Congratulations to first-time ACM Award nominees Love and Theft, nominated last week for Duo of the Year! The guys are on the radio now with “Angel Eyes,” the first single from their upcoming album — and there’s a video on the way, too! Watch for behind-the-scenes footage at the “Angel Eyes” video shoot in a segment on this week’s edition of GAC’s Headline Country, premiering tonight at 9pm, ET, with additional airtimes online at GACTV.com!
If you missed Kellie Pickler performing on ABC’s The View on Wednesday, you can check out her show performance of “Mother’s Day,” one of the tracks from her brand new album, 100 Proof, right here. In its first week of release, Kellie’s album shot out of the stores, debuting at number-two on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart and earning critical praise from Entertainment Weekly, The Miami Herald, and others. With the chart debut news, Kellie shared, “I’m so proud of this album. I want to thank the fans so much for buying it and supporting country music. I know these are hard times economically and the fact that people spend their hard earned money on 100 Proof is humbling.”
A recent feature on CNN.com declared a projected winner for the 2012 presidential race: Brooks & Dunn! Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn may no longer be recording together, but the enduring popularity of their smash, “Only in America,” has made it a favorite campaign song over the years on both sides of the aisle, with some of the current GOP presidential contenders already using it. Kix told CNN, “The song was never Republican or Democrat. I think that politicians of both parties get that.” Ronnie remarked that the heart of the song is that “it’s about the opportunity, in America, to try to attain anything you want,” adding that he continues to be “moved” by the impact of the song. Check out the full feature here, and you can find “Only in America” on the duo’s career-spanning #1s … and then some album.
And speaking of Kix Brooks, congratulations to Kix on his ACM Awards radio nomination as On-Air Personality of the Year – National for his weekly American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks.
Earlier this week, the USA Today website gave fans a first look at the cover art for Casey James‘ self-titled debut album, set for release on March 20th. You can see it here. Casey is on the radio now with the album’s very cool first single, “Let’s Don’t Call It a Night.” You can pick up the digital single at your favorite online music provider right now and get in on a good thing early by pre-ordering Casey’s album, right here, at Amazon.
And in case you missed it… Last week’s edition of the Nashville Scene featured Pistol Annies on the cover of the popular Music City weekly’s 12th Annual Country Music Critics’ Poll issue. The poll results, based on input from 77 writers across the country, declared the Annies number-one for the past year in multiple categories, including New Acts, Duos and Groups, and number-one in Albums for their debut, Hell on Heels. They also made impressive showings at number-two under Singles (for “Hell on Heels”) and number-three among Artists of the Year. …By the way, “Lone Star Annie” herself, Miranda Lambert, also rocked the poll, clocking-in at number-one among Artists of the Year, Songwriters, and Female Vocalists, notching a pair of hits with “Heart Like Mine” and “Baggage Claim” among the top Singles, and seeing her Four the Record album named number-two in Albums, right behind the Annies’ Hell on Heels. You can check out the full feature and all the rankings online here.
