Country stars Ashley McBryde, Jimmie Allen, Midland and Morgan Wallen react to CMA nominations

(28 Aug 2019) ASHLEY MCBRYDE, JIMMIE ALLEN, MIDLAND AND MORGAN WALLEN REACT TO CMA NOMINATIONS
The 2019 CMA nominations were announced today (28 AUGUST 2019) on ABC's "Good Morning America" by Ashley McBryde and Jimmie Allen. One-half of the announcement duo was surprised hearing her name called.
"It's not like awards aren't something we try to earn, you know? It's not like you're chasing it and that's why you're doing what you do," said McBryde, who's nominated for "Best New Artist." "But when your peers recognize you—when your fans and your peers recognize you and say, 'hey you're doing a good job'—that's just the best feeling in the world."
While McBryde and Allen announced the major category nominees, Midland and Morgan Wallen continued announcement duties with a livesteam by Billboard. Both acts are also nominated in the "Best New Artist" category.
"It's incredible. CMA nominations, it's a huge, huge thing in country music. We came out with two, somehow," said Midland's Jess Carson. "(We're) up against Morgan Wallen over there, our good buddy, so it's gonna be fun but stiff competition."
This year's show will include some new, but extremely recognizable faces, as longtime host Brad Paisley will be replaced with legends Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire, who will guest host the show with Paisley's long-time partner, Carrie Underwood.
Allen believes an all-female hosting trio is good progress as the CMA puts more effort into acknowledging their female fan base.
"it's great to see Dolly, we got Reba, we got Carrie this year hosting. And then for new artists of the year for CMAs, you've got two females: Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde. I think it's great," said Allen. "I think there are so many young girls that need to hear what these ladies have to say, and I'm like, how can we tell the next generation of ladies, 'You can be a country artist? You can be a country artist.' But if we never have any representation of females, how do they see that? So I think it's great that CMA purposely made this attempt to say, 'You know what? We need more women out here.' And it's good to see."
Wallen, a Tennessee native who says he grew up going to Dollywood, a theme park jointly-owned by Patron, agrees.
"I've always put a lady on the front of the tour. I think it's important to do that, to show them respect because sometimes they don't get the respect they deserve. So we've been trying to do that ever since we've really started. So I'm glad to see everybody's kind of joining in."
The 2019 CMA Awards will take place at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on 13 NOVEMBER on ABC, with a theme of celebrating legendary women in country music.
The list of 2019 CMA nominations are as follows:
Entertainer of the Year
Garth Brooks
Eric Church
Chris Stapleton
Carrie Underwood
Keith Urban
Single of the Year
"Burning Man" – Dierks Bentley Feat. Brothers Osborne
Producers: Ross Copperman, Jon Randall, Arturo Buenahora, Jr.
Mix Engineer: F. Reid Shippen
"Girl" – Maren Morris
Producer: Greg Kurstin
Mix Engineer: Greg Kurstin
"God's Country" – Blake Shelton
Producer: Scott Hendricks
Mix Engineer: Justin Niebank
"Millionaire" – Chris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton
Mix Engineer: Vance Powell
"Speechless" – Dan + Shay
Producers: Dan Smyers, Scott Hendricks
Mix Engineer: Jeff Juliano
Album of the Year
Center Point Road – Thomas Rhett
Producers: Dann Huff, Jesse Frasure, Thomas Rhett, Julian Bunetta, The Stereotypes, Cleve Wilson
Cry Pretty – Carrie Underwood
Song of the Year

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