Haywood, Scott and Kelley

Lady Antebellum. Already hot is now even hotter…up for the most: seven Academy of Country Music Awards!

Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood are next with six nominations, Taylor Swift has 5 and Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley got four in the announcements this week.

The Zac Brown Band and its frontman accepted four nominations and Brown added two individually.

Lady A snagged 5 nominations for the gravity-defying hit “Need You Now,” including individual record, song and video of the year, and is up for top Vocal Group and Album for its debut, “Lady Antebellum.”

Underwood, Chesney, Swift, Paisley, the Zac Brown Band, George Strait, Keith Urban and Toby Keith are nominated for Entertainer of the Year , the biggie given out at the April 18 awards in Las Vegas.

Underwood won EOTY last year and will be the only woman to get it twice in a row if she gets it this year. Ahhh…. but there’s another blonde in the mix that won the CMA back in November that may be a challenger especially since the Entertainer award is Fan voted. No one is bettter with the Fans than Taylor Swift.
The voted award is anyone’s game really as a smart fan club with some internet knowledge could “game” the system and No one would know because the Academy wants the web traffic.

It’s a point Chesney noted last year before he lost the crown.

Other notable Nominees…
Lambert netted her three nominations.

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 Gallican 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

Haywood, Scott and Kelley

When their debut cd – the self titled “Lady Antebellum” – was released in 2008 it surprised a lot of people. The unknown trio debuted on top of the country album charts and at #4 on the all genre Top 200.   The self-titled “Lady Antebellum” album ended up being one of the best CDs of the 2008.

This week  Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood will release their “sophomore” release “Need You Now” surrounded my much higher expectation. Overall CD sales have tanked since the first release but they have been one of the few acts – especially in country – to actually sell product.

There is a lot to be excited about. On top of a Grammy nomination The title track has already peaked on radio with a multi week number one and the follow up “American Honey” is sure to be another smash as country radio programmers realize that – after the group’s attention grabbing “CMA Group Of The Year” snatch (someone hand the smelling salts to Brooks and Dunn AND Sugarland) – this trio is one of the new leaders in Country. It seemed to happen very fast but diversity is taking over Nashville.

Some in Nashville are suspicious that this new CD may be all pop but after ten seconds of hearing “Our Kind Of Love” you can defiantly hear the group has found their country sound. It starts with a Charlie Brown piano lead in and they hits the fiddles. Hillary’s leading lady twang seems more out front than on the first album giving everything a more Nashville sound.    The group really takes advantage of the duel leads to add a unique take on love songs.   The trio had a hand in the writing too. Together they penned all but two of the songs on the record.

The album is filled with somber fare but also include some more fun cuts like “Stars Tonight” and “Perfect Day.” Prefect Day is surprisingly mainstream country with Hillary’s crisp voice really shining through.

“I was up until 5 in the morning one night while we were making the album, writing Dave and Charles an email,” says Hillary on the groups website. “I stepped back from it and just looked at why we wrote or chose each song, and it hit me that all of these songs are just about feeling to the utmost of your ability. Whether it’s ‘I’m so desperate for you, I miss you so much, I need you NOW’ desperation,’ or ‘American Honey,’ which is nostalgic and wanting to go back to that innocence and sweetness. And then you have ‘Hello World,’ which is this man’s story of this awakening in his soul, opening his eyes and seeing what’s important in his life again.”

“When you’re in the valleys, they suck and it’s not fun, but you appreciate the mountaintop way more whenever you’ve gone through something tough,” Hillary continues.  “That’s how I personally try to live my life, just enjoying every moment—but when it hurts, let it hurt. Because you loved something or someone so much, it’s only natural to grieve that. So that’s what I verbalized to them, that I was proud of our ability to be that honest and just lay it all out there.”

There are a bunch of people looking to Lady A to re-invent country music.  They haven’t changed it too much here (that’s a good thing) but there is a nice coat of paint to enjoy for a while.

Kelley shines on the somber but intense “Hello World.”    The song is poignant and smooth with full orchestra and building energy this one will find some fans in the contemporary christian world too.

Watch for big sales the first week – perhaps overshadowed by Michael Jackson (or perhaps the other way around).  Some of the story for release week continues to be the global shift to downloads and iTunes over physical CDs.   Watch for the trio to make headlines.

Amazon : Need You Now

or      

TRACK LISTING  - Lady Antebellum: Need You Now

1. NEED YOU NOW
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Josh Kear)

2. OUR KIND OF LOVE
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Michael Busbee)

3. AMERICAN HONEY
(Shane Stevens, Cary Barlowe, Hillary Lindsey)

4. HELLO WORLD
(Tom Douglas, Tony Lane, David Lee)

5. PERFECT DAY
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Jerry Flowers)

6. LOVE THIS PAIN
(Marv Green, Jason Sellers)

7. WHEN YOU GOT A GOOD THING
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Rivers Rutherford)

8. STARS TONIGHT
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Monty Powell)

9. IF I KNEW THEN
(Charles Kelley, Monty Powell, Anna Wilson)

10. SOMETHING ‘BOUT A WOMAN
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Craig Wiseman)

11. READY TO LOVE AGAIN
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Michael Busbee)

Rumor starter:  Will the trio be in Cupertino, CA with Steve Jobs this week to launch the new Apple Tablet and unveil some new multimedia features?

Overall Grade:  A

Download:  ”Hello World”  and “Need You Now”