Country Music News

The 2008 ACM Awards are done and we’ve got your winners right here!

Winners of the 2008 Academy of Country Music awards got to party it up Vegas style as they celebrated another year of milestones and fan appreciation. Reba McEntire hosted the festivities and as always, the winners were gracious, and excited.

“A singer is nothing without inspiration. I thank my wonderful wife, Kim, who is not here tonight. I probably ought to thank my son for the first time for inspiration. I am so honored to carry the torch another year, and thank God for all the blessings in my life.”-Brad Paisley

“There are so many people who deserve to be thanked for this, but I am going to thank one. And that’s a person that used to love to go to lunch with her friends and cook dinner for her family and sleep in her bed every night. She gave that all away and left that all behind to go on the road with her 16-year-old daughter. … And then she was sleeping in rental cars and in airplanes and rental cars with her mouth wide open because she was so tired. And so Mom, thank you so much! I love you! This is for you!” - Taylor Swift

“It means so much to me that you guys really relate to this song and that you accept it. Thank you so much to my partner Kristian Bush and to Gail Gelman [manager] for believing in this song before anybody did. Thank you to Luke Lewis and your whole staff at Mercury to have big ones enough, that when we came to you and said, ‘Hey, let’s put a song without drums on the radio,’ you said, ‘Sure!’” Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland

Album of the Year: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Miranda Lambert
Entertainer of the year: Kenny Chesney
Single of the Year: “Stay,” Sugarland
Song of the Year: “Stay,” Sugarland (Jennifer Nettles, composer)
Top Female Vocalist: Carrie Underwood
Top Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley
Top New Duo or Vocal Group: Lady Antebellum
Top New Male Vocalist: Jack Ingram
Top new New Female Vocalist: Taylor Swift
Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Top Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts
Video of the Year: “Online,” Brad Paisley (Jason Alexander, director)
Vocal Event of the Year: “Find Out Who Your Friends Are,” Tracy Lawrence with Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney
For a full recap of all the winners presented on and offstage, visit the ACM’s official website.

I’m sure the prices at the gas pumps are skyrocketing travel costs for everyone, but it’s unlikely to stop country artists and fans from hitting the road to search for the ultimate concert experience this summer.

It seems most country artists are focusing their tours on the warmer months this year. Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift, Sugarland and Toby Keith are just some of the acts already on the road, but tours are also in the works for Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson. Brad Paisley recently completed a tour and will start another one in June. And the king of the summer tours — Kenny Chesney — is back on the road for a series of shows at amphitheaters and major stadiums.

Here’s a brief rundown of the tour plans of 10 of country music’s most popular acts:

Kenny Chesney

He’s been performing some informal shows at clubs near college campuses, but Chesney’s Poets & Pirates tour with LeAnn Rimes kicks off April 18-19 at the Mohegan Sun hotel and casino in Uncasville, Conn. Fourteen stadium dates are scheduled featuring five different talent lineups. Among those featured at selected stadiums are Keith Urban, Brooks & Dunn, Gary Allan, Luke Bryan, Big & Rich, Sammy Hagar and Rimes. All in all, Chesney is now set to do 37 shows from coast to coast before closing his tour on Sept. 13 at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis with Urban, Rimes and Allan. More on Kenny Chesney’s 2008 concert tour…

Alan Jackson

Jackson returns to the road on April 11 to headline a stadium show in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as part of the Gridiron Bash at the University of Alabama. The bulk of his tour dates begin in Canada with an April 16 show in Calgary, Alberta. Three other Canadian dates follow before he begins the U.S. leg on May 1 in Laredo, Texas. His concert schedule now extends through July 25 in Kelseyville, Calif. More on Alan Jackson’s 2008 concert tour…

Toby Keith

Keith is busy this week in Texas with a Thursday night (March 13) appearance at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He has another 20 concerts scheduled between now and a Sept. 19 show in Albuquerque, N.M. More on Toby Keith’s 2008 concert tour…

Tim McGraw

McGraw warms up for his summer roadwork with an April 27 performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and a May 4 appearance at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif., before officially launching his tour on May 9 in Tampa, Fla. He has dates scheduled through July 6 in Pittsburgh. More on Tim McGraw’s 2008 concert tour…

Brad Paisley

Paisley announced at the recent Country Radio Seminar in Nashville that his 2008 tour will feature Jewel, Chuck Wicks and Julianne Hough. With 42 shows currently booked, the tour begins June 11 in Albuquerque, N.M. Paisley’s schedule extends through an Oct. 18 appearance in San Antonio. More on Brad Paisley’s 2008 concert tour…

Rascal Flatts

With Taylor Swift opening the shows, Rascal Flatts return to the road with five Canadian dates beginning March 24 in Calgary, Alberta. Their U.S. dates resume April 4 in Portland, Ore., and continue through Aug. 30 in Burgettstown, Pa. More on Rascal Flatts 2008 concert tour…

Carrie Underwood

Her latest album is titled Carnival Ride, but her schedule is more of a juggling act as she co-headlines a tour with Keith Urban and headlines her own tour with opening act Josh Turner. Her shows with Turner resume Tuesday (March 18) in Bethlehem, Pa., and continue through a May 25 show in Nampa, Idaho. Her tour schedule also includes a July 19 appearance at the Country Jam Festival in Eau Claire, Wis., and an Aug. 8 show at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. More on Carrie Underwood’s 2008 concert tour…

Keith Urban

Urban’s tour with Carrie Underwood continues this week in California with shows Wednesday (March 12) in Sacramento and Thursday (March 13) in Anaheim. In addition to that ongoing tour, Urban will be heading to Australia for six dates beginning with a March 20 appearance at the Blues & Roots Festival in Byron Bay. He has shows booked through his Sept. 13 stop at Chesney’s stadium show in Indianapolis. More on Keith Urban’s 2008 concert tour…

Sugarland

The duo of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush will be performing several shows in Australia and New Zealand before returning to the U.S. for a homecoming at Atlanta’s Fox Theater on April 3-4. Their summer is filled with numerous performances at fairs and festivals in Iowa, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Kansas, Colorado, California, Ohio, Wyoming and Oregon. Their schedule currently extends through an Aug. 3 appearance at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta. More on Sugarland’s 2008 concert tour…

Taylor Swift

The 18-year-old is continuing to work a heavy tour schedule, including an extensive tour with Rascal Flatts that resumes March 24 in Calgary, Alberta, and ends Aug. 30 near Pittsburgh. In between, she’ll also be performing at several major festivals, including the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif., on May 3 and Summerfest in Milwaukee on June 30. More on Taylor Swift’s 2008 concert tour…

Brad Paisley’s latest single “Letter to Me” pushes right to the top of the Billboard country music song charts this week followed by Rascal Flatts’ “Winner at a Losing Game,” Montgomery Gentry’s “What Do Ya Think About That,” Sugarland’s “Stay” and Swift’s mighty “Our Song” rounding out the top 5.

The songs making their first appearance on the charts are Jewel’s “Stronger Woman” (No. 50), Sara Evans’ “Some Things Never Change” (No. 54), the Reba McEntire- Kenny Chesney duet, “Every Other Weekend” (No. 58), Clay Walker’s “She Likes It in the Morning” (No. 59) and the Drew Davis Band’s “Back There All the Time” (No. 60).

Anne Murray has the highest-debuting album, Duets: Friends & Legends, which bows at No. 8. The other newbies are Trisha Yearwood’s Love Songs (a collection from her MCA days) at No. 35, followed by the multi-artist package, I Will Always Love You: 17 Inspirational Love Songs, at No. 44 and Kenny Rogers’ A Love Song Collection (No. 53). Suppose anyone’s marketing music toward Valentine Day shoppers?

The remaining Top 5 albums, in descending order, are Garth Brooks‘ The Ultimate Hits, the Eagles‘ Long Road Out of Eden, Sugarland’s Enjoy the Ride and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand.

There are no returning albums to this week’s chart, but there is one comeback song, the Road Hammers’ “I Don’t Know When to Quit,” popping in at No. 51.