Gold Derby

Can Taylor Swift make it three in a row at CMT Awards?

April 7, 2010 | 10:22 am

No surprise that reigning country queen Taylor Swift is among the leading contenders in Tuesday's announcement of first-round nominees for the ninth annual CMT Music Awards. Swift landed three nominations, including bids for video of the year and female video for "You Belong to Me." Swift took home both of these awards last year for "Love Story" and in 2008 for "Our Song."

Taylor Swift is the only woman to win video of the year twice and is tied with Keith Urban ("Better Life," 2006; "Days Go By," 2005) and Toby Keith ("American Soldier," 2004; "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue," 2003), both of whom are back in that race this year. Urban contends with "Til Summer Comes Around" while Keith vies with "American Ride."

Taylor Swift is also contending for collaborative video for her duet with Kellie Pickler on "Best Days of Your Life." Pickler picked up a female video nom as did Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood. Underwood's video for "Cowboy Casanova" is also up for the top award, and her rendition of "Temporary Home" on the CMT show "Invitation Only" is nominated for the performance prize.

A trio of acts scored four nominations apiece -- Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum and Sugarland. Aldean and Lady Antebellum both contend for video of the year for "The Truth" and "Need You Now," respectively. Sugarland was shut out of the top race, landing competing bids for duo video of the year ("Keep You," "Nightswimming/Joey") as well as two noms for their collaboration with the B-52s on "Love Shack," a highlight of last year's CMT Awards.

Brad Paisley is back in the hunt for his first video of the year win with a bid for "Welcome to the Future." Last year, Paisley was the big winner at the CMT Awards, taking home his first male video award ("Waiting on a Woman") plus laurels in two other categories: collaborative video ("Start a Band" with Keith Urban) and performance of the year ("Country Boy" with Alan Jackson, George Strait and Dierks Bentley).

Eight of the nine categories have eight contenders apiece. Online voting that runs till May 3 will winnow these to four finalists in each category, which will be announced May 11. Then another round of online voting through June 8 will determine the winners.

Voting for video of the year is different. There are 10 semifinalists, which will be cut down to a final five that will be revealed at the start of the awards ceremony airing live on CMT June 9 from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. The winner of the top prize will be determined by votes cast online and via text message during the kudocast.

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Photo: Taylor Swift performing on the 8th annual CMT Awards. Credit: CMT

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Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood vie for ACM entertainer of the year award

March 2, 2010 | 10:10 am

Taylor Swift and reigning champ Carrie Underwood face off against six male artists for the top prize at the 45th annual Academy of Country Music awards on April 18. Three of the men in the race are former winners of entertainer of the year -- Kenny Chesney (2004-2007), Toby Keith (2002, 2003) and George Strait (1989). Another two are multiple male vocalist of the year champs -- Brad Paisley (2006-2008) and Keith Urban (2004, 2005) -- while the final entry -- the Zac Brown Band -- are relative rookies. The ACM entertainer of the year will be determined by online voting as will the four newcomer awards.

Perennial ACM host Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton announced the nominations Tuesday morning on CBS' "The Early Show." McEntire -- the 1994 entertainer of the year -- contends this year for female vocalist, an award she has won seven times already. Shelton is vying for vocal event of the year for "Hillbilly Bone."

While Lady Antebellum did not earn an entertainer of the year bid, the group lead with seven other nominations including vocal group, album, single and song. Both Underwood and Miranda Lambert have six nominations while Swift has five.

Expect Swift -- who swept the CMAs last fall with four wins including the coveted entertainer of the year title -- to do just as well at the ACMs. In addition to her entertainer of the year bid, Swift contends for female vocalist and is up for three awards for "You Belong With Me" -- video of the year, song of the year performer and song of the year co-writer.

At last fall's CMAs, Swift ended the three-year reign of Kenny Chesney as the top entertainer. His loss there had been foretold by his defeat for the same award -- after four wins in a row -- at last spring's ACMs to Carrie Underwood. Underwood -- who co-hosted the CMA Awards -- had won female vocalist there for the previous three years but was bested by Swift.

Underwood has won that same award at the ACMs for the last three years and contends again this year. Her CMA co-host, Brad Paisley, won his third consecutive CMA male vocalist prize last fall and is defending his three-year winning streak at the ACMs.

Even the most die-hard country music fans have a tough time explaining the difference between the Country Music Assn. (CMA), which handed out awards last fall, and the Academy of Country Music (ACM), which passes out honors every spring. The only differences besides the dates are network affiliation and geography -- the CMA Awards air on ABC from Nashville; the ACM Awards are doled out on CBS from Las Vegas. Both awards are bestowed by industry organizations with many of the same voters and -- no surprise -- many of the same winners.

In the 45-year history of the ACM Awards, just 23 men and 24 women have won the vocalist prizes. And only 21 different acts have been named entertainer of the year. The CMAs are no different, with many of the champs there having won first at the ACM Awards or vice versa. Over 43 years, the CMA Awards has seen 23 men and 24 women take top vocal honors while 29 different acts have ranked as entertainer of the year.

For the full list of nominees, visit the ACM website.

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