Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
Tomorrow night’s Academy of Country Music awards are on everybody’s minds and lips. Reba will be hosting for the 11th time as the Academy hands out the awards on their 44th annual show. Here then, is our contribution to the ACM Awards media frenzy. These are the predictions of the My Kind of Country writing staff.
The 44th annual Academy of Country Music Awards airs Sunday, April 5 at 8:00 Eastern time on your local CBS station.
Entertainer of the Year
Top Male Vocalist
Top Female Vocalist
Top Vocal Group
Top Vocal Duo
Top New Artist
Album of the Year
Single Record of the Year [Award to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company]
Miranda Lambert, Produced by Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke
Columbia
Song of the Year [Award to Composer(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]
Our choices are pretty spread out, with only Sugarland sweeping their category and getting all 6 votes. Carrie Underwood comes close in the Female category with myself being the only one who thinks Taylor Swift may take the award. I would have voted Carrie Underwood in the Entertainer race too, but even after Chesney spoke out against fan-voting last year, he was still victorious, so I think he’ll repeat that victory again this year. Half of my colleagues think Carrie Underwood will win Entertainer due to the fan-voting in the category – and she certainly has a massive online fanbase.
I think the Album of the Year race is going to be the hardest to call. Jamey Johnson got in just under the wire as the ACM changed their sales criteria, allowing him to be nominated. But I think the nomination is all he’s going to get. Carrie Underwood has been a favorite at this show since her first nomination for Top New Female Vocalist, and has taken home 5 trophies already. So my vote is for her in the Album category since I think she’s going to get shut out of the Female Vocalist award. But I could be wrong. Looking at my track record for predicting awards show winners, you’d definitely think so.
I’m also anxiously awaiting the debut of a new single from host Reba McEntire. The new tune, ‘Stange’ will impact radio Monday. Immediately following Reba’s performance on the show, you can purchase the song from Reba’s Valory Records page. It will be posted for free streaming on cmt.com beginning at midnight (following the west coast broadcast of the show).
I’ll be participating in the ACM Live blog at Country Universe. So share your thoughts with us over there starting Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern time. Or leave a comment here.
My Kind of Country 
Chesney didn’t speak out about the fans voting for Entertainer of the Year until after he’d won it.
Reba’s single will also be available on iTunes, starting on Monday.
Are you sure, Razor? I could have sworn Chesney was talking about fan-voting before and after last year’s show.
I don’t know, but this article suggests he was talking about it before the show, but not against it:
http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/60436817
Yay, I’m glad you’ll be hangin’ with us tonight, J.R.. I hope the rest of you will as well. I think Reba hosting is what I’m most excited about for the show. She and Vince are born hosts for these things.
Reba is the only reason to be excited about this show.
I won’t be able to watch the show, but I’m taping it on DVR…
Picking Taylor Swift for Best Female Vocalist is very risky JR…
What can I say? I like to live dangerously.
I guess it’s a win-win situation, though – if she wins, you can be pleased you guessed correctly, if she doesn’t, you can be relieved the ACM hasn’t lost *all* its critical faculties.
Very good point!
Honestly, Taylor Swift’s album was my favorite of the 5, even Jamey Johnson’s- I just can’t get into him.
Although, why wasn’t Sugarland’s album nominated? Especially since Carnival Ride is 2 years old now…
I think I did pretty well on the picks — don’t know if that’s a good thing… None of us saw Trace Adkins coming. Didn’t look like he did either. Who was he pointing to after he gave his speech? Looked like he was pointing so another artist he felt should have won it.