Lauren Alaina nominated for CMA awards
Rising country singer and Rossville, Ga., native Lauren Alaina earned one of the industry’s biggest accolades Monday morning with a nomination as Best New Artist from the Country Music Association. The recognition came on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” with Alaina on set to help announce the finalists.
“I’m really trying not to cry,” said the 22-year-old artist, who is known for her emotional responses at awards shows. She added that she hoped her mom and dad were watching.
Others nominated in her category are Luke Combs, Old Dominion, Jon Pardi and Brett Young.
Alaina has been buoyed by the critical and commercial success of her sophomore album, “Road Less Traveled,” a collection of 12 deeply personal songs all written by the young star, the Season 10 “American Idol” runner-up. The title track became her first No. 1 single. She also was nominated for New Female Vocalist of the year this spring by the Academy of Country Music.
Miranda Lambert led the pack with five nominations for CMAs, with Little Big Town and Keith Urban earning four nods each.
Lambert was nominated for song and single of the year for “Tin Man,” and also earned nods for album, female vocalist and best video of the year. Nominations for the 51st annual awards were announced on “Good Morning America.” The ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 8 in Nashville.
Old friend Taylor Swift, now
a pop music queen, earned a song of the year nomination for penning “Better Man,” performed by Little Big Town.
The inescapable song of the summer, Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road,” earned nominations for top single and song; it holds the record for most weeks topping Billboard’s list of top country songs. Hunt was snubbed in the best male vocalist and entertainer of the year categories.
Veteran Garth Brooks is shooting for his sixth entertainer of the year award, and his third straight since coming out of retirement. He’s competing with four other men in the category: Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton and Urban.
Urban, a 10-time CMA award winner, was also nominated for male vocalist and single and music video of the year for “Blue Ain’t Your Color.” He can even get an extra trophy because he’s also listed as a producer for the song.
Little Big Town earned nominations for single and video of the year for “Better Man,” album of the year for “The Breaker” and vocal group of the year.
Besides Lambert, female vocalist nominees were Kelsea Ballerini, Reba McEntire, Maren Morris and Carrie Underwood. Along with Urban, male vocalist nominees were Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Thomas Rhett and Chris Stapleton.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit earned an album of the year nomination for “The Nashville Sound,” unusual for an artist generally pegged in the Americana category.
Brad Paisley and Underwood will host the awards show.