Vince Gill Nominated For Country Entertainer Of Year

Vince Gill, already the leading Country Music Awards winner with 15 statuettes, added another seven nominations Tuesday, including entertainer and male vocalist of the year.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old country sensation LeeAnn Rimes becomes CMA’s youngest nominee in a year that may otherwise go down as one of the most predictable and mundane among recent CMA nominations.

Gill will head to the CMA roundup at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on Oct. 2, where he will have a showdown with five-time winner George Strait and four-time winners Brooks & Dunn. Both of the latter acts earned five nominations this year including entertainer of the year, where they will also compete with faves Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson.

Finalists:

Entertainer of the Year Brooks & Dunn, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, George Strait

Female Vocalist of the Year Faith Hill, Patty Loveless, Martina McBride, Pam Tillis, Shania Twain

Male Vocalist of the Year Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Collin Raye, George Strait, Bryan White

Single of the Year (for singer) “Blue,” LeAnn Rimes; “Check Yes or No,” George Strait; “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” Vince Gill; “My Maria,” Brooks & Dunn; “Time Marches On,” Tracy Lawrence

Album of the Year “Blue Clear Sky,” George Strait; “Borderline,” Brooks & Dunn; “High Lonesome Sound,” Vince Gill; “The Trouble With the Truth,” Patty Loveless; “Wild Angels,” Martina McBride

Horizon Award Terri Clark, Wade Hayes, LeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain, Bryan White

Vocal Group of the Year Alabama, BlackHawk, Diamond Rio, The Mavericks, Sawyer Brown

Vocal Duo of the Year Baker & Myers, Bellamy Brothers, Brooks & Dunn, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, John & Audrey Wiggins

Song of the Year (for songwriter) “Any Man of Mine,” Shania Twain, R.J. Lange; “Check Yes or No,” Danny M. Wells, Dana Hunt Oglesby; “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” Vince Gill; “Keeper of the Stars,” Dickey Lee, Karen Staley, Danny Mayo; “Time Marches On,” Bobby Braddock

Vocal Event of the Year Dolly Parton and Vince Gill, “I Will Always Love You”; George Jones and Tammy Wynette, “One”; Jeff Foxworthy and Alan Jackson, “Redneck Games”; Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt, “Honky Tonkin’s What I Do Best”; Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Linda Davis, “On My Own”

Musician of the Year Eddie Bayers, drums; Paul Franklin, steel guitar; Brent Mason, guitar; Mark O’Connor, fiddle; Matt Rollings, keyboards