Miranda Lambert is the leader of the 2010 CMA Award nominee pack, with nine nominations going into November’s broadcast, including her first-ever nod for the coveted Entertainer of the Year honor. It’s the most nominations ever for a female artist in the history of the CMAs.

“It’s unbelievable. I’m really shocked at some of my nominations!” a beaming Miranda said on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America‘ Wednesday after announcing the nominees alongside Dierks Bentley, himself a three-time nominee this year.

Taylor Swift, who led the 2009 CMA winners with four trophies including the night’s biggest honor, Entertainer of the Year, walked away with only one nomination this year, for Female Vocalist, which she also won last year. She’s up against Miranda, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride and Carrie Underwood. Taylor will pass her Entertainer of the Year honors on to either Miranda, Lady Antebellum, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban or the Zac Brown Band.

The 44th Annual Country Music Association Awards will air live from Nashville on November 10. Brad Paisley (who has three nods) and Carrie Underwood (a two-time nominee) will co-host the show for the third year in a row. See the full list of 2010 CMA Award nominations below.

Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Rascal Flatts
The Band Perry
Zac Brown Band

Brooks & Dunn
Joey + Rory
Montgomery Gentry
Steel Magnolia
Sugarland

Album of the Year
(Award goes to artist and producer)

‘Need You Now‘ - Lady Antebellum
Producer: Paul Worley

‘Play On‘ - Carrie Underwood
Producers: Mark Bright and Max Martin

‘Revolution‘ - Miranda Lambert
Producers: Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke

‘Twang‘ - George Strait
Producer: Tony Brown

‘Up on the Ridge‘ - Dierks Bentley
Producer: Jon Randall Stewart

‘A Little More Country Than That‘
Easton Corbin
Producer: Carson Chamberlain

‘Hillbilly Bone‘
Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins
Producer: Scott Hendricks

‘Need You Now‘
Lady Antebellum
Producers: Paul Worley and Lady Antebellum

‘The House That Built Me‘
Miranda Lambert
Producers: Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke

‘White Liar‘
Miranda Lambert
Producers: Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke

‘Toes‘
Songwriters: Zac Brown, Wyatt Durrette, John Driskell Hopkins and Shawn Mullins

Music Video
(Award goes to artist and director)

‘Hillbilly Bone’
Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins
Director: Roman White

‘Need You Now’
Lady Antebellum
Director: David McClister

‘The House That Built Me’
Miranda Lambert
Director: Trey Fanjoy

‘Water’
Brad Paisley
Director: Jim Shea

‘White Liar’
Miranda Lambert
Director: Chris Hickey

Musician

Paul Frankin — Steel Guitar
Dann Huff — Guitar
Brent Mason — Guitar
Mac McAnally — Guitar
Randy Scruggs — Guitar

The Grand Ole Opry has had numerous homes over the past three months, but five months to the day of the devastating floods in Nashville, on October 2, the world-famous radio show will start a month-long celebration of its 85th birthday back at the newly refurbished Grand Ole Opry House.

The Band Perry will perform throughout the day on the Opry Plaza. There will be three Opry performances as the show returns for its first weekend back in the venue. The premier Grand Ole Opry performance in the refurbished house will be the prior Tuesday, September 28.

One updated feature will be brand-new, uniquely themed dressing rooms for Grand Ole Opry members and other guests who perform at the venue. A new entrance is also being built for performing artists, and fans can once again see the famous piece of wood that was cut from the Ryman Auditorium stage and placed at the new Opry House when it opened in 1974. Opry officials say that after the floods, more questions came in about that piece of oak than anything else regarding the Grand Ole Opry. Workers were able to rescue it right away, and it has been completely refurbished and is now resting back in its place on the Opry stage.

On October 8-9, the Opry will continue with its regular weekend performance, featuring an afternoon salute to comedy by Mike Snider and T. Bubba Bechtol. There will also be a free Opry Plaza party. The following Friday, on October 15, the Judds will perform for a night of ‘Opry Goes Pink.’ Wynonna and Naomi will literally flip the switch that gives the Opry’s red backdrop a pink hue to support breast cancer awareness month. The second annual ‘Opry Goes Pink’ will benefit Women Rock for the Cure and the Greater Nashville affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Everyone who purchases a ticket for this show should use the code OpryPink,in order for $5 from each ticket to be donated to these non-profit charities.

At the same time, the Opry is launching the “I’m With The Band” series. This new addition will invite celebrities who don’t normally perform country music to sit in with the Grand Ole Opry band. Already signed on to participate are actor Kevin Costner, who released a country album in 2008, and actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, wife of Brad Paisley.

Jerrod Niemann is beginning to get recognized more and more, and sometimes fans catch him at some inopportune moments. One such case happened recently, when he was on an airplane catching some shut-eye, and it was caught on-camera.

 

The Zac Brown Band are gearing up to release their new album, ‘You Get What You Give,’ but while their fan base may expand, one tradition they started a while ago isn’t going to change.

‘You Get What You Give’ is scheduled for release on September 21.

 

Randy Travis is digging up some of his classic hits for a planned 25th anniversary album, featuring the country superstar teaming up for performances with Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, Josh Turner and many more of his famous friends.

The special tribute album is slated to be released early in 2011.

Need more Kenny? 

Kenny Chesney will go the deluxe route when “Hemingway’s Whiskey” is released in late September.

His label will release a double disc CD/DVD edition in addition to the regular Sept. 28 release. The package adds bonus tracks Ain’t Ever Going Back Again and I Didn’t Get Here Alone plus 30 minutes of additional content including a video cut-by-cut on all 13 tracks.

In-studio footage of the recording of You & Tequila with rocker Grace Potter is also featured.

Who doesn’t love Carrie Underwood’s current single, ‘Undo It‘?

Carrie’s co-writers on the song included ‘American Idol‘ judge Kara DioGuardi, Luke Laird and Marti Frederiksen. The singer says their idea for the ‘Undo It’ hook came almost accidentally. “The guys had their guitars and they were playing something kind of bluesy, and Kara’s got such a great R&B sense about her,” Carrie explains. “And I started, ‘Na, na, na-ing’ to whatever they were playing. And they were like, ‘What if that was the hook?’ I said, ‘Aw, I don’t know?’ And before you knew it, we had ‘Uh, uh, uh undo it.’ I mean, who would have thought? How do you write that down on paper? It was something that it didn’t take that long to write and it’s so much fun to sing on stage, and people get into it. If you listen to it twice, you know all the words! We had a lot of fun with it.”

So much fun that the foursome wrote another song that is also featured on Carrie’s ‘Play On’ album. “We wrote ‘Mama’s Song’ and ‘Undo It’ in the same couple of days,” Carrie says, “so it was really cool to have two completely different songs from the same group of people and the same energy going on in the same room.

Long before he made his seamless segue into the realm of country music, Darius Rucker was a staple in pop music, fronting the multi-platinum-selling, Grammy-winning band, Hootie and the Blowfish. Now that Darius has achieved success as both a rock and country star, he’s setting the record straight about why he has both feet firmly planted in country music.

His fellow Hottie members, however, didn’t make the move with him to country music, a decision some of them may now regret. “A couple of the guys were actually interested and would have done it,” he says. “One of the guys didn’t want to do it. I’m not sure if it would have been as successful if we had done it together.”

And what a success story he’s had on this career resurgence. Last year, Darius won the coveted CMA Award for Best New Artist — a win that still surprises him almost a year later. “I was shocked,” he admits. “When I told my manager four years ago that I wanted to make a country record, he told me he didn’t think we could get a record deal. I think it was the Hootie [and the Blowfish] stigma. So to have been this successful was a shocker.”

Darius still gets together with the members of Hootie and the Blowfish, mostly for charity events, but while he says he looks forward to making music with the guys again, there are no immediate plans. “There will be a tour and a record sometime, but not anytime soon. Years away.”

Darius has a new album, ‘Charleston, SC 1966,’ hitting shelves in October.

This isn’t the first time Jake needed medical attention. He proved his country toughness when he split open his forehead while sighting in his rifle. He filled the cut with Super Glue and went about his hunt.

He was left with a scar and a lot of great memories after bringing down a fallow deer.

There HAS to be a country song in here somewhere!

Luke Bryan and his wife Caroline welcomed their second child, Tatum “Tate” Christopher, on Wednesday, August 11 at 9:48 AM. Tate was born at a Nashville-area hospital, weighing in at six pounds, eight ounces and measuring 21 inches long. Mother and son are doing fine and should be released from the hospital soon. Tate joins two-year-old brother Thomas Boyer “Bo” Bryan.

Tatum Christopher is a name the couple came up with to honor two special people in their lives. “Tatum is a guy from my hometown, and then my brother’s name was Chris,” Luke joked, “So then we’ll have Bo and Tate — sounds like two little rednecks!”