2012 ACMs Thoughts & Predictions Part 3

Up until this point, it's been about the artists themselves and now the focus shifts more to the songs and the people who write them. In country music it's all about the lyrics. Period. So let's take a look at the nominees for Single, Song and Songwriter of the Year:




SINGLE RECORD OF THE YEAR (Award to Artist(s), Producer(s) & Record Label)

"Crazy Girl" – Eli Young Band

"Don’t You Wanna Stay" – Jason Aldean featuring Kelly Clarkson

"Red Solo Cup" – Toby Keith

"Tomorrow" – Chris Young

"You and Tequila" – Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter

I'm going to be completely honest and say that I cannot believe that "Red Solo Cup" is nominated for Single of the Year. There is no way that it deserves to be here and it would make me pretty angry if it won. These are supposed to be the five best singles of the year and this does not qualify in my book. Not even close. "Crazy Girl" was a huge hit that I'm not sure anyone saw coming. "Don't You Wanna Stay" was a huge cross-genre hit that's going to be hard to ignore. "You and Tequila", while a good song, doesn't seem like it has a chance at winning. I'm not sure why that one got nominated, but I'm good with it. If this is a question of what the best written song is, it would have to go to "Tomorrow". I believe that that is what should win and I feel that it has a chance.

I'm going to go with my gut and call it for "Tomorrow", but it won't surprise me if "Don't You Wanna Stay" gets it. In the slightest.

SONG OF THE YEAR (Awards to Composer(s), Publisher(s) & Artist(s))

"Crazy Girl" – Eli Young Band

"Home" – Dierks Bentley

"Just A Kiss" – Lady Antebellum

"Threaten Me With Heaven" – Vince Gill

"You And Tequila" – Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter

This is another category that has me slightly baffled. I don't really have much to say about that, only that I don't feel like these were the five best songs of the year. This is a no contest in terms of what I feel that the best song is. That would be "Home" by Dierks Bentley. That said, "Crazy Girl" and "Just a Kiss" will be hard to beat, especially the latter.

I've said before that I feel like 2012 is going to be the year of Dierks Bentley and I believe that it'll start here. I'm calling this one for "Home".

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR

Rhett Akins

Dallas Davidson

Ben Hayslip

Luke Laird

David Lee Murphy

First, I want to say that this award is apparently not going to be televised and that makes me angry. I love that they have included this category this year, but to not let them accept their awards during the show just seems disrespectful to them. This is one of three awards that will not be televised, the other two being video of the year and vocal event of the year. Aside from maybe the last category, these are people who hardly ever get the recognition they deserve. I'd rather have one or two less performances and see these people get their award. After all, it is an awards show.

Okay, rant over. This is a really tough category. All five of the people nominated have proven themselves to be wonderful songwriters. The first three are known as the Peach Pickers, Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson and Ben Hayslip. Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson were named BMI's country songwriters of the year while Ben Hayslip was named ASCAP's songwriter of the year, all for 2011. Honors that are pretty hard to ignore. These three basically dominated last year and will be hard to beat.

Focusing on the other two for a second, you have Luke Laird who co-wrote "You" (Chris Young), "Baggage Claim" (Miranda Lambert) and "A Little Bit Stronger (Sara Evans) to name some examples from this past year. David Lee Murphy has written a ton of songs including "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not" (Thompson Square), "Big Green Tractor" (Jason Aldean) and "The More I Drink" (Blake Shelton). Both are tough competitors in this category.

But that said, 2011 belonged to the Peach Pickers. It's hard to pick a winner out of the three, but I'm going to call it for Dallas Davidson.