Veteran Garth Brooks is shooting for his sixth entertainer of the year award, and his third straight since coming out of retirement. He’s competing with four other men in the category: Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton and Urban.
Urban, a 10-time CMA award winner, was also nominated for male vocalist and single and music video of the year for “Blue Ain’t Your Color.” He can even get an extra trophy because he’s also listed as a producer for the song.
Little Big Town earned nominations for single and video of the year for “Better Man,” album of the year for “The Breaker” and vocal group of the year.
Besides Lambert, female vocalist nominees were Kelsea Ballerini, Reba McEntire, Maren Morris and Carrie Underwood. Along with Urban, male vocalist nominees were Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Thomas Rhett and Chris Stapleton.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit earned an album of the year nomination for “The Nashville Sound,” unusual for an artist generally pegged in the Americana category.
Brad Paisley and Underwood will host the awards show.
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