Live Blog: Grammy Nominations Concert

The Grammy Nominations Concert, live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Tenn. will be starting momentarily. It’s airing on CBS, beginning at 10 p.m. eastern time. We’ll be live blogging the events, so stay tuned throughout the night!

The show will be hosted by Taylor Swift and LL Cool J.

10:00 p.m.: LL Cool J and Taylor Swift come to center stage to Swifts “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” They move into the standard award show opening monologue. Not very funny.

LL sings his “favorite country song” as Swift beat boxes for him. He attempts to sing “Mean.” The crowd loves it.

10:05 p.m.: In honor on being in Nashville, they are recognizing the life and career Johnny Cash tonight. The Band Perry and Dierks Bentley are singing “Jackson” to honor the country legend.

10:10 p.m.: Hunter Hayes is singing the nominees for Pop Vocal Album. And the nominees are:
“Stronger” Kelly Clarkson
“Ceremonials” Florence + The Machine
“Some Nights” FUN
“Overexposed” Maroon 5
“The Truth About Love” Pink

10:14 p.m.: Maroon 5 is performing a medley of songs. Adam Levine looks as good as ever.

10:20 p.m.: Sheryl Crowe and Chris Young are presenting the nominees for Record of the Year. And the nominees are…
“Lonely Boy” Black Keys
“Stronger” Kelly Clarkson
“We Are Young” FUN
“Somebody That I Used To Know” Gotye
“Think About You” Frank Ocean
“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together Again” Taylor Swift

10:22 p.m.: Rock legends The Who are now performing some of their classic singles.

10:27 p.m.: Back from commercials and Luke Bryan is up next. He’s performing “I Don’t Want This Night To End.” Expect some serious butt-shaking.

As always, Luke Bryan puts on a great show.

10:31 p.m.: Little Big Town announcing the nominees for Best New Artist. And the nominees are…
Alabama Shakes
FUN
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean.

Great to see two country artists in that category.

10:38 p.m.: FUN is performing “We Are Young.” They’re always great. One of few groups outside country I thoroughly enjoy.

Random thought: Interesting that this show is up against the Nashville season finale on ABC. Wonder how many viewers are going to watch that online later in order to watch the concert live instead. Would have to think with this concert being in Nashville and featuring so many country artists, it would pull a lot of the same viewers.

10:47 p.m.: Ne-yo performing “Let Me Love You.”

10:51 p.m.: The Lumineers are presenting the nominees for Best Solo Country Performance. And the nominees are…
“Home” Dierks Bentley
“Springsteen” Eric Chruch
“Cost of Living” Rodney Dunn
“Wanted” Hunter Hayes
“Over” Blake Shelton
“Blown Away” Carrie Underwood

This is an absolutely stacked category. Initial impression is that Blake Shelton will narrowly defeat Underwood with “Over,” but Eric Church had a HUGE hit with “Springsteen” so he could sneak in there as well.

10:54 p.m.: LL Cool J and Talyor Swift are presenting the nomiees for Album of the Year. And the nominees are…
“El Comino” Black Keys
“Some Nights” FUN
“Babel” Mumford and Sons
“Blunderbuss” Jack White
“Channel Orange” Frank Ocean

Maroon 5 is on stage to close the show. Goodnight everyone.

Here’s a list of the rest of the country music categories at the Grammy’s and the nominees:

Best Country Duo/Group Performance
“Even If It Breaks Your Heart” Eli Young Band
“Pontoon” Little Big Town
“Safe & Sound” Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars
“On The Outskirts of Town” The Time Jumpers
“I Just Came Here For The Music” Don Williams and Allison Krauss
Prediction: “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” Eli Young Band

Best Country Album
“Uncaged” Zac Brown Band
“Hunter Hayes” Hunter Hayes
“Living For A Song: A Tribute To Hank Cochran” Jamey Johnson
“Four The Record” Miranda Lambert
“The Time Jumpers” The Time Jumpers
Prediction: “Uncaged” Zac Brown Band, but could easily be “Four The Record” from Miranda Lambert. 

Best Country Song
“Blown Away” Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins
“Cost Of Livin” Phillip Coleman & Ronnie Dunn
“Even If It Breaks Your Heart” Will Hoge & Eric Paslay
“So You Don’t Love Me Anymore” Jay Knowles & Adam Wright
“Springsteen” Eric Church, Jeff Hyde & Ryan Tyndell
Prediction: “Springsteen” Eric Church, Jeff Hyde & Ryan Tyndell

A complete list of Grammy nominees are available at grammy.com.

The Grammy’s will be held on February 10 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It will air on CBS at 8 p.m.

Lady Antebellum receives International Achievement Award from Country Music Association

Country trio Lady Antebellum was presented with the CMA International Achievement Award during a press conference for their global charity LadyAID. They were surprised with the award when Country Music Association Chief Executive Officer Steve Moore showed up at the press conference to present them with the honor.

Lady Antebellum

The award recognizes a U.S.-based country artist who contributes to the promotion and awareness of country music internationally. The award was previously known as the International Touring Artist Award and former winners include Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Dierks Bentley and the Dixie Chicks, who were recognized twice, among others.

Lady A’s most recent album, “We Own The Night” went triple platinum in Canada, double platinum in South Africa, platinum in Australia and New Zealand and gold in the UK, China, Ireland and Taiwan. The We Own The Night World Tour hit up 11 different countries and included sold out shows in Dublin, London, Toronto and three nights at the Sydney Opera House.

Photos (cc) by Randy Darling. Some Rights Reserved

Grammy Nominations Concert to be held in Nashville, provides boost for country music

For the first time, the live Grammy Nominations concert will be held in Nashville, Tenn., December 5 at arguable one of country’s  biggest venues, Bridgestone Arena.

The event will also air live across the nation on CBS at 10 p.m. eastern time. This year is the 5th installment of the live nomination concert format, and the first time it has been held anywhere by Los Angeles.

It’s no secret country music’s popularity has been growing in recent years, and the arrival of one of the biggest shows of the awards season in Nashville is evidence of the phenomenon.

The concert will also have a “country” co-host and showcase multiple country performers. Six-time Grammy award-winner Taylor Swift will join two-time recipient LL Cool J in hosting the show.

Luke Bryan

Performers include country stars Luke Bryan, The Band Perry, Dierks Bentley and Hunter Hayes. Also performing will be Maroon 5, Fun, Ne-yo and The Who.

Nominees of some of the biggest categories will be announced at the event, while grammy.com will have the complete list of nominees from all 81 categories following the concert.

The 55th annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 10 at 8 p.m. on CBS. The event will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Photos (cc) by Randy Darling. Some Rights Reserved

CMA Country Christmas to air on ABC Dec. 20

Country’s annual Christmas bash, “CMA Country Christmas” will air on ABC on December 20 at 9 p.m.

Jennifer Nettles

Hosted by the very pregnant member of Sugarland, Jennifer Nettles, the event will feature some of country’s biggest stars singing their favorite holiday classics. As opposed to last night’s “Blake Shelton’s Not So Family Christmas” special on NBC, which was 90 percent laughs, “CMA Country Christmas” tends to be a more sentimental program. In addition to the vocal performances, Nettles sits down with many of the stars to talk about their favorite holiday memories.

This year’s performers include, The Band Perry, Dierks Bentley, Colbie Caillat, Katherine Jenkins, Lady Antebellum, John Legend, Little Big Town, Martina McBride, Scotty McCreery, Keith Urban and of course Jennifer Nettles.

Fans can tune into the program on ABC at 9 p.m. on Thursday, December 20 and have no excuse for missing it with ABC’s text message alerts. Text CHRISTMAS to 66937 for a reminder that the show is coming up next.

To hold you over until then, here’s a look at the promo running on TV right now.

Photos (cc) by Sarah Mussewhite. Some Rights Reserved

Review: Country’s Night To Rock

Hopefully you watched “Country’s Night To Rock” on ABC last night, or at least flipped to the concert special during commercial’s of “The Voice.”

The annual CMA Fest showpiece is in its sixth installment on ABC networks, working as a promotional tool for both the upcoming Country Music Association awards (Nov. 1, ABC, 8 p.m. eastern) and next year’s CMA Music Festival.

The three-hour television special showcases country music at its best, editing together highlights from this year’s CMA Music Festival, which was held in Nashville, Tenn. from July 7-10.  The television production was one heck of a concert, with the best country artists performing their best songs, minus all the acceptance speeches and tears of an awards show.

The CMA Music Festival is the hottest ticket in country music, showcasing nearly every top country talent in one place.  For those of us who don’t live within a reasonable distance of Nashville, country music capital of the world, carries a hefty price tag when travel and accommodations are added into the ticket cost. I’m not going to lie, going to CMA Fest is on my bucket list, but the annual ABC special is enough to hold me over for now.

This year’s spectacular was hosted by none other than The Band Perry’s front-woman, Kimberly Perry, and my favorite, Luke Bryan. The duos fun-first attitude created an easy-going atmosphere around the entire show. Country music is supposed to be fun, and that couldn’t have been showcased better last night.

Carrie Underwood performs at the 2012 CMA Music Festival.

This year’s theme was Country A to Z, featuring artists from all across the alphabet. Carrie Underwood opened the show with “Good Girl,” and later came back to perform “Blown Away” and “Last Name.” Host Perry and her brothers (which make up The Band Perry) sang two songs, as did Bryan who kicked things off with the summer favorite “Drunk on You” and the first single of his newest album Talgates and Tanlines, “Country Girl (Shake it for me).”

Dierks Bentley, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Brantley Gilbert, Jake Owen, Rascal Flatts, Hunter Hayes, Zac Brown Band, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Kix Brooks, Hank Williams Jr., Faith Hill, Eric Church and so many more also rocked the stage. Notably missing from the shindig was none other than the not-so-country-anymore Taylor Swift, although I can’t say her presence was actually missed.

While a live broadcast of CMA Music Festival would be ideal, the special allows for behind the scenes footage and interviews. The Band Perry sat down with the Zac Brown Band and Luke Bryan did a one-on-one with Hunter Hayes.

Eric Church performs at the 2012 CMA Music Festival

The show kicked off with a bang and held its own for the first two hours. This year’s special marked the first time the show would run three-hours, which may have been a mistake. I’m all for all-day country but after hour 2.5, I was ready to hit the hay. Especially considering they backloaded the show with all the oldie-but-goodies, including Kix Brooks, Martina McBride, Faith Hill and Hank Williams Jr., who closed the show with Brad Paisley.

Typically the way these concert specials and award shows work is a best-for-last mentality. Considering the show was pre-recorded, it would have been easy to edit in a way to get viewers hooked until the very end by promising a finish with a top-of-the-charts artist like Carrie Underwood or Blake Shelton.

Speaking of Blake Shelton, who performed both “Over” and “Drink On It,” saving country’s bad boy until the end might have been a good idea, considering the first two hours of the show were up against Shelton’s other TV show, “The Voice.”

Shelton was in a ratings war with himself, as “The Voice” took No. 1 in the 8 p.m. time slot with 13.36 million viewers and a 4.6 rating with the 18-49 age group. Country’s Night to Rock came in third with 6.22 million viewers and a 1.7 rating in the 18-49 age group.

Overall, the show was a hit, and even though it debuted more than a month before the awards, has certainly riled up excitement for the upcoming CMA Awards, which will once again be hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.

Photos (cc) by Randy Darling. Some Rights Reserved.