CMT Names Artists of the Year; Keith Urban Receives Nashville Symphony Harmony Award; New Music Videos

• Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood were named as 2012 CMT Artists of the Year.

• Rolling Stone announced their top country albums of 2012 and Kellie Pickler was at the top of the list: “American Idol also-ran Pickler is an unlikely trad-country heroine. But 100 Proof may be the best traditionalist album of the year. Pickler wraps her big, lustrous voice around old-fashioned honky tonk, rollicking road stories and big ballads, all produced with a perfect balance of throwback twang and contemporary sheen.”

• Granger Smith’s alter ego. Earl Dibbles, Jr., shares some of his tips on making this Christmas a merry one.

• PopMatters covered what they believe to be the best country music of the year: “The output of the Nashville industry as a whole was even more cookie-cutter than usual, and there was no real insurgency to speak of from the outside, at least not one doing anything brand-new. It was a somewhat grey landscape overall, which tells us not that there’s nothing going on in the USA that’s worth singing about, but that country-music all too often exists as its own universe, one more interested in recycling stock images (another song about a drinking cold beer with a girl in a truck by the creek?) and peddling simple messages of love, faith, and identity.” Dwight Yoakam took the top spot.

• Zac Brown is being sued for copyright infringement by former employee Kyle Landas after one of Landas’s designs, called the “Unity Tree,” appeared on a Zac Brown Band album cover and other merchandise.

• Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles gave birth to a baby boy. Mom and baby Magnus Hamilton Miller are doing well.

• More baby news: Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott is pregnant.

• The Watkins Family was inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame.

• The good news that Clint Black has new music in the works was offset by the sad news that his father took his own life.

• Bill Carlisle, Jr. of The Carlisles passed away at the age of 70.  His father is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Bill, Jr. toured as part of The Carlisles from the 1960s until his father’s passing.

• Jewel’s Greatest Hits album will include duets with Kelly Clarkson and the Pistol Annies.

• Lee Greenwood participates in ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition tonight. (via press release)

• Also on tonight: the American Country Awards, hosted by Trace Adkins and Kristin Chenoweth, will be broadcast live on Fox starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.

• Former One Flew South member Eddie Bush released an album called Calloused Hands.

• Blake Shelton and Christina Aguilera sung “Just a Fool” together on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

• Brad Paisley will unveil the official music video of his current single, “Southern Comfort Zone,” during a live Ustream broadcast beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern today.

• Keith Urban was given The Nashville Symphony Harmony Award, which is awarded to a person who significantly contributes to the development and culture of Nashville.

• New music videos fresh from Santa’s workshop:

Martina McBride – “Please Come Home for Christmas”

Donna Ulisse – “He is Here”

Gary Allan – “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)”

Don Williams – “Imagine That”

The Band Perry – “Better Dig Two”

Lee Brice – “I Drive Your Truck”

Uncle Kracker – “Nobody’s Sad on a Saturday Night”

Jordan McIntosh – “Walk Away”

Ali Isabella – “A Little Love This Christmas”

Hunter Hayes – “Somebody’s Heartbreak”

Steven Padilla – “Quite Like the Country”

Scotty McCreery – “Christmas Comin’ ‘Round  Again” 

Carter and Carter – “To the Moon and Back” 

Doug Bruce – “Made That Way”

Rachel Brooke – “A Killer’s Dream”

Lindi Ortega – “Cigarettes and Truck Stops”

LoCash Cowboys – “What Time Is It?”