Anyone who knows the feeling of becoming intimately familiar with a particular musical instrument can’t help but sympathize with all those musicians who lost prized pieces of equipment during the recent floods in Nashville.

I reached out to several to ask whether they’d been affected by the wall of water that submerged Soundcheck Nashville, one of the key musical equipment storage facilities there. A lot of people think of instruments as little more than furniture that's easily replaceable, but that notion quickly fades when you hear a musician talk about a favorite piece of musical equipment. And even for those instruments that might be in good enough shape to repair, the chorus from those dealing with them was remarkably consistent: "They'll never be the same."

Brad Paisley had all his guitars and other equipment he uses on tour at Soundcheck because he and his crew were rehearsing for a tour that opens May 21 in Virginia Beach, Va. Ironically, it’s “The H20 Tour” from the track “Water” on his latest album, recorded long before the flood.

At the desert gathering, pop-driven acts, traditional sounds and fringe performers all have a chance to please an expanded crowd.

 The old gag about people who brag about loving both kinds of music — country and western — gets a twist at Stagecoach. Out in the desert, the annual festival serves up both kinds of country music: that which sells, and everything else.

Fest-goers generally fall into one camp or the other, and even though it often feels that the gap between is a great divide, there's not a hint of rivalry among these groups that otherwise rarely intersect.

The majority, predictably, plop down their blankets and lawn chairs — the kind with the built-in, beer-friendly cup holders — in front of the Mane Stage, where on Saturday the lineup was topped by a couple of contemporary country's more pop-driven acts, Keith Urban and Sugarland, and Sunday by the hard-charging likes of Toby Keith and Brooks & Dunn.

Far across the Empire Polo Field grounds in Indio, tradition-loving fans ensconced themselves in front of the Palomino Stage, where standard bearers such as Merle Haggard, Ray Price and Bobby Bare held forth on Saturday, while Sunday's offerings extended from the searingly dark folk country of Mary Gauthier to the Band-influenced Avett Brothers to those country-gospel hit makers of yore, the Oak Ridge Boys.

And in between, at the Mustang Stage, fans of the fringe were served by boundary-blind Americana musicians including Victoria Williams, Trampled by Turtles, Truth & Salvage and Black Prairie; Grand Ole Opry stalwarts Bill Anderson and Little Jimmy Dickens; and cowboy poets Waddie Mitchell and Baxter Black.

It's a catholic mix that draws no distinction between acts that just want to party and those more concerned with the inner workings of the human heart. But the difference is there for anyone attuned to it, and for many, the gift of Stagecoach is the ability to experience both schools in the same place. 

Plenty turned out to savor that gift: Preliminary estimates put the average attendance at 50,000 each day, a significant uptick from last year's record of 40,000 per day, Goldenvoice chief Paul Tollett said Sunday.

Bobby Bare got Saturday off to a rousing start with several of the Shel Silverstein narrative tales he's recorded over the years — sterling examples of detail-rich songwriting that avoids cliché at every turn. Silverstein excelled in the tradition of tall tales from the American frontier going back to poet Robert W. Service and beyond, such as one concerning a chump who's had one too many and decides to pick a fight with the toughest guy in the bar, only to get a lecture on what it really means to be “The Winner”: “He said, ‘You see these bright white smilin' teeth, you know they ain't my own / Mine rolled away like Chiclets down a street in San Antone.'”

Four songs into Keith Urban's headlining set Saturday night at the Mane Stage, the New Zealand-born country star offered up "Stupid Boy," a track from his 2006 album "Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing" that took on new meaning after he checked himself into a rehab facility for backsliding on substance-abuse problems.

It was, and remains, a clever choice. The song was written by Sarah Buxton as a slice of empathy from one girlfriend to another. But tackling it from the male perspective, Urban turned it into a self-dialogue about a guy who ignores the great blessing of his relationship with a good woman, ultimately losing her by ignoring the unique gifts she brings to the table. (The song stirred thoughts of “Tiger Woods” but Urban, ever tactful, made no mention.)

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Lady Antebellum continues its ascent in country music circles, nabbing a field-leading seven nominations for the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards, among them album, single, song and top vocal group.

The Georgia trio is the hottest act in all of pop music at the moment, having sold more than 1 million copies of its sophomore album “Need You Now” in the four weeks since it was released in January. Lady Antebellum just edged out Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, who scored six nominations each, and Taylor Swift with five nods. It creates a roster of top award contenders heavy on new blood.

Swift, who upset a slate of country veterans at last fall’s Country Music Assn. Awards in being named that organization’s youngest entertainer of the year winner ever, is in the running for the same trophy at this year’s ACMs. The organization expanded the entertainer category to include eight names this year, up from the usual five: the other nominees are Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Keith Urban and the Zac Brown Band.

Voting for entertainer of the year will be open once again to fans, and audience input also will be factored into the award for best new artist. Awards will be handed out April 18 at a ceremony from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, to be telecast on CBS.

--Randy Lewis

Photo of Lady Antebellum (left to right): Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood. Credit: Miranda Penn Turin

Stagecoach 2010 presents something of a battle of the Keiths and country duos, with headliners Keith Urban and Toby Keith making their first appearances next April at the two-day country festival in Indio, while Brooks & Dunn return for a stop on their farewell tour on a lineup that also includes Sugarland, the twosome that’s taken over as country's reigning pair.

The fourth edition of Stagecoach will take place April 24-25 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio and also will feature country standard-bearers Merle Haggard and Ray Price as well as more recent vintage acts including Billy Currington, Gary Allan, Phil Vassar, Jamey Johnson, Joey + Rory and the Avett Brothers.

Also  on the bill will be the Oak Ridge Boys, Carlene Carter, B.J. Thomas, Mary Gauthier, Bill Anderson and the Steel Drivers, among the usual complement of classic and contemporary country, bluegrass, folk and western acts. Tickets go on sale Friday at Ticketmaster and at the festival’s website.

Last year’s event drew more than 100,000 attendees for the two days of music headlined by Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley.

--Randy Lewis

Top photo: Sugarland. Credit: Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times
Middle photo: Brooks & Dunne at Stagecoach in 2007. Credit: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times

[This version has been updated with more news on nominations.]

Brad Paisley leads the pack with six nominations for the 43rd Country Music Assn. Awards announced this morning, including entertainer of the year, male vocalist, album, single and song. Teenage country music sensation Taylor Swift joins Paisley and veterans Kenny Chesney, George Strait and Keith Urban vying for entertainer of the year, the CMA’s top trophy.

Swift, Strait and relative newcomers Jamey Johnson and Zac Brown are tied at four nominations apiece, reflecting an influx of new blood into the CMA honors. Strait’s nominations for entertainer, male vocalist, music video and music event give him a career total of 79, tying him with Alan Jackson for the most nominations in CMA history. Strait has won 22, more than any other artist.

Swift, 19, is the only woman in the entertainer competition and the first nominated since Faith Hill in 2000. Shania Twain is the last woman to win the category, in 1999. Swift recently surpassed total album sales of 10 million copies since the release of her debut album, “Taylor Swift,” in 2006. Her sophomore effort, “Fearless,” has sold more than 4 million copies.

The good news about Keith Urban's two-hour performance Sunday at Staples Center was that the New Zealand-born, Australia-reared Nashville resident is letting loose the kind of raw human emotion that's been all but buffed out of previous tours.

Urban delivered an anguished rendition of "You'll Think of Me," in which he riffed on the song's lyric, his voice breaking convincingly as he cried, "Why'd you have to break my heart -- didn't you know how much I loved you?"

He allowed more confusion and loss to wash over him in " 'Til Summer Comes Around," a haunting track from his latest album, “Defying Gravity,” that gave him a forum to send out Mark Knopfler-esque sighs from his Stratocaster.

Granted, Urban didn't directly address his well-publicized substance-abuse relapse and recovery on that album, and the closest fans got to a peek inside his private world during Sunday's show was when he performed "Only You Can Love Me This Way."

He dedicated the song to his wife, Nicole Kidman, "who happens to be here tonight, [and] I'm very happy about that."

But the enthusiastic reception he received from the capacity crowd might be enough to convince him to continue to delve into more emotionally frank territory in the future; he could start by adding the new album's closing track, "Thank You," which cuts close to the heart, to the set list soon.

As one of country music's most skilled guitarists, Urban led his five-piece band from one workout to the next, taking the opportunity to progress through a series of appropriately varied Gibsons and Fenders, electric and acoustic.

Although the more pensive moments added depth to what's traditionally been an overwhelmingly upbeat concert experience, Urban still worked his "man of the people" gambit effectively, moving from the main stage through the crowd to a smaller second stage toward the back of the floor.

George Strait sat by and watched a new generation of country musicians take top honors Sunday night at the 44th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, but Monday night was all his as most of those performers tipped their hats to the veteran Texas troubadour, singled out as the ACM’s "Artist of the Decade."

Strait, his wife, Norma, and son George Jr. watched from a booth set up at the side of the stage for nearly three hours as a parade of stars including Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and even Jamie Foxx expressed their admiration for Strait’s nearly three decades of country hits. The event was taped and will be edited down to two hours for airing May 27 as a CBS-TV special.

Underwood takes entertainer of the year; Hough wins best new artist.

The 44th Academy of Country Music Awards swung political, personal, playful and patriotic on Sunday and ultimately opted for popular in bestowing its top honor on "American Idol" winner Carrie Underwood, naming her entertainer of the year over veteran male performers George Strait, Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban.

"I've had a lot of good moments in the past four years," the Oklahoma-born Underwood said at the climax of the three-hour event at the MGM Grand Arena, "but this one takes the cake."

The award was determined for the second year by popular vote during the show at CBS.com instead of being determined as it had been in past years by the performer who sold the most concert tickets during the previous 12 months, which would have given a fifth title to Chesney.

But the ACM, in striving to boost ratings and make the event more interactive for fans, opened the voting for entertainer and new artist to the public. That helped TV-friendly faces such as Underwood and former "Dancing With the Stars"-turned-country singer Julianne Hough, who took home the new artist trophy.

It was a big night as well for Internet-savvy teen phenom Taylor Swift, who sold more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre, passing 5 million. Her overwhelming success contributed to her sophomore album, "Fearless," which has topped 3 million since its release in November, being named album of the year.

Pop & Hiss brought you insta-reviews of all the ACM live performances, typos and all.

1. Brooks & Dunn & Taylor Swift & Sugarland & Carrie Underwood & Rascal Flatts. Here's one for those with short attention spans. Nearly everything the ACMs have to offer in a tidy little seven minutes! Host/country royalty Reba McEntire introduces the show by informing us that duo Brooks & Dunn is one of the most acclaimed acts in the history of the awards, but what follows isn't their time to shine. Instead, Brooks & Dunn become the anchor for whizz-bang medley. Swift rocked out with "Picture to Burn," looking more assured than ever. Underwood showed off her near-perfect vocals with a brief turn at "All-American Girl," Sugarland was delightfully poppy and Rascal Flatts represented some country good ol' boys. "That's what I call a stimulus package," McEntire said. We'd rather have cash, but it was a solid opening. B+

2. Kenny Chesney's "Out Last Night." The lead single from his upcoming greatest hits package is a pleasant enough up-tempo rocker, representing immediately how country award shows are different from the Grammys. Less than 15 minutes in, and we have an ode to being drunk. Rather than approach anything dangerous or reckless, Chesney spins this tale of hangin' at the local bar into a neat little slice of nostalgia. B.