Kacey Musgraves was aware that the CMA (County Music Awards) nominations were to be held on the morning of Tuesday but as a newcomer to the industry, she saw no reason to wake up early. This was until her roommate started shouting. While laughing, Musgraves said that she had no idea she would be making history. Musgraves is on a tie with Taylor Swift as the County Music Awards leading nominee having six votes for the November 6th awards that will be held in Nashville. She becomes the 1st woman to lead in the CMA nominations in her 1st year as a nominee.
The 25-year-old performer from Texas achieved it in a well-rounded fashion after she earned nominations as a singer, female vocalist, songwriter and producer with album, single, new artist and entries for two different songs of the year on her ledger. Musgraves said that it was really cool and she loved it adding that all the aspects were of equal importance to her especially that of songwriting. Musgrave also said it made her feel really good for being recognized for all those things. The CMA nominations were announced on Good Morning America in New York and later along in a news conference that was held by FGL and Sheryl Crow.
Taylor Swift will be going for her 3rd entertainer of the year award and she was also nominated for female vocalist of the year and album for the multiplatinum “Red”. Taking the entertainment of year, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, his wife, are the next in line each having 5 nominations. Florida Georgia and Keith Urban have four nominations each.
Shelton and Lambert will be heading for their 4th consecutive wins in the female vocalist and the male vocalist categories and they may share a trophy again as they did last year after their song won the song of the year. This year, both share nominations in the video categories and music event with trio Pistol Annies from Lambert and for their collaboration on the “Boys ‘Round Here” song by Shelton. The County Music Awards have become sort of a party for the couple recently, who have being among the top winners of the shows for the past three years. In an email to the Associated Press, Lambert said that it was so much fun for them achieving individual success and at the same time getting a chance to celebrate it together.
Swift and Shelton have been nominated for the entertainer of the year with Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and a surprise nominee George Strait, who is a two-time winner in the category and is being feted by the voters of the County Music Awards while he is retiring from touring. The loads of nominations from Taylor Swift are not that surprising. Even though she is a polarizing figure sometimes because of her leanings to pop music, she has gotten the full attention of the County Music Awards voters in the past few years. She now stands at 21 CMA nominations in her career and she has two awards for the entertainer of the year among the seven wins that she has which ties her with Barbara Mandrell, the lead female winner of the top honor of the association.