Dog lovers abound among the 2019 CMA Awards nominees.
Dog lovers abound among the 2019 CMA Awards nominees, as they should – dogs are part of our lives, and so naturally they come up occasionally (though not as often as it feels like they should) in country music.
The highest awards possible in the genre from the Country Music Association, this event is basically equivalent to the Oscars.
American Idol‘s most famous alum, Carrie Underwood, is well-known for her love of dogs, is nominated in three categories, and Miranda Lambert is also nominated.
For Entertainer of the Year, Underwood and Keith Urban are competing against Garth Brooks, Eric Church and Chris Stapleton, which is a loaded field, but most of those choices are deserving.
Nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year are Urban, Stapleton, Dierks Bentley, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett. It should obviously be Urban (or Bentley) in our opinion.
Nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year are Lambert, Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris and Kacey Musgraves. Nearly all of these women would be worthy winners, though we’re hoping Lambert or Underwood wins.
Album of the Year contenders are Underwood’s Cry Pretty, Church’s Desperate Man, Rhett’s Center Point Road, Dan and Shay’s self-titled debut, and Morris’s GIRL. Cry Pretty or Desperate Man would get our vote.
Vocal Group of the Year nominees are Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Midland, Old Dominion and the Zac Brown Band, and of that lineup we’re pulling for Lady A or Little Big Town.
Vocal Duo of the Year nominees are Brooks and Dunn, the Brothers Osborne, Dan and Shay, Florida Georgia Line and Maddie and Tae, This is not contest – as much as we love 90’s country, which Brooks and Dunn was a huge part of, this has to go to Maddie and Tae.
The rest of the categories – Musician of the Year, Music Video of the Year, Musical Event of the Year, New Artist of the Year, Single of the Year, and Song of the Year (for songwriters) – we don’t really have an opinion on, due to a mix of no dog lovers being nominated and not having enough knowledge about the contenders.
Urban will perform “We Were” and Underwood “Drinking Alone,” while Stapleton will surprisingly do a duet with pop rocker Pink.
The show will be hosted by Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, which should be good, but Carrie’s banter with Brad Paisley will be sorely missed.
We’re a little surprised Paisley, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Chris Young were all snubbed from being 2019 CMA Awards nominees this year, and wish Scotty McCreery would have been nominated as well.
The 53th annual CMA Awards will be shown live at Bridgestone Arena (home of the NHL’s Nashville Predators) on ABC at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 13.