Country Grammys
Best Country Solo Performance
Nominees: “Give Me Back My Hometown” – Eric Church, “Invisible” – Hunter Hayes, “Automatic” – Miranda Lambert, “Something in the Water” – Carrie Underwood, “Cop Car” – Keith Urban
Lisa Pikaard: I want to give this award to Keith or Carrie but Carrie’s song came out too late and Keith has such better songs than this. The message and emotion behind “Invisible” makes me give this to Hunter Hayes. His past experiences with bullying truly emotionally charges this song and it is beautiful. If “Something in the Water” came out sooner, it would dethrone Hayes but it’s just too new.
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
Nominees: “Gentle on My Mind” – The Band Perry, “Somethin’ Bad” – Miranda Lambert with Carrie Underwood, “Day Drinking” – Little Big Town, “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s – Tim McGraw feat. Faith Hill, “Raise ‘Em Up” – Keith Urban feat. Eric Church
Lisa Pikaard: How do I pick just one?! I own every one of these songs. I am so torn I don’t even know what to do. Alright, I would say not “Gentle on My Mind.” I don’t think that “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” should count as a duo because Faith Hill isn’t really “featured” on it. She barely factors on the track. If she wasn’t McGraw’s wife, she would just be another backup singer on the track. “Day Drinking” is a song about, well, day drinking. You can’t go wrong with a happy song like that but the girl power on “Somethin’ Bad” knocks “Day Drinking” out. Even though Carrie and Miranda are two incredibly talented females, I am going to have to go with “Raise ‘Em Up.” Eric Church and Keith Urban sound as though they’ve been playing together forever and the song’s positivity outweighs the Bonnie and Clyde story that is “Somethin’ Bad.”
Best Country Song
Nominees: “American Kids” – Kenny Chesney (Rodney Clawson, Luke Laird & Shane McAnally, songwriters)
“Automatic” – Miranda Lambert (Nicolle Galyon, Natalie Hemby & Miranda Lambert, songwriters)
“Give Me Back My Hometown” – Eric Church (Eric Church & Luke Laird, songwriters)
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell (Glen Campbell & Julian Raymond , songwriters)
“Meanwhile Back at Mama’s”- Tim McGraw f./Faith Hill (Tom Douglas, Jaren Johnston & Jeffrey Steele, songwriters)
Lisa Pikaard: “Automatic” deserves this award. The song is about nostalgia and remembering how thing were before everything was automatic. It’s about living life and enjoying every moment as opposed to rushing through it. Lambert’s vocals take their time as well building throughout the song. Who knew someone so emotional and deep could be married to someone (Blake Shelton) who spends most of his time tweeting about how he’s probably drunk.
Bill Bodkin: I don’t know country, but I do know the Grammys. This award goes to Glenn Campbell’s final single from his final album.
Best Country Album
Nominees: Riser – Dierks Bentley, The Outsiders – Eric Church, 12 Stories – Brandy Clark, Platinum – Miranda Lambert, The Way I’m Livin’ – Lee Ann Womack
Lisa Pikaard: Miranda will win this award. This album is just layered with hit singles and she has earned this Grammy. Although she has won one Grammy in her past, this category seems to have eluded her. This is the third time she’s being nominated for the Best Country Album and it’s about time she pulled in a win.
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