Sunday, April 5th, will mark another incredible celebration of country music as CBS airs The 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. And with the show right around the corner, we’ve pulled together audio from some of this year’s top nominees. Be sure to tune-in for the performances, the excitement, and to root for your favorites when the ACM Awards air live from Las Vegas at 8pm, ET (tape delayed PT), on CBS! (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Fan voting is underway now for ACM Entertainer of the Year! Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, and Carrie Underwood are all in the running, with voting online at voteACM.com or cbs.com/acma. Fans can cast their ballots through the last hour of the awards!
• And huge congratulations to Jake Owen, who recently won the ACM Award for Top New Male Vocalist! Jake’s now in the running for the overall Top New Artist honor, with fans making their choices online at voteACM.com or cbs.com/acma — right up until the start of the show!
• Double-nominee Miranda Lambert is among the first performers announced for the big night! And she’s up for two awards: Top Female Vocalist, and Single Record of the Year for her smash, “Gunpowder & Lead.” Last year, Miranda took home one of the year’s most prestigious honors, Album of the Year, for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

  Brooks & Dunn talk about their nomination for ACM Top Vocal Duo. (:28)

Ronnie: “It’s hard to explain – it’s just a given that we get excited about it and bein’ involved. I think at this stage in the game, just to be nominated and be in the game is fun. But I don’t know…K-B, what do you think?”
Kix: “Well, and it does – it sounds trite – but…heck, it’s – you know, every year, like you said, it’s not like we take it for granted. We definitely got more than our share, that’s for sure, and way more than we expected.”

 Ronnie Dunn says that Reba McEntire has always been at the heart of Brooks & Dunn’s ACM-nominated Vocal Event with her on “Cowgirls Don’t Cry.” (:18)
“I was thinkin’ of Reba when I wrote it. I was thinkin’ about how rodeo-tough she is, and how she grew up, and I just took off and wrote the song about it. And I sent her the lyrics the night that I wrote this song, and I mean, I got a hundred e-mails going, ‘You gonna record that song? You gonna record that song?’ (laughs) I told her, I said, ‘I wrote it about you! You know?'” 

  Entertainer of the Year nominee (and four-time winner) Kenny Chesney reflects on what the award means to him. (:30)
“Being nominated for Entertainer of the Year is awesome, but winning it is an amazing feeling. But that award — it’s more than just a trophy on a mantel. It’s a reflection of a lot of sacrifice by me and a lot of people, a lot of hard work by me and a lot of people, a lot of fun by me and a lot of people. So it’s great to win that because a lot of hard work pays off, and everything that you go through to put yourself in a position to win it pays off all in one night. It’s really a neat feeling for everybody.”

  Kenny Chesney offers his thoughts on being nominated as Top Male Vocalist. (:13)
“It’s great to be able to be in that category because I do put a lot of my heart and soul into makin’ a record and into, you know, the songs that I write and that I record, so to be nominated for that is a great thrill and honor.”

  Kenny Chesney talks about Mac McAnally, who sings with him — and also wrote — their ACM Vocal Event nominee, “Down the Road.” (:27)
“He’s one of my favorite singer/songwriters. And he’s as real as this song is, and I don’t know of any songwriter in this town that doesn’t want to write something this simple, but say so much, and the fact that Mac did it with me was just icing on the cake. I mean, his voice is, you know, I listen to his music all the time, you know? I still think his version of ‘Back Where I Come From’ is the best, and I’m awfully honored that he did this song with me.” 

  Miranda Lambert’s ACM Single Record of the Year nominee, “Gunpowder & Lead,” is rooted in real life. (:16)
“I didn’t just sit down and write another violent song. You know what I mean? I really lived through those things — saw firsthand, you know, abused women, and girls my age and their moms livin’ with us. And so it really came from a real place, and I want people to know that when they listen to the song, but I don’t want it to take away from also the fun aspect.”     

  The Lost Trailers’ Stokes Nielson says that the dreams of the Top Vocal Group nominee have come a long way from their high school days. (:29)

“I will tell you, from my perspective, when we were in that basement in high school playin’ as teenagers, I don’t know if we ever could’ve dreamed that we would be a nominee for Top Vocal Group. It has always been our dream to be in contention for that award. That’s what we’re gunnin’ for — I know we’re an underdog for it this year, but one year we hope to bring home that award, if it’s not this year.” 

  Montgomery Gentry believe their ACM Album of the Year nominee, Back When I Knew It All, is their best album yet. (:18)
Troy: “I think it’s got it all.”
Eddie: “To me, I think it is the best of M-G, I mean, to this date in time. Right now, it’s definitely the best I think that we’ve ever been. It really, you know, tells what we think on life, I think, from all the way from beginning to the end.”

  Montgomery Gentry’s Troy Gentry sees award nominations as a real vote of confidence in what the guys are doing. (:15) 

“Nominations I take as that we’re continuing to make great music and bein’ recognized by the industry voters that I guess it’s kind of a way that I gauge that, for us, that we’re still makin’ good music, and people are still accepting Montgomery Gentry.”

  Montgomery Gentry really understand and appreciate what it takes to be an ACM-nominated Top Vocal Duo. (:35)
Eddie: “I tell you what, we’ve been through a lot of stuff together, and you know, make fun about it a lot of times about havin’ videotapes, but when you’re singin’ beside this man, you better be able to sing, or you ain’t gonna sing at all.”

Troy: “That goes both ways. It’s just, it’s just pre-destined, I mean, I think Eddie and I were meant to do this together. I mean, it takes both of our qualities to make this sound, to make this music, you know? One can’t do it without the other, and it’s great to have him as a partner, knowin’ that he’s got my back, and I hope he knows that I’m there for him, as well.”

  Jake Owen had his sights set on his first ACM nomination last year, and this year, he’s already won Top New Male Vocalist, and he’s in the running for two more. (:12)
“My dad used to tell me a lot that, you know, unless you know where you’re going, you’ll never know when you get there. So I always have visions of where I want to go, what I want to do — I have goals, and you know what? One of my main goals was to be nominated for an ACM.”

  One of Brad Paisley’s great skills as an ACM-nominated Entertainer of the Year is his amazing guitar work, and he knows that learning to play truly changed his life. (:05)
“Talking about, you know, it sort of simplifies it, but, you know, it’s really the case: it’s…nothing changes your life I think like picking up a guitar.”

  Brad Paisley explains that Andy Griffith wasn’t just the perfect guest star for his ACM-nominated video, “Waitin’ on a Woman,” he’s also a real part of Brad’s life. (:45)
“The reason it’s a great fit is because he has influenced my life more than most people that I grew up with — and more than most people that I actually knew my whole life. I mean, his TV show, The Andy Griffith Show, was, for me — just without a doubt — one of the most influential things I have ever had in my life. I mean, it…it’s a big deal to me. I watch it. When I wrote an introductory letter to him, one of the things I said was that he’s helping to raise my son…and that’s a big deal. He really is. I mean, I think you could do far worse than to use The Andy Griffith Show as a guide for the way to handle the issues that come up with your little boy.”

  Brad Paisley talks about the thought process that went into his ACM-nominated Vocal Event with Keith Urban, “Start a Band.” (:25)
“There were a couple of ways we could go. We could do an instrumental that would be fast and impressive…and boring — for a lot of people that don’t play the guitar…or we could have a song like this. And Keith said he felt like a vehicle like this was a great way to convey the message of sort of two guitar players havin’ a ball. And the theme of the song really does fit with that. For me, it was like hearing he and I sing this as successful artists is a lot of fun.” 

  Carrie Underwood explains the inspiration behind the title of her ACM Album of the Year nominee, Carnival Ride. (:44)
“You step onto this, you know, thing called life, this ride called life, and you don’t know what’s gonna happen. You don’t know where it’s gonna take you. You don’t know if it goes way up high and then crashes down…you don’t know if there’s loops ahead…you don’t know if…you know? It’s just, it’s crazy…you don’t know if the ride’s gonna fall apart on you when you step on it. You just…it’s just a crazy thing that you just don’t know anything about, but you get on it anyway, ’cause you can’t just watch everybody else go through it. You get on that ride, and you, you know, you have fun, and sometimes you don’t have fun (laughs), and it’s just, it’s all what leads us to, you know, the end of it. It’s all what makes us who we are.”

  The crying scenes in Carrie Underwood’s ACM-nominated video for “Just a Dream” made for an emotionally exhausting day of acting. (:15)
“That was something that was, I don’t know, it was just so emotionally draining, I mean, crying all day long pretty much…and then in-between takes, everybody’s all happy and funny…and I just, I don’t know if that’s something that I could really do too much of. (laughs)”

  Carrie Underwood shares what the ACMs mean to her. (:15)
“The ACMs were the first, like, major, you know, awards that I started winning like, Female, and stuff like that…and they’re in Vegas, so they always stand out as being a good time, and you know, just getting together and celebrating country music.”