What makes the CMT Awards fun is that they turn the fate of the Awards over to the fans. They are country music’s only fan-voted awards show. The first round of voting ran from April 5 through May 3 at CMT.com, where fans selected from the top eight nominees in each of the nine categories.

Here are this years nominees (along with my prediction on who will win… As usual, it’s not always who I want to win… just who I think will win.):

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
(For this award the final nominees are announced during the live telecast, with final voting held online at CMT.com during the show.)
Jason Aldean — “The Truth”
Kenny Chesney — “Out Last Night”
Toby Keith — “American Ride”
Lady Antebellum — “Need You Now”
Miranda Lambert — “White Liar”
Brad Paisley — “Welcome to the Future”
Taylor Swift — “You Belong With Me”
Carrie Underwood — “Cowboy Casanova”
Keith Urban — “‘Til Summer Comes Around”
Zac Brown Band — “Toes”
PREDICTED WINNER: Miranda Lambert – “White Liar” (Actual Winner: Carrie Underwood)

MALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Jason Aldean — “The Truth”
Billy Currington — “People Are Crazy”
Toby Keith — “American Ride”
Tim McGraw — “Southern Voice”
Keith Urban — “‘Til Summer Comes Around”
PREDICTED WINNER: Keith Urban – “Til Summer Comes Around” (Actual Winner)

FEMALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Miranda Lambert — “White Liar”
Reba McEntire — “Consider Me Gone”
Taylor Swift — “You Belong With Me”
Carrie Underwood — “Cowboy Casanova”
PREDICTED WINNER: Miranda Lambert — “White Liar” (Actual WInner)

GROUP VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Gloriana — “How Far Do You Wanna Go?”
Lady Antebellum — “Need You Now”
Rascal Flatts — “Here Comes Goodbye”
Zac Brown Band — “Toes”
PREDICTED WINNER: Lady Antebellum – “Need You Now” (Actual Winner)

DUO VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Brooks & Dunn — “Indian Summer”
Steel Magnolia — “Keep On Lovin’ You”
Sugarland — “Keep You”
Sugarland — “Nightswimming/Joey”
PREDICTED WINNER: Brooks & Dunn – “Indian Summer” (Actual Winner)

USA WEEKEND BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Luke Bryan — “Do I”
Laura Bell Bundy — “Giddy On Up”
Easton Corbin — “A Little More Country Than That”
Steel Magnolia — “Keep On Lovin’ You”
PREDICTED WINNER: Laura Bell Bundy – “Giddy On Up” (Actual Winner: Luke Bryan)

COLLABORATIVE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Jason Aldean and Bryan Adams — “Heaven”
Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews — “I’m Alive”
Kellie Pickler featuring Taylor Swift — “Best Days of Your Life”
Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins — “Hillbilly Bone”
PREDICTED WINNER: Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins – “Hillbilly Bone” (Actual Winner)

CMT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Lady Antebellum — “Lookin’ For A Good Time”
Reba McEntire — “Consider Me Gone”
Tim McGraw — “Southern Voice”
Brad Paisley — “Then”
Carrie Underwood — “Temporary Home”
PREDICTED WINNER: Carrie Underwood — “Temporary Home” (Actual Winner)

VIDEO DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Deaton Flanigen — (award eligible videos include: Jason Aldean’s “The Truth” and Carrie Underwood’s “Temporary Home”)
Chris Hicky — (award eligible videos include: Miranda Lambert’s “White Liar” and Justin Moore’s “Small Town USA”)
Shaun Silva — (award eligible videos include: Kenny Chesney’s “Out Last Night” and Rascal Flatts’ “Summer Nights”)
Roman White — (award eligible videos include: Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” and Kellie Pickler’s “Best Days of Your Life”)
PREDICTED WINNER: Shaun Silva (Actual Winner)

Tune in tonight and don’t forget to vote for the big award at CMT.com during the show!

This year’s ACM (Academy of Country Music) Awards are a healthy mix of nominees, including some well-deserved newbies and a few veteran nominees who earned a pile of nominations. The awards will be handed out on April 18th in a live-from-Las Vegas broadcast on CBS. Reba McEntire will return for an unprecedented 12th time as host for the show.

Scheduled to perform are: Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert (both likely winners – pictured at left), Lady Antebellum, Jason Aldean, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Trace Adkins, Carrie Underwood, Billy Currington, Laura Bell Bundy, John Fogerty, Jack Ingram, Dierks Bentley, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, and Darius Rucker.

The top nominees are; Lady Antebellum (with seven nominations), Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, and Zac Brown Band (six nominations each), Taylor Swift (who only received five nominations), and the dependable Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley (each received four nominations).

It’s a good year for Oklahoma women; three Okie ladies are up for the Top Female Vocalist award: Miranda Lambert, who lives on an Oklahoma ranch with boyfriend Blake Shelton; Reba McEntire, and Carrie Underwood. Also competing for the title are Taylor Swift and Lee Ann Womack.

The big trend to look for during the ceremony is the potential pile of awards that Lady Antebellum could take home for their smash hit “Need You Now.” The song is up for Single Record, Song of the Year, Video of the Year, Top Vocal Group, and Album of the Year. Not too bad for a debut album.

But the top honor given at the ACM Awards is, of course, the Entertainer of the Year. This year the nominees are Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown Band. Can Carrie Underwood win her second straight Entertainer of the Year Award? I predict she will. That would be a tragedy, artistically speaking. But it is also kind of a sure deal since the category is voted on by fans. She would become the first woman to win two Entertainer of the Year Awards if she wins again. Personally, I wish Jamey Johnson were at least in the running, but there’s always next year… Besides, let’s not forget – this ain’t the CMA Awards. That’s the one that really counts.

The Nominees (with my prediction of who will win in BOLD):

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR:
-Kenny Chesney
-Toby Keith
-Brad Paisley
-George Strait
-Taylor Swift
-Carrie Underwood (pictured below at last year’s ACM Awards)
-Keith Urban
-Zac Brown Band

TOP MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
-Kenny Chesney
-Brad Paisley
-Darius Rucker
-George Strait
-Keith Urban

TOP FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
-Miranda Lambert
-Reba McEntire
-Taylor Swift
-Carrie Underwood
-Lee Ann Womack

TOP VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
-Lady Antebellum
-Little Big Town
-Randy Rogers Band
-Rascal Flatts
-Zac Brown Band

TOP VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
-Brooks & Dunn
-Joey + Rory
-Montgomery Gentry
-Steel Magnolia
-Sugarland

TOP NEW SOLO VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
-Luke Bryan
-Jamey Johnson
-Chris Young

TOP NEW VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
-Bomshel
-Joey + Rory
-Steel Magnolia

TOP NEW VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
-Eli Young Band
-Gloriana
-The Lost Trailers

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
–American Saturday Night — Brad Paisley
–Lady Antebellum — Lady Antebellum
–Play On — Carrie Underwood
–Revolution — Miranda Lambert
–The Foundation — Zac Brown Band

SINGLE RECORD OF THE YEAR
–Need You Now — Lady Antebellum
–People Are Crazy — Billy Currington
–Red Light — David Nail
–Toes — Zac Brown Band
–White Liar — Miranda Lambert

SONG OF THE YEAR
–Cowboy Casanova — Carrie Underwood
–Need You Now — Lady Antebellum
–People Are Crazy — Billy Currington
–White Liar — Miranda Lambert
–You Belong With Me — Taylor Swift

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
–Boots On — Randy Houser
–Need You Now — Lady Antebellum
–Welcome To The Future — Brad Paisley
–White Liar — Miranda Lambert
–You Belong With Me — Taylor Swift

VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
–Hillbilly Bone — Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins
–Honky Tonk Stomp — Brooks & Dunn featuring Billy Gibbons
–I Told You So — Carrie Underwood featuring Randy Travis
–I’m Alive — Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews
–Seeing Stars — Jack Ingram featuring Patty Griffin

With a Megaticket, fans can buy a country music season ticket that lets them get the same seat to every show in the lineup. It’s basically the same principle as subscribing to a Broadway series or any number of arts events. Fans pick their city’s venue and choose from a variety of ticket packages featuring multiple artists and seating options. To see a map of cities and venues with a complete list of venue packages and availability, visit www.megaticket.com.
(Packages vary in each city and are available for limited time only.)

OK, so before you spend your tax refund, here is this summer’s line up of country greats that will be hitting the road and hopefully coming to your city:

-Brad Paisley (with Darius Rucker)

-Brooks & Dunn with Jason Aldean (April 23 thru June 13th but not including 5/4-5/6) & Gary Allan (5/4-5/6 and after June 13th)

-Rascal Flatts with Kellie Pickler and Chris Young

-Sugarland with special guests

-Tim McGraw with Lady Antebellum and The Lost Trailers (2/11-4/10) and Love and Theft (4/11-8/15)

-Toby Keith (with special guests)

The COUNTRY THROWDOWN 2010 concert series features the best in new country artists, including: Montgomery Gentry, Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town, Jack Ingram, Eric Church, Eli Young Band, The Lost Trailers, Heidi Newfield, Ryan Bingham, Jonathan Singleton & The Grove, Emily West. It also features songwriter/singer Bluebird Cafe artists, including: Ashley Ray, Brad Tursi, Cory Branan, Dave Pahanish, Jedd Hughes, Sarah Buxton, Troy Olsen, Walker Hayes.

Remember when it was cool to be in-your-face-patriotic? Ah, good times… Back in those days of a proud U.S.A., Toby Keith was the spokesman for pro-American sentiment. Nowadays patriotism isn’t given as much air-time, and look what has happened to the country music superstar. Toby Keith without the attitude that brought him fame is a little like an old American flag whose owners did not bother to take it in at sunset. Instead, Old Glory was left to fade into a tenuous shadow of its former brilliance. Is it because Toby Keith doesn’t want to appear right-wing in this, the first Obama four-year plan? Whatever the reason, Toby Keith’s new album is but a mere shadow of his former controversial intensity.

Last year, Keith announced that he supported Obama, and that he was a Democrat. It’s nice to know that there’s room for everyone in the country music tent. But what happened to his music? Like many Republicans that seem to be Republican in name only, Toby Keith has been such a powerful force when it comes to rallying the American spirit and honoring the U.S. military that the admission that he was a Democrat surprised quite a few music lovers. When pop culture historians link a song with the War on Terrorism, I have no doubt that Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (Angry American)” will be at the top of the list. In case you forgot, that was the song with the lyric that went:

“Justice will be served,
And the battle will rage,
This big dog will fight,
When you rattle his cage.
And you’ll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A.
‘Cause we’ll put a boot in your ass,
It’s the American way!”

Instead of giving voice to a particular point of view, Keith offers a perspective that kindly attacks all the usual targets on both political sides. It’s an attempt at a lighter mood than we expect from him, and it just doesn’t work. With all the issues that a populist country writer could turn into song these days, watching Toby Keith seek a wider audience (and a safer reputation) is a frustrating experience.

The title track from the album seems that it will be the one to deliver the Toby Keith we once knew and loved. Instead, it is a safe, pleasant critique of American culture in general, with no true point of view. The video of the song skewers Obama, former President George W. Bush, terrorists, Wall Street, tabloids, and Donald Trump, among others. But it is just a list that isn’t even that topical (the “ozone layer”? Really?) with no true indictment. So if you are a loyal Toby Keith fan, be warned: there isn’t a single flag-waver in the entire album. Maybe the good ol’ boy will return with the next administration. But will his fans?

The success of Toby Keith was never about his vocals. It was about the words he dared to bellow. But when you take away Keith’s connection with his fans – his ability to give voice to the anger of the hard-working, overtaxed, underserved, patriotic American – he doesn’t offer much worth listening to. What’s next – Charlie Daniels making an Emo album?

Skip the album, and just download these if you really need some new Toby Keith tunes:

“Woke Up On My Own” – In this confession he offers to the woman he let get away, Keith faces his own limitations. This song has just the right mix of retro-country-rock reverb, and the guitar work all around drives it home.

“Tender As I Wanna Be” – OK, I don’t want any more ballads from Toby Keith, but if he insists on singing so many of them lately, I will admit this is just the right choice for him. This is the song that says “I’m just a big ol’ dog, but I’m gonna make you love me anyhow.” It’s a role he sings well.