Michael Caulfield/WireImage.comIt may be a new year, but it's more or less the same old song for the Country Music Assn. Awards—at least as far as their nominees are concerned.
Which is good news for perennial honky-tonk favorites Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson, each of whom scored a leading three nods apiece, including Album of the Year, as the first round of nominations for the 2008 CMAs were announced this morning on Good Morning America.
Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts were on hand to reveal the nominees for the five biggest categories of the show, and, as tends to happen in such situations, found themselves on the receiving end of their own announcement.
"I can't believe it," Swift said after being named among the nominees for Female Vocalist of the Year. "I'm having a really good morning."
Make that year.
Joining the newest Jonas Brother love interest in the category are Nashville veterans Underwood, Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert and Martina McBride.
As for their Y-chromosomed brethren, the pool for Male Vocalist of the Year includes Chesney, Jackson, George Strait, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley.
Swap Jackson for Sugarland and the same group vies for the night's top honor, Entertainer of the Year, a category that has been dominated by Chesney for three of the past four years.
Up for Best Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Emerson Drive and a little group called the Eagles.
Te night's other top honor, Album of the Year, is going to be a battle of the heavyweights.
Underwood's Carnival Ride, Chesney's Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates, Jackson's Good Time, Strait's Troubadour and Brooks & Dunn's Cowboy Town will battle it out for the prize.
The remainder of the nominees will be announced on CMT later this morning. The 2008 CMAs take place in Nashville Nov. 12 and air on ABC.