Taylor Swift leads CMA Awards nominations
Taylor Swift is set to lead the way at the upcoming Country Music Association (CMA) Awards as she battles to retain her Entertainer of the Year title for a second year in a row.
The Love Story hitmaker was among the first nominees announced in New York City on Wednesday (05Sep12) ahead of the glitzy prizegiving in November (12).
Swift will compete to retain the Entertainer of the Year title she
won in 2011, alongside Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley
and Blake Shelton, and she is also nominated in the Female Vocalist
Of The Year category with Kelly Clarkson, Miranda Lambert, Martina
McBride and Carrie Underwood.
Jason Aldean, who helped announce the nominations with Luke Bryan,
will take on his announcing partner for the Male Vocalist Of The
Year prize with Eric Church, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban, while
Church and Bryan will face off again for the Album Of The Year
trophy for their records Chief and Tailgates + Tanlines
respectively.
Other competitors in the album category include Miranda Lambert
(Four the Record), Dierks Bentley (Home), and Lady Antebellum (Own
The Night).
Lady Antebellum will also compete for the Vocal Group Of The Year
title with the Eli Young Band, Little Big Town, The Band Perry and
Zac Brown Band.
The stars of Lady Antebellum were due to travel to New York to help
Aldean announce the nominations, but they had to cancel their trip
due to bad weather.
In a post on her Twitter.com page, singer Hillary Scott writes,
"Due to weather, we are unable to get to NYC to reveal CMA nominees
w/ (with) Jason Aldean but we'll be tuned in to (the TV broadcast)
tomorrow morning with you!"
The awards will be handed out on 1 November (12) in Nashville,
Tennessee.