Lady A Leads ACM Noms

With seven nods, Lady Antebellum leads the Academy of Country Music Award nominations, announced this morning (3/2). The trio is up for Album of the Year, Top Vocal Group, Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year for “Need You Now.” They were also nominated as a producer for the Single award and as a composer for Song.

Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton read the nominations live this morning during CBS’ The Early Show broadcast from New York City.  McEntire will return for an unprecedented 12th time to host this year’s awards show when it is broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 18 on CBS.

Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood are nominated for six awards each, followed by Taylor Swift who is up for five awards, including her first nod for Entertainer of the Year.

Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Zac Brown Band are up for four apiece, with Brown being nominated for an additional two.

For the third year, fans will select the winner of the Academy’s most prestigious honor, Entertainer of the Year and for the second year, the three newcomer categories for the annual Academy of Country Music Awards —Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo — will also be opened up to fan voting. The winner in each Top New category will then move on to compete for Top New Artist which is also a fan voted category. Online voting for all fan voted categories will be available at www.voteACM.com.

Following is the list of final nominees. Winners in each of the following categories, except where noted, will be presented with an ACM Award during the live television broadcast. Click here for a list of Off-Camera (musician, radio, and industry) nominees.

Entertainer of the Year
Kenny Chesney
Toby Keith
Brad Paisley
George Strait
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Keith Urban
Zac Brown Band

Top Male Vocalist of the Year
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Darius Rucker
George Strait
Keith Urban

Top Female Vocalist of the Year
Miranda Lambert
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Lee Ann Womack

Top Vocal Group of the Year
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Randy Rogers Band
Rascal Flatts
Zac Brown Band

Top Vocal Duo of the Year
Brooks & Dunn
Joey + Rory
Montgomery Gentry
Steel Magnolia
Sugarland

TOP NEW SOLO VOCALIST of the Year *
Luke Bryan
Jamey Johnson
Chris Young

TOP NEW VOCAL DUO of the Year *
Bomshel
Joey + Rory
Steel Magnolia

TOP NEW VOCAL GROUP of the Year *
Eli Young Band
Gloriana
The Lost Trailers

ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company(s)]
American Saturday Night – Brad Paisley (Arista Nashville)
Produced by: Chris DuBois, Frank Rogers

Lady Antebellum – Lady Antebellum (Capitol Records Nashville)
Produced by:  Victoria Shaw, Paul Worley

Play On – Carrie Underwood (19/Arista Nashville)
Produced by: Mark Bright
“Quitter” Produced by Max Martin & Shellback for Maratone Productions and Mark Bright

Revolution – Miranda Lambert (Columbia Nashville)
Produced by: Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke

The Foundation – Zac Brown Band (Southern Ground / Bigger Picture / Atlantic)
Produced by: Keith Stegall, Zac Brown

Single Record of the Year [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company(s)]
Need You Now – Lady Antebellum (Capitol Records Nashville)
Produced by: Lady Antebellum, Paul Worley

People Are Crazy – Billy Currington (Mercury)
Produced by: Carson Chamberlain, Billy Currington

Red Light – David Nail (MCA Nashville)
Produced by: Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke

Toes – Zac Brown Band (Southern Ground / Bigger Picture / Atlantic)
Produced by: Keith Stegall, Zac Brown

White Liar – Miranda Lambert (Columbia Nashville)
Produced by: Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke

Song of the Year [Awarded to Composer(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]
Cowboy Casanova – Carrie Underwood
Composers:  Mike Elizondo, Brett James, Carrie Underwood
Publishers:   Brett James Cornelius Music (ASCAP), Carrie Okie Music (BMI), Rincon Ave Music
(ASCAP), Stage Three Songs (ASCAP)

Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Composers:  Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott
Publishers: EMI Foray Music (BMI), Darth Buddha (ASCAP), Dwhaywood Music (BMI), Hillary Dawn Publishing (SESAC), Radiobullets Publishing (BMI), Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI), Year Of The Dog Music (ASCAP)

People Are Crazy – Billy Currington
Composers:  Bobby Braddock, Troy Jones
Publishers:  Crozier Music Enterprises LLC (BMI), Mighty Nice Music (BMI), Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Tiltawhirl Music (BMI)

White Liar – Miranda Lambert
Composers:  Natalie Hemby, Miranda Lambert
Publishers:  Pink Dog Publishing (BMI), Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Tiltawhirl Music (BMI)

You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift
Composers:  Liz Rose, Taylor Swift
Publishers:  Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Taylor Swift Music (BMI)

Video of the Year [Awarded to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)] (Off Camera Award)
Boots On – Randy Houser
Producer: Eric Welch
Director: Eric Welch (Drake footage: Vickie Vaughn)

Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Producer: Clarke Gallivan
Director: David McClister

Welcome To The Future – Brad Paisley
Producers: Mark Kalbfeld, Jim Shea, Peter Tilden
Director: Jim Shea

White Liar – Miranda Lambert
Producer:  Tameron Hedge
Director: Chris Hicky

You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift
Producer: Randy Brewer
Director: Roman White

Vocal Event of the Year [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company] (Off Camera Award)
Hillbilly Bone – Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins (Reprise Records / Warner Music Nashville)
Producer: Scott Hendricks

Honky Tonk Stomp – Brooks & Dunn featuring Billy Gibbons (Arista Nashville)
Producer: Ronnie Dunn, Terry McBride

I Told You So – Carrie Underwood featuring Randy Travis (19/Arista Nashville)
Producer:  Mark Bright

I’m Alive – Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews (Blue Chair/BNA)
Produced by: Buddy Cannon, Kenny Chesney

Seeing Stars – Jack Ingram featuring Patty Griffin (Big Machine Records)
Produced by: Jack Ingram, Jeremy Stover

The show is produced for television by dick clark productions and will be broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network. Orly Adelson and R.A. Clark are executive producers, Barry Adelman is producer and Bob Bardo is executive in charge of production.