CMA Awards Nominees Revealed; Tracy Lawrence and Faith Hill Unveil Football Songs; New Album Releases

• Download lots of free music from this past weekend’s Muddy Roots Festival. Wanda Jackson is in there. So what are you waiting for?

• The nominees for this year’s CMA Awards were announced this morning. Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, and Blake Shelton are all vying for Entertainer of the Year, while The Civil Wars are up for Vocal Duo of the Year.

• The Bluegrass Blog is now Bluegrass Today, having unveiled a major site overhaul today. Congrats to John Lawless and crew.

• Private Jamey Johnson reveals remarkably little in his interview with Tulsa World.

• Saturday college football has a new theme song sung by Tracy Lawrence called “Saturday in the South.” Fox Sports will be using the song in their football coverage. The song description: “The college football-themed track brings together all elements of college gameday — tailgate parties, big band, big plays, fun and sun — with a rockin’ country music track, delivering over-the-top energy centered on the college football gameday atmosphere!”

• George Strait is still a man of mystery, despite his 30-year career.

• The Chet Atkins Hall of Fame exhibit conjures up memories for longtime friend and Certified Guitar Player Steve Wariner.

• Taylor Swift is Wonderstruck. She also ruined someone’s wedding. Sort of. Swift is also the cover girl of the new issue of Nashville LifeStyles, where she proclaims her love for Target and Lori McKenna. Why, she’s just like us!

• The Tennessean reveals some fascinating details on the fight going on behind the scenes about the copyright legalities of some of your favorite songs.

• Craig Shelburne lists ten tracks you should be listening to right now and has included Joe Ely, Dolly Parton, Billy Ray Cyrus, Vince Gill and Town Mountain among others.

• Darius Rucker is all set to headline his first tour as a solo artist.

• Never before has a digital-only country music album been the number one selling record. Until last week. The Pistol Annies’ Hell on Heels became a first.

• Simba Jordan is trying to crack the small fraternity of African American country music stars.

• Mike McKinney of the duo Lucky Mud is as confused as everyone else about how to classify or not classify the genre of Americana music. He coins a new phrase that he thinks covers the genre and calls it “Cluster Folk.”

• Songwriter Billy Falcon has written numerous songs for other artists including Trace Adkins, Sherrie Austin and Stevie Nicks, among others. Now a new generation of Falcon brood will be tackling the music business. His daughter Rose Falcon was just signed to Show Dog- Universal.

• It’s worth the time to read this terrifically funny bio on The Cleverlys over at The AcoustiCana Journal.

• Gibson Guitars comes out swinging against the feds.

• Zac Brown talks about the influence that Charlie Daniels has had on his career.

• Although Kylie Morgan’s song about bullying came out a couple months back, “It Matters What We Do” went somewhat under the radar. The song tells the story of Irish-born 15 year old Phoebe Prince who committed suicide in Massachusetts after being bullied relentlessly.  The video is here.

• Chris Thompson of The Eli Young Band is getting hitched.

• The Jayhawks are releasing a new album and DVD called Mockingbird Time on 9/20 off of the Rounder Records label.

• Kenny Loggins, Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman make up The Blue Sky Riders. Their first EP called Live at the Rutledge came out this past week.

• The Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards, a collection of the best of Native American singer/songwriters/musicians, had the 2011 nominees come out and several Americana/roots performers were nominated included Kristi Lane Sinclair and Yvonne St. Germaine. All the music videos of the Entertainer of the Year nominees can be found here.

• Lady Antebellum performed on David Letterman’s show. The trio also recently covered Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” in concert.

• Faith Hill’s got a new Sunday Night Football song set to the tune of Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You.”

• The Dixie Chicks’ biggest fan and operator of their fan site, Nancy Atkins, passed away from cancer.

• New album releases:

Tom Russell – Mesabi

Hank3 – Ghost to a Ghost/Gutter Town, Cattle Callin’

George Strait – Here for a Good Time

Slaid Cleaves – Sorrow and Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge

Various Artists – Listen to Me: Buddy Holly