This one was a tough one for me. Another one where I've changed my mind multiple time. But as evidenced by the existence of this post, I've finally made my decision.
First the nominees:
Lee Brice
Brantley Gilbert
Hunter Hayes
Love and Theft
Thompson Square
And my pick for CMA New Artist of the Year?
Lee Brice.
If you've been reading this series, you know the drill by now. I'm going to talk a little bit about each of the other nominees before I explain why I went with Lee.
Starting with Brantley Gilbert, who has had a pretty solid few years. First, scoring two cuts on Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party album. Two cuts that of course became very big singles for everyone involved and came with the added benefit of getting Brantley's name out there. He'd had a very loyal following before that, but those cuts made him known among the general country fans who hadn't heard of him previously. As an artist, he has two #1's under if his belt. Namely "Country Must Be Country Wide" and "You Don't Know Her Like I Do". He's just released a new single "More Than Miles" so we'll see how that does for him. Meanwhile, he's currently in the midst of his first tour as a headliner and from everything I've been seeing about it, it will no doubt be a big success. Brantley has one of the most passionate fan bases I've ever seen - I've witnessed it live and still can't believe the response he gets. That all said, I wonder about his odds at the CMAs. He certainly can't be counted out, but he may prove to be a little too rough around the edges for the CMA voters.
Hunter Hayes. I spent most of my time going back and forth between Hunter and Lee for my final pick here. This was after finally managing to rule out a couple of the others. I came thisclose to picking Hunter and I'll be perfectly happy if he wins this. Hunter seems to be on a roll lately. What with "Wanted" going all the way to #1 and being certified platinum. He was recently inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame - something that I wasn't aware of until today. At 21 years old, Hunter is the youngest person to ever be inducted. Right now Hunter is on the road opening up for Carrie Underwood on her Blown Away tour. A gig that surely isn't going to hurt him any. Aside from all of that, Hunter is the only nominee to not only have written or co-written every single song on his debut album, but he also played every single instrument on the CD. He sings every vocal part and even co-produced it. Pretty impressive, I'd say. I saw him at the Grand Ole Opry a few months ago and the response he got was just incredible. I've never seen that many people head to the front of the stage for an artist there before! This guy is very talented and there's no telling what he's going to do. It's my belief that we've just seen the tip of the iceberg of what he's capable of.
Love and Theft. I have to admit that I was pretty sad when it was first announced that they were changing from a trio into a duo, but it would appear that that move was a good one. Their career is really starting to take off and "Angel Eyes" was one of the biggest songs put out by any duo this year. I'd say they have a fair shot of winning Duo of the Year, but that's another post all together. I've had the pleasure of seeing them live more than once and they always put on a good show. I really like these guys and yeah, I'd have no problems with them taking this one.
Thompson Square. Oh Thompson Square. It pained me to eliminate them from my top two picks because I love them. They, along with Love and Theft, have added some much needed new blood to country music duos. There just aren't enough of them for my liking, so I love that we have new duos coming out and doing as well as they're doing. Thompson Square has gotten to do some big tours in the past couple of years. The most recent being Lady Antebellum. And they'll be joining Luke Bryan on his first headlining tour next year, which is bound to be huge. If Luke's rising popularity is any indication. This is such a great tour for Thompson Square to be on and I'm very happy for them. Them and fellow opening act Florida Georgia Line. This tour should do big things for everyone involved. Getting back to Thompson Square, they had a top twenty single this year with "Glass" and are fixing to release the debut single from their upcoming new album on the 30th of this month. You can go hear a preview of the song of their website, http://www.thompsonsquare.com/ ,if you are so inclined. I have a good feeling about this one; hope it does well for them.
So there's the other nominees and yes, it's a tough category this year. I really feel like I could make an argument for why any of them deserve to win and it's going to be interesting to see who gets it. But I didn't pick any of them. I went with Lee. Wanna know why? Keep reading.
Well first there's the voice. Lee has one of the biggest voices in country music today. In fact, I think he's one of the best male vocalists we have right now. If male vocalist of the year was judged by the voice and voice alone, he'd be a contender for sure. And the thing about Lee, is that you don't realize just how huge his voice is until you see him live. As good as he sounds on his records and in his videos, you really need to see him live to get it. There's so much power in his voice, but he knows how to control it. I could actually see him able to hold his own in a Broadway musical - not to say that that's something he has any interest in; I just think he could pull it off and do it well. He has the vocal ability and he knows how to make you really feel whatever he's singing about.
Another reason I feel he could do Broadway? And another reason why I feel he deserves New Artist? Stage presence. He has a lot of it. I've seen him live twice and he was great both times. The most recent time he pretty much just exploded onto the stage; he's one of those performers who commands your attention when he's on stage. He does it better than some headliners I've seen and that's saying something. And no, I won't say who. If I came up with a list of people everyone should see live at least once, I'd put him on it. He's that good.
So he has a great voice and he's a great performer. What else? He's also a great songwriter. He writes a good amount of his own songs, but he's also written songs for other artists. Such as "More Than a Memory" sung by Garth Brooks and "Crazy Girl" sung by Eli Young Band the latter of which was the top selling country single of 2011. Lee also co-wrote "Shinin' On Me" and "Only God Could Love You More" with Jerrod Niemann, the first two singles off of Jerrod's Free the Music album. The second of which happens to be my favorite song on the CD.
It's kind of funny to think of Lee Brice as a new artist when he's been around for a few years. But then again, he didn't really start getting popular until relatively recently. His nomination makes total sense and I think it's more than well deserved. Each of the nominees has worked and worked hard to get to where they are and I certainly don't want to take anything away from any of the others. This is a very strong category this year. As I said, I'd be fine with just about anyone winning. But I'd especially love to see Lee get this one. He's kind of flown under the radar to a certain extent and it's time to put him more in the spotlight.
And it doesn't hurt that as of this moment, he's the only one to put out campaign videos to try and win some votes. Check them out here. Personality, Lee's got that too.
So that's my pick for New Artist of the Year. Next up in this series: my pick for Vocal Group. A pick that I'm sure will surprise absolutely no one who knows me. I'm going to be focusing on getting all my picks done, since the awards are coming up on the 1st and I want to get everything up beforehand. But there's still some other things in the works. So be on the lookout.
Thank you, as always, for reading!
First the nominees:
Lee Brice
Brantley Gilbert
Hunter Hayes
Love and Theft
Thompson Square
And my pick for CMA New Artist of the Year?
Lee Brice.
If you've been reading this series, you know the drill by now. I'm going to talk a little bit about each of the other nominees before I explain why I went with Lee.
Starting with Brantley Gilbert, who has had a pretty solid few years. First, scoring two cuts on Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party album. Two cuts that of course became very big singles for everyone involved and came with the added benefit of getting Brantley's name out there. He'd had a very loyal following before that, but those cuts made him known among the general country fans who hadn't heard of him previously. As an artist, he has two #1's under if his belt. Namely "Country Must Be Country Wide" and "You Don't Know Her Like I Do". He's just released a new single "More Than Miles" so we'll see how that does for him. Meanwhile, he's currently in the midst of his first tour as a headliner and from everything I've been seeing about it, it will no doubt be a big success. Brantley has one of the most passionate fan bases I've ever seen - I've witnessed it live and still can't believe the response he gets. That all said, I wonder about his odds at the CMAs. He certainly can't be counted out, but he may prove to be a little too rough around the edges for the CMA voters.
Hunter Hayes. I spent most of my time going back and forth between Hunter and Lee for my final pick here. This was after finally managing to rule out a couple of the others. I came thisclose to picking Hunter and I'll be perfectly happy if he wins this. Hunter seems to be on a roll lately. What with "Wanted" going all the way to #1 and being certified platinum. He was recently inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame - something that I wasn't aware of until today. At 21 years old, Hunter is the youngest person to ever be inducted. Right now Hunter is on the road opening up for Carrie Underwood on her Blown Away tour. A gig that surely isn't going to hurt him any. Aside from all of that, Hunter is the only nominee to not only have written or co-written every single song on his debut album, but he also played every single instrument on the CD. He sings every vocal part and even co-produced it. Pretty impressive, I'd say. I saw him at the Grand Ole Opry a few months ago and the response he got was just incredible. I've never seen that many people head to the front of the stage for an artist there before! This guy is very talented and there's no telling what he's going to do. It's my belief that we've just seen the tip of the iceberg of what he's capable of.
Love and Theft. I have to admit that I was pretty sad when it was first announced that they were changing from a trio into a duo, but it would appear that that move was a good one. Their career is really starting to take off and "Angel Eyes" was one of the biggest songs put out by any duo this year. I'd say they have a fair shot of winning Duo of the Year, but that's another post all together. I've had the pleasure of seeing them live more than once and they always put on a good show. I really like these guys and yeah, I'd have no problems with them taking this one.
Thompson Square. Oh Thompson Square. It pained me to eliminate them from my top two picks because I love them. They, along with Love and Theft, have added some much needed new blood to country music duos. There just aren't enough of them for my liking, so I love that we have new duos coming out and doing as well as they're doing. Thompson Square has gotten to do some big tours in the past couple of years. The most recent being Lady Antebellum. And they'll be joining Luke Bryan on his first headlining tour next year, which is bound to be huge. If Luke's rising popularity is any indication. This is such a great tour for Thompson Square to be on and I'm very happy for them. Them and fellow opening act Florida Georgia Line. This tour should do big things for everyone involved. Getting back to Thompson Square, they had a top twenty single this year with "Glass" and are fixing to release the debut single from their upcoming new album on the 30th of this month. You can go hear a preview of the song of their website, http://www.thompsonsquare.com/ ,if you are so inclined. I have a good feeling about this one; hope it does well for them.
So there's the other nominees and yes, it's a tough category this year. I really feel like I could make an argument for why any of them deserve to win and it's going to be interesting to see who gets it. But I didn't pick any of them. I went with Lee. Wanna know why? Keep reading.
Well first there's the voice. Lee has one of the biggest voices in country music today. In fact, I think he's one of the best male vocalists we have right now. If male vocalist of the year was judged by the voice and voice alone, he'd be a contender for sure. And the thing about Lee, is that you don't realize just how huge his voice is until you see him live. As good as he sounds on his records and in his videos, you really need to see him live to get it. There's so much power in his voice, but he knows how to control it. I could actually see him able to hold his own in a Broadway musical - not to say that that's something he has any interest in; I just think he could pull it off and do it well. He has the vocal ability and he knows how to make you really feel whatever he's singing about.
Another reason I feel he could do Broadway? And another reason why I feel he deserves New Artist? Stage presence. He has a lot of it. I've seen him live twice and he was great both times. The most recent time he pretty much just exploded onto the stage; he's one of those performers who commands your attention when he's on stage. He does it better than some headliners I've seen and that's saying something. And no, I won't say who. If I came up with a list of people everyone should see live at least once, I'd put him on it. He's that good.
So he has a great voice and he's a great performer. What else? He's also a great songwriter. He writes a good amount of his own songs, but he's also written songs for other artists. Such as "More Than a Memory" sung by Garth Brooks and "Crazy Girl" sung by Eli Young Band the latter of which was the top selling country single of 2011. Lee also co-wrote "Shinin' On Me" and "Only God Could Love You More" with Jerrod Niemann, the first two singles off of Jerrod's Free the Music album. The second of which happens to be my favorite song on the CD.
It's kind of funny to think of Lee Brice as a new artist when he's been around for a few years. But then again, he didn't really start getting popular until relatively recently. His nomination makes total sense and I think it's more than well deserved. Each of the nominees has worked and worked hard to get to where they are and I certainly don't want to take anything away from any of the others. This is a very strong category this year. As I said, I'd be fine with just about anyone winning. But I'd especially love to see Lee get this one. He's kind of flown under the radar to a certain extent and it's time to put him more in the spotlight.
And it doesn't hurt that as of this moment, he's the only one to put out campaign videos to try and win some votes. Check them out here. Personality, Lee's got that too.
So that's my pick for New Artist of the Year. Next up in this series: my pick for Vocal Group. A pick that I'm sure will surprise absolutely no one who knows me. I'm going to be focusing on getting all my picks done, since the awards are coming up on the 1st and I want to get everything up beforehand. But there's still some other things in the works. So be on the lookout.
Thank you, as always, for reading!
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