The 2020 CMA Music Awards are out and it’s a really interesting list to say the least as Garth Brooks “retiring” from CMA Entertainer of the Year running opened up balloting for the category to contain not one but two country female superstars in Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert. They’re joined by Luke Combs and category longtime favorites, Eric Church and Keith Urban. It’s been 41 years since there were two female nominees in the category.
In the Album of the Year category, we find Jon Pardi, Ashley McBryde, Old Dominion, Miranda Lambert and Luke Combs. It’s an interesting category as more “Traditionalist” albums are four of the five with melodic masterminds Old Dominion the “outlier.” The albums are Pardi’s “Heartache Medication, Ashley McBryde’s “Never Will,” Old Dominion’s self-titled album, Luke Combs’ “What You See Is What You Get” and Miranda Lambert’s “Wildcard.”
Musical Event of the Year features “10,000 Hours” from Dan+Shay (with Justin Bieber), “Be A Light” from Thomas Rhett featuring Reba, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin and Keith Urban, Maren Morris’ remix of “The Bones” featuring Hozier, “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” from Miranda Lambert with Maren Morris, Elle King, Ashley McBryde, Tensile Townes & Caylee Hammack and, finally, the #1 hit “I Hope You’re Happy Now” from Carley Pearce and Lee Brice.
In the New Artist of the Year category we find five talented artists and only one of the five feels like they aren’t a new artist and ALL of them have had a #1 hit within the last 18 months. Jimmie Allen is joined by Ingrid Andress, Gabby Barrett, Carly Pearce and Morgan Wallen.
The Female Vocalist of the Year category includes Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris and first time category nominee, Ashley McBryde. The Male Vocalist of the Year category includes Eric Church, Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton, Thomas Rhett and Luke Combs.
In the Group of the Year category, we find Lady A, Little Big Town, Midland, Old Dominion and Rascal Flatts. The Duo of the Year category includes Brooks & Dunn, Brothers Osborne, Dan+Shay, Florida Georgia Line and Maddie & Tae.
Music Video of the Year inlcudes "10,000 Hours" from Dan+Shay and Justin Bieber, "Bluebird" from Miranda Lambert, "Homemade" from Jake Owen, "I Hope You're Happy Now" from Carly Pearce and Lee Brice and "Second One To Know" from Chris Stapleton. Finally, Musician of the year includes last year's winner Jenee Fleenor, Paul Franklin, Rob McNelly, Ilya Toshinskiy and Derek Wells.
Entertainer
- Eric Church
- Luke Combs
- Miranda Lambert
- Carrie Underwood
- Keith Urban
Female
- Miranda Lambert
- Ashley McBryde
- Maren Morris
- Kacey Musgraves
- Carrie Underwood
Male
- Eric Church
- Luke Combs
- Thomas Rhett
- Chris Stapleton
- Keith Urban
Group
- Lady A
- Little Big Town
- Midland
- Old Dominion
- Rascal Flatts
Duo
- Brooks & Dunn
- Brothers Osborne
- Dan + Shay
- Florida Georgia Line
- Maddie & Tae
Album
- Heartache Medication, Jon Pardi
- Never Will, Ashley McBryde
- Old Dominion, Old Dominion
- What You See Is What You Get, Luke Combs
- Wildcard, Miranda Lambert
Single
- “10,000 Hours,” Dan + Shay w/Justin Bieber
- “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” Luke Combs
- “Bluebird,” Miranda Lambert
- “The Bones,” Maren Morris
- “I Hope,” Gabby Barrett
Song
- “Bluebird,” Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, Miranda Lambert
- “The Bones,” Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins, Laura Veltz
- “Even Though I'm Leaving,” Luke Combs, Wyatt B. Durrette III, Ray Fulcher
- “I Hope You're Happy Now,” Luke Combs, Randy Montana, Carly Pearce, Jonathan Singleton
- “More Hearts Than Mine,” Ingrid Andress, Sam Ellis, Derrick Southerland
Musical Event
- “10,000 Hours,” Dan + Shay w/Justin Bieber
- “Be A Light,” Thomas Rhett f/Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin and Keith Urban
- “The Bones,” Maren Morris w/Hozier
- “Fooled Around And Fell In Love,” Miranda Lambert f/Maren Morris, Elle King, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes and Caylee Hammack
- “I Hope You're Happy Now,” Carly Pearce and Lee Brice
Musician
- Jenee Fleenor
- Paul Franklin
- Rob McNelley
- Ilya Toshinskiy
- Derek Wells
Video
- “10,000 Hours,” Dan + Shay w/Justin Bieber
- "Bluebird,” Miranda Lambert
- “Homemade,” Jake Owen
- “I Hope You're Happy Now,” Carly Pearce and Lee Brice
- “Second One To Know,” Chris Stapleton
New Artist
- Jimmie Allen
- Ingrid Andress
- Gabby Barrett
- Carly Pearce
- Morgan Wallen
Faye
I honestly don't know how Miranda got these many nominations. First her touring numbers are not great. And no it's not because of the pandemic. Only the better selling concerts were reported to Boxscore. At he end of the year you will get the real picture. You can see pictures of her concerts and there are hundreds of empty seats. Her album. This is my least favorite. She has, what, 3 songs that are really good then the rest are mediocre. I remember her team trying to label it punk country, then rock country and finally country. When she sings fast songs she goes to that talk sing and it doesn't work. 2 singles released. Bluebird is a good song based on the poem by Charles Bukowski. It was Luke Dick's idea. Not hers. There are better songs nominated. I spoke with a longtime follower of Miranda's. She told me Miranda did a private album launch for Media only. Not for fans. Her manager Marion is on several committees for Grammys, ACMs and CMAs and known for courting voters. That her team really goes all out for awards. I get that. It's business. They don't seem to care that her touring venues have gotten smaller. The musical event nomination is just wrong. And only because it's a group of women. It's like "see we are our woke" we nominated a song that was never released as a single and performed once. When the founder of Headline Planet tweets that the category got it wrong-you know something is up. He said there was no bigger musical event then Nobody But You by Blake Shelton. 43 million views. Multiple weeks at #1. Platinum. One of the few country songs considered a best seller across all genres. With the exception of 10,000 Hours. He also said it should have been nominated for Single. Bluebird should not be in that category at all. It's frustrating as a fan to see an artist get nominated (and win) even when they have no music out. We talk about no women on country radio and yet country award shows do just as much harm they have nominated Miranda and Carrie for 11 years. What does that say about the industry? We don't think any other women artists are any good? Thank goodness Kacey finally won. Hopefully Maren will win this year as Female artist. And Kelsea should have been nominated. Period. Perhaps it's Miranda fatigue. I have seen her in concert. Bought her records. As someone told me once she's a good artist they try to make out as great-she's not. If she was her numbers would be better. The CMAs are a local award show. It's who you court in Nashville to get votes. Bloc voting at its best. They should just call it the WME Awards. It's just disappointing.