Miranda Lambert was not only delivering the news, but also became the big story as she co-hosted Tuesday morning’s final nominations for The 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. Miranda is the ACM’s most-nominated artist this year, with seven total nods, including Entertainer of the Year! Landing in that category was the one that caught Miranda the most off-guard. She said, “Being nominated for Entertainer of the Year is something I had set for myself as a career goal, but I never expected to be nominated so soon. It’s amazing, but I know as hard as I’ve worked to get here, I have so much more work ahead of me to actually win it one day.” Of course, being a co-host for the reading of the nominations meant that Miranda had to keep her cool — even when she was hearing her own name. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Miranda’s list of seven ACM nods includes Entertainer of the Year, Top Female Vocalist, Video of the Year (for “Only Prettier”), a trio of nominations for “The House That Built Me” as Video, Song, and Single Record of the Year, and one more very special nomination — with Loretta Lynn and Sheryl Crow — for Vocal Event of the Year for “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
• It was her nomination with Loretta and Sheryl that inspired Miranda to share, “They are huge inspirations for me. They are my heroes, and the time I spent at Loretta’s house filming the video changed my life. I stopped thinking about five years and 10 years down the road. I think about 30 into my career. That’s true longevity. That’s what I want to strive for.”
• Another inspiration for Miranda is her ACM nominations co-host Ronnie Dunn. Miranda tells us that they had a lot of fun at the nomination press conference, and she would love to see her career go on to be as enduringly successful as his. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• You can find “Coal Miner’s Daughter” on the wonderful, multi-artist collection, Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn, while Miranda’s other nominated songs all come from her million-selling Revolution album — last year’s ACM Album of the Year winner! Miranda is the reigning ACM Top Female Vocalist and also won the ACM Video honor last year for “White Liar.”

  Miranda Lambert says she had to keep her cool as ACM nominations co-host. (:19)
“You’re standin’ there, you have to be serious ’cause, you know, Ronnie said my name while I was up next, so I had to, like, keep it together and sort of not even focus on what he said because I didn’t want to mess up what else I was readin’, so… And, you know, Blake said something funny before we started. He said, ‘Throw my name in there a couple times this morning.’ (laughs) But, luckily, it was in there, but I was like, ‘What if I say the wrong name?'” (laughs) 

  Miranda Lambert got the ACM news along with the rest of us. (:14)
“News from this morning was crazy! I only found out all of the nominations when everybody else did, so I didn’t really have a lot of time to process, but I didn’t know that I was eligible for seven. So it kind of came out of nowhere, but I’m thrilled.”

  Miranda Lambert talks about her ACM nominations co-host, Ronnie Dunn. (:22)
“We were crackin’ some jokes to each other. We kind of give each other a hard time. He’s sort of…he’s just really got this great spirit about him, and he, you know, said really nice things about me. And I really respect him as an artist, and we played some shows together, had a few dance parties on buses here and there, so we’ve gotten to kind of know each other. And I just watch people like Ronnie Dunn, just hope that my career somewhat takes a path like his did.”

  Miranda Lambert thinks the world of Ronnie Dunn. (:09)
“I love Ronnie. I’ve gotten to hang out with Ronnie a few times now, and I think he’s awesome. Awesome singer, great songwriter, and I’m really excited to hear his material that he’s doin’ on his own.”