Superstar country music group Rascal Flatts has confirmed that they indeed lip synced their performance Sunday night on the 49th Annual Academy of Country Music awards. The Big Machine Records trio lit up twitter when they took the stage, with observers wondering why the performance looked so wonky and wondered if lip syncing was the answer.
Twitter blew up with angry Luke Bryan fans, the majority of which did not see George Strait as an “Entertainer.” That’s how Luke Bryan’s merchandising manager saw it, and his tweet Sunday night in the aftermath of the Entertainer announcement sparked off a Twitter storm, with many Luke Bryan fans agreeing, and many traditional country fans coming to King George’s defense.
At Sunday night’s 49th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards held in Las Vegas, Big Machine Records recording artist Justin Moore walked away with the night’s coveted “New Artist of the Year” prize, despite being clearly ineligible according to the ACM’s stated rules. Moore’s nomination and win calls into question the legitimacy of the ACM Awards…
Dearly beloved, welcome to the gathering of old souls and independent-minded country fans on the occasion of the ACM Awards to collectively commiserate and contemplate what the hell has happened to our fair genre known as country music as the pomp and circumstance of the ACM Awards transpire right before our shocked and disgruntled eyes.
All the information on the 49th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in one place, including the presenters, the performers, the collaborations, the nominees, special awards, and other things to watch for. Also details on a planned Merle Haggard tribute, the possibility of George Strait winning Entertainer of the Year, and the Justin Moore eligibility controversy.
On March 29th, Clear Channel Radio threw their inaugural iHeartRadio Country Festival in Austin with many of the genre’s biggest mainstream acts performing, including Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, and Luke Bryan. Apparently behind-the-scenes, the festival caused a big stir with artists, managers, and the Academy of Country Music.
One of the big stories leading up to the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday April 6th has been the ineligibility of Justin Moore for the New Artist of the Year award that he’s nominated for, and is considered a front runner to win. Now Justin Moore has responded to the concerns, and the issue has gone all the way to making the front page of Fox News.
Shakira isn’t just releasing this song in her home genre of pop. It has entered the Country Airplay charts this week at #57. “Medicine” is Shakira’s “gone country” moment. All that said, “Medicine” as a song is not all that bad … for a pop song. In fact if you compared it with many of the top songs in country right now it is downright refreshing.
LL Cool J, along with CBS’s NCIS: Los Angeles co-star Chris O’Donnell, are scheduled to host the April 7th “ACM Presents: An All-Star Salute to the Troops” that will be taped the day after the ACM Awards, and be aired on May 20th. The question is, was there not a country music personality that would be better suited for this special?
Why would any fan vote for the ACM New Artist or Entertainer of the Year this year? Their votes didn’t count for the Entertainer award last year, and this year, the front runner for New Artist of the Year isn’t new, and isn’t qualified to receive votes by the ACM’s rules. The whole fan voted element seems to be more about creating attention for the awards, and generating traffic for ACM’s web properties.
Dear Bob Romero, It is in the spirit of wanting to keep the viability and the storied nature of the ACM’s in tact that I write you to address a concern that I, as well as other country music writers and fans have voiced over the eligibility of Big Machine Records artist Justin Moore for the New Artist of the Year award at the 49th Annual awards set to transpire in a month from now.
Cumulus Media is #2 on the radio ownership totem pole, and to attempt to hopscotch their rival Clear Channel, they are planning massive expenditures, acquisitions, and ventures to push the recognition of their big country music brand: “NASH”. To say their plans are expansive is an understatement, and it includes numerous consumer products, including paint, clothing, and furniture.
Today the Academy of Country Music announced the finalists for their “New Artist of the Year” award to be given out an the ACM Awards on April 6th. By the results of fan voting, the eight-name list of nominees was narrowed down to three performers: Brett Eldredge, Kip Moore, and Justin Moore. The announcement comes as questions continue to loom around the eligibility of Justin Moore’s nomination.
Valory Music and the ACM’s may hope that this issue just blows over, but the removal of the Windmills Country audio has arguably exacerbated it, and fed the suspicion some country fans have surrounding the awards process. If there is an explanation for the discrepancy between Justin Moore’s eligibility and his nomination, the fans of country music have yet to hear it.
Forget that Justin Moore signed to Big Machine’s Valory Music imprint in 2008, that he had a #1 single in 2009, and a #1 album in 2011; as first pointed out by Windmills Country, according to the Academy of Country Music’s specifically-stated rules of eligibility for the “New Artist” category, Justin Moore should be disqualified because he’s had not one, but two albums certified gold.
So we haven’t even had time since the 56th Grammy Awards to sort out if Madonna had the authority to preside over a mass wedding, or if Pharrell’s hat was indeed copyright infringement against the Arby’s logo, and here only a few days later we’re asked to crunch a fresh batch of data dealing with the nominees for the 2014 ACM Awards on April 6th.
At the 1994 ACM Awards, Alan Jackson pulled at stunt that has gone unfairly under-recognized in that annals of country’s finest moments of rebellion and protest. It wasn’t just Alan’s Jackson’s shirt that caught people’s eye and no doubt drew the worst ire of the ACM producers. Before the show, producers had told Alan that he had to play to a pre-recorded track
Valerie June, the self-proclaimed purveyor of “Organic Moonshine Roots Music,” had her fans in sheer disbelief, while the rest of the audience was wondering, “Who is this astounding singer?” when she unexpectedly appeared on national television singing an intimate, stripped-down version of the song “Like Jesus Does” with Eric Church at the ACM Awards a few weeks ago.
So what is going on with Taylor Swift and country music in 2013? For years the droning, tiresome argument of whether Taylor Swift is country or not has raged on incessantly. But something has changed since the release of her last album Red in October of 2012, hinting that Taylor Swift herself may be wanting rid of the rigid country format that has firmly ensconced her in the crosshairs of country criticism for years.
About a half hour in to Sunday night’s 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards presentation, Eric Church took the stage to perform an acoustic version of his latest single “Like Jesus Does.” As much as Eric Church’s performance caught the ACM crowd and Eric’s fans by surprise, so did this virtually unknown singer accompanying him. Eric Church’s duet partner was none other than Memphis, Tennessee native Valerie June.
As the night proceeds we will leave our ACM observations from the broadcast in a timeline below, so get you refresh finger stretched and ready to go. You are strongly encouraged to participate by leaving your observations in the comments section below. Feel free to watch along, or if you can’t stand the awards, then turn on some real country music and follow the awards vicariously through us!
Think what you want about Kacey Musgraves, her recent album Same Trailer, Different Park, or even her blockbuster hit “Merry Go ‘Round,” but it’s hard to view her story as nothing less than an illustration of the resounding power of song. Whatever depths of shallowness Nashville’s major labels might be mired in at the moment, one song from an independent-minded artist did the unthinkable.
Country superstar Luke Bryan will replace Reba McIntire as the female co-host of the 48th Anuual Academy of Country Music Awards to be broadcast April 7th on CBS from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The announcement was made when fans “unlocked” Luke Bryan’s name as part of a Twitter campaign by the ACM’s to rack up 25,000 tweets.
Congratulations Carrie Underwood fans, haters, apologists, and detractors who’ve been swept up by this story, you’ve just been played by a sensationalizing British tabloid with an overt political agenda. Why was Carrie Underwood asked about gay marriage in the first place? Why should we even care what Carrie Underwood thinks about gay marriage or any other political wedge issue?