It’s “Country Music’s Party of the Year,” and it’s almost here! The 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards airs live from Las Vegas this Sunday, and anyone who loves great music should be glued to their TV set for all the glamour and a who’s who of amazing performances from Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Sara Evans, Ronnie Dunn, and many more. And with the excitement in the air, we take a look and a listen as some of this year’s nominated artists talk about their nominated projects. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Don’t miss The 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Reba and Blake Shelton, airing Sunday, April 3rd, live at 8pm, ET/delayed PT, on CBS! 
• And if you haven’t let your voice be heard for your favorite ACM nominees, you can still vote in a couple of categories, including the night’s biggest prize — Entertainer of the Year — online at VoteACM.com! Voting for Entertainer will end during the third hour of the live broadcast, so whether you’ve got your eye on Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, or another of the contenders, get in there — your vote could make the difference for your favorite!

Hemingway’s Whiskey – Kenny Chesney – ACM nominated as Album of the Year

  Kenny Chesney talks about his album, Hemingway’s Whiskey. (:30)
“I think in this record that there are traces of a lot of different sides of me. I think that I’m totally capable of being two different people, you know, (laughs) in my everyday life and especially as an artist, and…because there is a big part of me that really wants to be on stage and never do a ballad, ever. But there’s also a part of me that wants to write a record like Be as You Are and Lucky Old Sun, because that’s how I live a lot of my life, you know? And so, I think with this album, with Hemingway’s Whiskey, I have kind of combined a little bit of those two worlds.” 

  Kenny Chesney hopes that the album, as a collective piece of music, never stops being an art form that the fans want to hear. (:32)
“I mean, I’ve seen the whole change. I mean, I’ve watched it progress, and there’s some things I do like about it, and there’s some things that I don’t. I still believe that makin’ a record — a whole record — for the fans, is important. And I think that that…I hope that never goes away, the…somebody wanting to hear a piece of music. It helps invest the audience into your music and into you, as a person. And I sincerely hope that that doesn’t change.”

“The Boys of Fall” – Kenny Chesney – ACM nominated as Single Record of the Year and Video of the Year (from the album, Hemingway’s Whiskey)

  After he recorded “The Boys of Fall,” Kenny Chesney shared that when he changed his way of thinking about music was when he started creating more personal songs like “The Boys of Fall.” (:26)
“I have always tried to put as much of my life into my music and how I grew up and how I live it. Early on in my career I didn’t do that much, but when my life changed as an artist is when I started really letting a lot my life in there. And I think with ‘Boys of Fall,’ I think people are gonna see that I’ve had nothing touch my life like playin’ high school football did.” 

“Coal Miner’s Daughter” – Loretta Lynn, Sheryl Crow, and Miranda Lambert – ACM nominated as Vocal Event of the Year (from the album, Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn)

  Loretta Lynn was thrilled with Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert singing with her on “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” and she loved the album it came from: the star-studded Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn. (:32)
“I bet Sheryl said to herself, ‘Am I gonna be able to sing this country?’ But Sheryl sings folk stuff, and I thought she done a great job. And Miranda, she, you know (mimicking) ‘my daddy worked all night in…’ you know how she’s got her little curly-Qs? She…I thought she done great. I just loved it. The whole doggone album is great. The only I didn’t like was me on it. (laughs) But, well to get the album, you’ll have to take me, too, I guess.”

  Miranda Lambert couldn’t believe that Loretta Lynn asked her to sing on “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” (:31)
“It’s ridiculous. I mean, when I got the…I actually got a note from Loretta, a little card, and it said ‘Miranda honey’ is how it started, and she just went on to talk about me and my career and her…you know, she writes just like she talks, and she asked me to do ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ and I just…of all songs, and it’s not just me cutting ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ it’s me singing it with Loretta. That’s the utmost compliment to me as an artist that she would ask me to do it.”

  Miranda Lambert was proud to be involved with the Loretta tribute album. (:15)
“I mean, it means the world to me that she asked me to do this. She paved the way for women like me, you know? She paved the way to be edgy and be who you are and just sing about what your life is, and she’s a living legend, and I’m just…it’s a huge deal to me. It’s bigger than any…I can’t even say.”

  Miranda Lambert talks about what she admires about Loretta Lynn. (:40)
“What I admire the most about Loretta is that she’s so real. There’s no frills, there’s no hiding anything, there’s no dressing her up and making her something she’s not. She is exactly who she is in her music, in her interviews, on television. There is no secrets. I talked to her on the phone when I was in the studio, and she just seemed exactly like you would think she would be, you know, and she’s just down-to-earth, and, like, that’s what I want my career to be. That’s what I want to be as a woman, not professionally only, but also personally. Just very honest and very real, and for people…for me to have nothing to hide because I love myself. And I think that’s how Loretta is, and, you know, we all should strive to be like Loretta Lynn.”

“The House That Built Me” – Miranda Lambert – ACM nominated for Song of the Year and Video of the Year (from the album, Revolution)

  Miranda Lambert’s video for “The House That Built Me” is very true to her. (:19)
“It’s almost all me. The only thing is, the little girl in it looks so much like me, so it is hard to tell, but you can really if you…it’s probably, almost all of it is my real home footage. That was real important to me to do ’cause I really wanted it to be true to who I was and show people about the house that built me.”

  Miranda Lambert says that her mom had to do some sleuthing to find the home videos that were featured in “The House That Built Me.” (:15)
“Mom and Dad were private investigators, so, literally, our home movies were mixed in with surveillance tapes and random people, you know? It’s very interesting, so Mom had to dig through all that stuff and, like, sort it out, and you know, it sure was a lot of work on her, but I think it’s a great reward ’cause the video’s awesome.”

  Miranda Lambert is grateful that her parents made the childhood home movies that, for sentimental reasons, will always be priceless. (:09)
“We had, like, this not-very-good video camera ’cause we didn’t have a lot of money. But thank God they videoed some of that stuff, like when I got my first guitar and stuff, because now it’s priceless.”

“Only Prettier” – Miranda Lambert – ACM nominated as Video of the Year (from the album, Revolution)

  Miranda Lambert decided to take a softer approach to getting even in “Only Prettier.” (:33)
“My whole deal is always, like, guns and revenge and fightin’ and settin’ things on fire, but this is just a whole new take, and it’s like, nevermind, I’ve grown up a little bit, and maybe I’ll just kill you with kindness, literally. (laughs) You know, it’s like, it’s such a cool twist on it. And we all have those people that were better than us or thought they were, and that’s kind of my anthem to say, you know, ‘You’re all right, but I’m actually prettier than you in the reality of things, so I don’t know where you get off thinkin’ that you can be rude.’ (laughs) And it’s so much fun because it really is me, too.”

  Kellie Pickler says that she had a lot of fun on the set of Miranda Lambert’s “Only Prettier” video. (:15)
“I was so excited about being a part of Miranda Lambert’s new video for ‘Only Prettier.’ We had a girls’ day. It was really fun. We kinda just spent the whole day together, and there was a lot of estrogen in the air!” (laughs)

  Making the “Only Prettier” video brought Kellie Pickler to a conclusive decision about hair color. (:09)
“Yeah, I look awful with black hair. (laughs) So, I was like, ‘Ohhhh!’ Well, I know that I’m never going to color my hair black. I love black hair, but it does not look good on me.”

“As She’s Walking Away” – Zac Brown Band featuring Alan Jackson – ACM nominated as Song of the Year, Single of the Year, and Vocal Event of the Year (included on Jackson’s 34 Number Ones album) 

  Alan Jackson talks about Zac Brown and performing with him on “As She’s Walking Away.” (:35) 
“Zac, that’s his song, and he was just kind enough to ask me to come sing on it, a little bit. I’m from Georgia originally, and so is Zac. After he hit, we just kind of met a time or two. He actually played some shows with me on the road. He’s just a real guy, real musician and songwriter, singer. That’s why I like him, and I think he feels the same way about me. He was just nice enough to ask me to be on that song, ’cause he was a fan, and real treat to be on there. Cool song he wrote, and we shot a little video. Just, he’s a nice fella.”