ACM Honours Lady Antebellum with Seven Nominations
Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert garnered six nominations each from the Academy of Country Music. Taylor Swift followed very close behind her friends and rivals with a respectable five nominations. Brad Paisley and Kenny Chesney, best of the boys, rolled-up in fourth place with four nominations each.
Upstart Lady Antebellum led the list of the Academy’s nominations with a total of seven, including nods for “Best Vocal Group” and “Album of the Year.”
In November, 2009, the group picked-up two Country Music Awards. Then, late in January, Lady Antebellum won a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by group, earning their precious golden statuettes for their vocals on “I Run to You.”
Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire officially announced the nominations on the CBS morning news program, “The Early Show.” Lady Antebellum also received nominations for “Best Video,” and they are up for awards as producers, artists, and composers. McEntire told Shelton, “They’re fresh; they’re new. Their music is totally different, and we love it.”
“We are blown away,” David Haywood told the press in a statement dictated from 35,000 feet as the band flew across the country. The musical threesome is currently touring in support of their second album, the first single from which blew the top off the popularity charts during the first week of February. “Need You Now” became an instant cross-over hit, selling nearly 600,000 copies during its first week in distribution.
Although they have an unmistakably country sound—slide guitar and fiddle wailing, honky-tonk piano plunking-out the melody—nevertheless Lady Antebellum does not deliver the usual “Lost my truck, lost my dog, lost my double-wide, lost my girl…” Yes, they have the right bittersweet bluesy-tang, but they have style and sophistication suitable for big city listening. In her powerful, seductive lead vocals, Hilary Scott shows both her range and her knack for getting just the right little cry in her voice. The harmonies are smooth as a good Kentucky bourbon, and the simple lyrics keep it real.
One ardent fan recently wrote, “ ‘Need You Now’ is just the kinda song that makes a girl keep droppin’ quarters in the jukebox.” Apparently, the Academy of Country Music agrees.
