t always the best gift-giver for Valentine’s Day or for any other holiday, until last year.

Kelleigh Bannen (Valentine’s Day) OC: …finally. 1:00
“My husband is chronically cheap, the most frugal man ever! And so, because of that, gift-giving is not something he’s great at, because he hates spending money on things. Literally. He’ll tell you this. One of our first holidays together he gave me socks for Christmas, and other presents have been equally terribly through the ages. But last Valentine’s Day, I came back from working out or something, I came back to the house, and a present was sitting out on the kitchen table. And I was like, ‘Is this for me?’ I opened it and it was this awesome perfume. It’s a Bond #9 perfume called Nuits de NoHo, and I had never even heard of it. But Jeff had gone and found someone at the store to help pick out a perfume for me. I wear it all the time. It’s one of those scents that works really well on me and I wear it every day now, and I love it. I was like, ‘We’re turning over a new leaf…finally.’”

Little Big Town (Kimberly falling in love) OC: …healed me. 1:20
Kimberly: “Well, I wasn’t planning on falling in love, at all. I didn’t want to…I wasn’t sure that I ever would.  So, my husband now and I were just really good friends, and after my late husband died all my friends were calling me, all the time. Just checking up on me. He was just an old friend. We had known each other for about six years and he started calling me just like everybody else did.  But, he started calling me more than everybody else did [laughs]. We had both been through similar losses, he hadn’t lost a mate but he had lost a close friend, so we kind of bonded over that. I grieved, kind of, at him a lot. He took my grief, I had a lot of grief left, and he just took it and listened and accepted it and was so understanding and let me talk about my late husband all the time. We still talk about him a lot, and he’s totally fine with it. He says that, that made me who he fell in love with and he never minds if I bring anything from the past up which is just really sweet. I was shocked, I remember when I first realized that I was having feelings. I just thought, OK, this is so weird.  What is this?  I haven’t felt this in a long, long, time. This is weird. But, eventually I allowed myself and it’s been the most beautiful gift of my life. It pulled me out of the deepest hole that I’ve ever been in and healed me.”

AUDIO: Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook had a chemistry performing together, but it wasn’t until they each found themselves single…at the same time…that sparks flew romantically. The pair, who wed in 2006, have a son, Elijah, who turns three March 5th.

Little Big Town (Jimi & Karen fell in love) OC: (Kimberly) …to be together. :48
JIMI: “We were in the band a long time before there was ever anything which is interesting. I think there was always something underlying there that we were kind of trying to ignore. And then when the opportunity came, when all of us, ended up single kind of at the same time, a very strange turn of events for the band in a lot of different ways. And those feelings, you were able to come out with them finally. It was like, we’re single. Let’s get together. And, you know, she has a beautiful heart and she’s absolutely gorgeous and I just love her dearly.” PHILLIP: “Get a room!” [laughs] KIMBERLY: “They’re a perfect match. They really are. They were meant to be together.”

AUDIO: Little Big Town’s Phillip Sweet was ready for love when he met Rebecca, his wife of nearly six years.

Little Big Town (Phillip – reasons fell in love) OC: …real love. :17
“I think everything that I had gone through before had prepared me to be ready to see that there was genuine love there for me, and my Rebecca.  So, it was just a great time, I wouldn’t have been ready before I met her…Now it’s just been a really great journey to heal through the past and to know real love.”

AUDIO: Valentine’s Day is a special day for Randy Montana, who celebrates the anniversary of his first date with his now wife.

Randy Montana (Valentine’s Day-1st date) OC: …extra special. :08
“Valentine’s Day happens to be the anniversary of me and my wife’s first date, so we always try to treat that a little extra special.”

Nashville, TN – GRAMMY® Award winners and CMA Vocal Group of the Year, Little Big Town will perform their Top 10 single “Tornado” on CBS’ The Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday (February 12th).  The single is the title track from their critically-acclaimed album Tornado which held the #1 spot on Billboard’s Country Albums Chart for five consecutive weeks and has exceeded sales of 680,000 in just five months. 

The band celebrated their first GRAMMY® Award win last night for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Pontoon.”

“Tornado” follows the two-week #1 single “Pontoon” which has sold over 2 million downloads.  The band recently kicked off their Tornado Tour and will be on the road with Keith Urban this summer.