May 19 News Bytes

If you missed the ACM Awards last night, GAC will re-run the awards show on June 4 and June 5.  I’m going to watch to see the prank played on Kellie Pickler–and to watch the other flubs.  Ratings were better than last year, up 2.4 million to a total of 11.7 million viewers.

Also, Rascal Flatts apparently tried to bribe fans to vote for them for Entertainer of the Year:
From CMT.com:
“To promote participation among its fan base, Rascal Flatts last week offered a free MP3 download — a previously unreleased live version of “Winner at a Losing Game” — to those voting for the band in the entertainer category. Although Rascal Flatts did not violate any of the ACM’s guidelines, the offer was removed from the group’s Web site after just one day. According to The Tennessean newspaper, the ACM identified those online votes and did not count them in the final tally.”

TBS is now running the first season of the Bill Engvall show on Mondays at 11pm ET in anticipation of the second season premiere on June 12.  If you didn’t watch the first season, now’s a great time to catch up on a fantastic show.

New Singles This Week
Ashton Shepherd “Sounds So Good” (MCA Nashville)
Craig Morgan  “Love Remembers” (BNA)
Sugarland  “All I Want To Do” (Mercury)
Taylor Swift “Should’ve Said No” (Big Machine)

New Albums This Week
Julianne Hough, Julianne Hough (MCA)

Broken Bow has signed Randy Owen.  You can expect a single in the next month or so.

Kenny Chesney Is…Right!

Here’s what Kenny said backstage last night:

“I’ve got to choose my words wisely here. I think it’s important to know that I do think the fans should be a part of this awards show. I really do. But I’m probably one of the guys in the audience that didn’t think it should be for entertainer of the year.

“The entertainer of the year trophy is supposed to represent heart and passion and an amazing amount of sacrifice, commitment and focus. That’s the way Garth [Brooks] won it four times. That’s the way I won it. That’s the way [George] Strait won it … and Reba [McEntire] and Alabama all those years.”

“But I don’t think it’s right that they picked the one award that means the most, that all the artists sacrifice the most for.” He said they changed the category “into a sweepstakes to see who can push people’s buttons the hardest on the Internet. I don’t think that’s right, really.

“I think it’s a complete disrespect of the artist — what they’ve lowered us to, to get entertainer of the year. … Because of that, it really diminishes the integrity of the music that we’re making and how much work goes into it. That’s what really matters. That’s what entertainer of the year really is. It’s not about flying somebody to some shows and giving free songs away — and giving this and that — and seeing how hard you can push people’s buttons on the Internet. As much as I love the ACMs and what they’ve done for my life, that’s how I really feel about it.. And I can say that because I won tonight.”

I agree with Kenny.  Fans shouldn’t be allowed to vote for the biggest award of the entire show.  When fans hear they can influence a big award like this, they go EVERYWHERE on the internet–Facebook, YouTube, blogs–to scream at people to vote for their favorite artist for Entertainer of the Year, and people go overboard creating multiple email accounts to vote multiple times.  They’re obsessed with getting their artist to win.  It’s not a fair vote.  They could vote for top new male and top new female vocalist.  Those awards are small potatoes compared with Entertainer of the Year.  I Googled “vote for ____” and in the blank I inserted each nominee’s name.  Here are the results:

Kenny Chesney: 591
Brad Paisley: 213
George Strait: 213
Keith Urban: 1,160
Rascal Flatts: 671