NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 45th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC(R) AWARDS, COUNTRY MUSIC'S PARTY OF THE YEAR(TM)

NEW YORK, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Nominations were announced today for the 45th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, a star-studded event produced for television by dick clark productions broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 18 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.

Country super stars Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton read the nominations live this morning during CBS' The Early Show broadcast from New York City. As previously announced, Reba McEntire will return for an unprecedented 12th time to host this year's show.

For the third year, fans will select the winner of the Academy's most prestigious honor, Entertainer of the Year and for the second year, the three newcomer categories for the annual Academy of Country Music Awards —Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo — will also be opened up to fan voting. The winner in each Top New category will then move on to compete for Top New Artist which is also a fan voted category. Online voting for all fan voted categories will be available at www.voteACM.com. The winners of Entertainer of the Year and Top New Artist will be announced live during the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.  

This morning Lady Antebellum led with seven nominations, including Album of the Year for Lady Antebellum and Top Vocal Group. In addition, Lady Antebellum was nominated for Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year for "Need You Now." They were also nominated as a producer for Single Record of the Year and as a composer for Song of the Year.

Miranda Lambert is nominated for six awards, including Album of the Year for Revolution and Top Female Vocalist. Lambert won the 2007 Album of the Year for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. She is nominated for Single Record of the Year and as an artist and composer for Song of the Year for "White Liar," which is also nominated for Video of the Year.

Carrie Underwood is nominated for six awards, including Entertainer of Year. Underwood is the reigning Entertainer of the Year, and, if she wins that category again, she will be the first female in Academy history to capture two Entertainer of the Year trophies. Underwood is also nominated as an artist and composer for Song of the Year for "Cowboy Casanova," as well as Vocal Event of the Year for "I Told You So" with Randy Travis. In addition, Underwood is nominated for Top Female Vocalist and Album of the Year for Play On. If she wins Top Female Vocalist, it will be the fourth consecutive year she has won the category. Underwood also won the 2006 Album of the Year for Some Hearts.

Taylor Swift is nominated for five awards, including her first nod for Entertainer of the Year. If Swift wins Entertainer of the Year, she will be the eighth female in Academy history to win in this category. Swift is nominated as an artist and composer for Song of the Year for "You Belong With Me," for which she is also nominated for Video of the Year and she also received a nomination for Top Female Vocalist.  

Kenny Chesney is nominated for four awards, including Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist. If he wins Entertainer of the Year, it will be his fifth win in the category. He is currently one of only 3 acts in Academy history to achieve four wins for Entertainer of the Year. He is also nominated as an artist and producer for Vocal Event of the Year for "I'm Alive" with multi-platinum recording artist Dave Matthews.  

Brad Paisley is nominated for four awards, including Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist. Paisley is the reigning Top Male Vocalist, and, if Paisley wins the category, it will be his fourth consecutive Top Male Vocalist title. Paisley is also nominated for Album of the Year for American Saturday Night and for Video of the Year for "Welcome to the Future." Paisley won the 2005 Album of the Year for Time Well Wasted.

Zac Brown Band is nominated for four awards including Entertainer of the Year, their first nomination in the category. If Zac Brown Band wins Entertainer of the Year they will be the third vocal group in Academy history ever to win the award. Zac Brown Band is also nominated for Album of the Year for The Foundation, Single Record of the Year for "Toes," and Top Vocal Group. They are the reigning Top New Vocal Group.

Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band also received two additional individual nominations as the producer for both Album of the Year for The Foundation and Single Record of the Year for "Toes."  

Also, in its ninth year, the Academy of Country Music/The Home Depot Humanitarian Award will be given to Montgomery Gentry for their ongoing community service and charitable giving of their time and talent. The award recognizes country music artists who serve others, have a generous spirit and help build the dreams of those in need.

Members of the Academy of Country Music select the nominees and winners of the ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, and select the final top eight nominees of the Entertainer of the Year category (up from the previously selected five) and the top three nominees in newcomer categories, Top Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo (different from last year's categories of Top New Female Vocalist, Top New Male Vocalist and Top New Vocal Duo or Group). Presenters and performers who will appear at the ceremony will be announced at a later date.

Following is the list of final nominees. Winners in each of the following categories, except where noted, will be presented with an ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARD during the live television broadcast:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

• Kenny Chesney
• Toby Keith
• Brad Paisley
• George Strait
• Taylor Swift
• Carrie Underwood
• Keith Urban
• Zac Brown Band

TOP MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

• Kenny Chesney
• Brad Paisley
• Darius Rucker
• George Strait
• Keith Urban

TOP FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

• Miranda Lambert
• Reba McEntire
• Taylor Swift
• Carrie Underwood
• Lee Ann Womack

TOP VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

• Lady Antebellum
• Little Big Town
• Randy Rogers Band
• Rascal Flatts
• Zac Brown Band

TOP VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR

• Brooks & Dunn
• Joey + Rory
• Montgomery Gentry
• Steel Magnolia
• Sugarland

TOP NEW SOLO VOCALIST OF THE YEAR *

• Luke Bryan
• Jamey Johnson
• Chris Young

TOP NEW VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR *

• Bomshel
• Joey + Rory
• Steel Magnolia

TOP NEW VOCAL GROUP of the Year *

• Eli Young Band
• Gloriana
• The Lost Trailers

* Fan voting for Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo began at VoteACM.com on Friday, February 26 and will close on Friday, March 12.  The winner in each of the three categories will be announced March 23, and will move on to compete for Top New Artist. Fan voting for Top New Artist and Entertainer of the Year begins on Thursday, April 1 at VoteACM.com. Fan voting for Top New Artist will close at 5pm PT on April 18th (before the LIVE show starts) and fan voting for Entertainer of the Year will close during the third hour of the LIVE broadcast.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Awards counts for artists reflect categories in which they have been recognized as individuals or as part of their duo or group. In some cases, an artist may receive more than one nomination which factors into their official count. For example, Billy Currington received two nominations in the Single Record of the Year category—one each as artist and producer—because that category recognizes both.

In addition, the Song of the Year category recognizes the artist, composer and publishing company as a nominee but does not recognize an individual as owner or partial owner of the publishing company. For example, Taylor Swift Music is a nominee in that category, separate from Taylor Swift the performer, who is nominated in that category twice as artist and composer.

Award recipients in each category are noted above parenthetically in the Album of the Year, Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Video of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year.

About the Academy of Country Music Awards

The 45th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS is dedicated to honoring and showcasing the biggest names and emerging talent in the country music industry.  The show is produced for television by dick clark productions and will be broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network. Orly Adelson and R.A. Clark are executive producers, Barry Adelman is producer and Bob Bardo is executive in charge of production. For more information, please visit www.acmcountry.com.

SOURCE Academy of Country Music