Academy of Country Music Awards Announces 2017 Nominees Surprises, Snubs & Early Favorites HD

Academy of Country Music Awards Announces 2017 Nominees: Surprises, Snubs & Early Favorites If one can take anything away from the nominations for the 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which were announced this morning (Feb. 16), it would be that the format has had a banner year. While new acts such as Maren Morris have added excitement to the format, several long-standing favorites such as Keith Urban, who leads the pack with seven nominations, continue to make music that is finding favor with fans and radio. While all five of the entertainer of the year nominees (Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban) have all had experience in this category, a look at the Male and Female categories reveal a little bit of new blood. Thomas Rhett rides his unbelievable wave of success into the Male Vocalist category, which features last years’ winner, Chris Stapleton, along with Aldean, Urban, and Dierks Bentley. Though Stapleton is the industry darling these days, the ACM usually looks to set new trends with their awards -- a reason to think that perennial nominee Bentley might break through this year. In the female vocalist category, the banner year of Maren Morris continues. The singer netted her first nomination in this category, and after winning her first Grammy for best country solo performance (for her hit "My Church"), she could very well walk away with the prize. The interesting thing here will be if the fact that Morris, Underwood, and Miranda Lambert – all recording artists under the Sony umbrella – might cancel each other out. It’s been a career year for Underwood though, so seeing her reclaim this one seems very possible. In the vocal group and vocal duo category, there doesn’t seem to be any major surprises. I think that Little Big Town will continue to dominate the Group category, while Duo should be interesting. Florida Georgia Line saw the CMA Award in this category taken by Brothers Osborne. This one could be very much up in the air – but odds would seem to favor Florida Georgia Line, with their five overall nominations. In the single and song of the year categories, there were a few interesting names among the list. Keith Urban scored his biggest hit in a while with “Blue Ain’t Your Color” -- and he scored a couple of nominations here, where his name had been absent for a while. Lambert returned to the fold with a pair of nods for her gripping “Vice,” and Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind” hit for Big Machine could very well wind up in the winners’ circle, making things interesting with the singer’s recent signing to Sony. One nomination that was kind of surprising -- seeing that covers don’t usually net inclusion -- was “Tennessee Whiskey” in the Song category. Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove penned the song, which hit No. 2 in 1983 for George Jones, and was covered by Stapleton on Traveller. Look for an interesting race or album of the year. Lambert’s The Weight Of These Wings has be