48th ACM News

Luke Bryan will co-host the Awards telecast for the first time and is one of the fastest rising stars in country music. He is nominated for four awards, including Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year for tailgates & tanlines, and Vocal Event of the Year for “The Only Way I Know” with Jason Aldean and Eric Church.

Kelly Clarkson is nominated for Vocal Event of the Year for “Don’t Rush” with Vince Gill, her third nomination in that category. Last year, she took home two ACM Awards, including Vocal Event of the Year and Single Record of the Year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Jason Aldean.

Hunter Hayes has six ACM nominations, including two in the Song of the Year category as the artist and composer as well as in the Single Record of the Year category as the artist and producer for “Wanted.” He rounds out his nominations with New Male Vocalist of the Year and Video of the Year for “Wanted.”

Miranda Lambert, reigning ACM Female Vocalist of the Year, has earned five nominations including her seventh consecutive nod for Female Vocalist of the Year and second nomination for Entertainer of the Year. In addition, Lambert was nominated for Single Record of the Year and twice nominated for Song of the Year as artist and composer for “Over You.”

Blake Shelton, ACM reigning Male Vocalist of the Year, returns to co-host the Awards telecast for the third consecutive year. He is nominated for three awards - Male Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year as composer for “Over You” with Miranda Lambert and Entertainer of the Year, the Academy’s most prestigious honor.

George Strait has won 20 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Artist of the Decade Award, an award that has only been given to four other acts in the Academy’s history.

The Band Perry returns to the ACM Awards this year with their third Vocal Group of the Year nomination, just two short years after they were honored with the New Artist of the Year award in 2011.

Brad Paisley, headliner of the 3rd Annual ACM Fan Jam and Post-Award Concert, will perform along with his special guests Dierks Bentley, Hunter Hayes, and ACM New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl’s Department Stores nominees Brantley Gilbert, Jana Kramer and Florida Georgia Line at this year’s Fan Jam, the fans-only, live concert event taking place during and after the 48TH ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY AWARDS

LL COOL J is an entertainment icon who has found great success crossing into multiple mediums. A two-time GRAMMY® Award winner, recording artist, talented actor, author, NAACP Image Award winner, entrepreneur and philanthropist, he continues to display his wide range of talents with every project. Currently, he stars in the CBS hit primetime drama series NCIS: LOS ANGELES, and continuing his musical expedition three decades after he first released music, LL is proudly prepping to release his latest project, Authentic.

Brantley Gilbert has two Academy of Country Music Award nominations this year, New Artist of the Year and New Male Vocalist of the Year, and his unique sound of Country-Rock-Soul has turned him into one of country’s hottest newcomers. Gilbert’s sophomore project, the Gold-certified Halfway to Heaven Deluxe, debuted at #2 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart and produced two gold #1 singles, “Country Must Be Country Wide” and “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do.” As a celebrated songwriter, he has penned three #1 hits, “My Kinda Party,” “Dirt Road Anthem” and “Country Must Be Country Wide.” Currently, Gilbert is playing to sold-out arenas in the UK and North America on his “Hell on Wheels Tour.”

Florida Georgia Line has three Academy of Country Music Award nominations this year, New Artist of the Year, New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year and Vocal Duo of the Year. Since releasing the top-selling, multi-week #1 debut single “Cruise,” which has since hit double platinum, this hot country duo has been quickly garnering buzz among fans, media and superstars alike. Their debut album, Here’s to the Good Times, earned the highest debut album sales of 2012 for a new country artist. Currently, they are traveling North America with Luke Bryan on his “Dirt Road Diaries Tour.”

Jana Kramer is the Academy of Country Music Awards’ New Female Vocalist of the Year and is also nominated for New Artist of the Year as one of the freshest young voices in country music today. Kramer, whose self-titled album was named “Best of 2012” by Billboard and iTunes, has sold more than a million tracks, including more than 100,000 of the new single “Whiskey” and more than a half-million of “Why Ya Wanna.” In addition to her debut album premiering at #5, the success of “Why Ya Wanna” also earned Kramer the title of highest-charting debut single from a new female artist since 2006 (previously held by Taylor Swift), as well as making her one of the fastest-rising debut artists of 2012. She will be on the road with Darius Rucker's "True Believers Tour” in May and will join the North American “Ten Times Crazier Tour” with Blake Shelton and Easton Corbin on July 19 in Virginia Beach, Va.

Hunter Hayes has six ACM nominations, including two in the Song of the Year category as the artist and composer, as well as in the Single Record of the Year category as the artist and producer for “Wanted.” He rounds out his nominations with New Male Vocalist of the Year and Video of the Year for “Wanted.” Hunter’s GRAMMY® nominated self-titled debut album has generated three smash hits, including his current single, “Somebody’s Heartbreak,” which has already entered the Top 5 and is certified gold, as well as his near-triple-platinum-selling #1 single “Wanted.” Hayes, a celebrated musician, songwriter and performer, currently is on the “Blown Away Tour” with Carrie Underwood.

Kenny Chesney has won 11 Academy of Country Music Awards, including four Entertainer of the Year Awards and the Crystal Milestone Award, an award that has only been given to five other acts in the Academy’s history. He is nominated this year for Vocal Event of the Year for “Feel Like a Rock Star” with Tim McGraw. Chesney’s current single, “Pirate Flag,” is burning up country radio, becoming his eighth Top 25 debut and being named USA Today's Song of the Week. The song is the first single off of his upcoming Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville Records album Life on a Rock, set to be released on April 30.

Reigning Entertainer of the Year and seven-time GRAMMY® winner Taylor Swift received five ACM nominations, including her fourth consecutive nod for Entertainer of the Year. If Swift wins Entertainer of the Year, this will be her third consecutive win in that category. Swift is nominated for the sixth time for Female Vocalist of the Year and for the fourth time for Video of the Year for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” She also received a double nomination for Album of the Year for Red as the artist and producer. Swift is the first artist since The Beatles and the only female artist in history to log six or more weeks at #1 with three consecutive studio albums, and she is the only female artist in music history and the fourth artist ever to twice have an album hit the one million first-week sales figure. Recently, Swift scored her fourth consecutive #1 single from her Red album and just kicked off her highly-anticipated “The RED Tour,” playing to capacity crowds at 66 stops, including 13 stadiums, through North America until September 21.

Jason Aldean is nominated this year for three Academy of Country Music awards, including his third consecutive nod for Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year, as well as Vocal Event of the Year for “The Only Way I Know” with Luke Bryan and Eric Church. Recently, Aldean played his first-ever Madison Square Garden show, which sold out in just seven minutes, when his “2013 NIGHT TRAIN” tour rolled into New York City for one of its many sold-out stops.

Lady Antebellum is an ACM award-winning trio comprised of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. Recently, the band received their fifth ACM Award nomination for Vocal Group of the Year, an award they have won for three consecutive years. The seven-time GRAMMY® Award-winning trio’s current single, “Downtown,” is the lead single off of their upcoming fourth Capitol Nashville release Golden, scheduled to come out May 7. “Downtown” hit big out of the gate, becoming the trio's highest-charting debut on the Country radio charts.

Carrie Underwood is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, marking her eighth consecutive nomination for this category, an award she has already won three times. She is also nominated for Album of the Year for Blown Away. Having won a total of 10 ACM Awards, Underwood is also a two-time Entertainer of the Year winner. In 2010, she was honored with the ACM Triple Crown, an award presented to an elite group of country music artists who boast wins for New Artist, Male/Female Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year. Currently, Underwood is on her critically-acclaimed international “Blown Away Tour,” which began at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall and is now making its way through North America.

2 Broke Girls star Beth Behrs (seen here with Keith Urban) will be Vegas bound to present at the ACM Awards, Sunday!

The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco will be presenting at the ACMs this Sunday in Vegas!

Don't miss Vegas star Michael Chiklis present at the ACM Awards this Sunday in the real Vegas!

Additional presenters include: Sheryl Crow, John Fogerty, Kevin Frazier, Colin Kaepernick, Miranda Lambert, Scotty McCreery, Kacey Musgraves, Nancy O'Dell, Jake Owen, Reba, WIllie & Korie Robertson, Keith Urban and more! Don't miss out this Sunday!