Kenny Chesney leads Academy of Country Music nominations

The Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards nominations were announced on Thursday morning via a digital press conference introduced by Reba McEntire and fearturing announcements by Lionel Richie, Beth Behrs (2 Broke Girls), Nancy O'Dell (Entertainment Tonight) and Michael Ausiello (TVLine.com).

Kenny Chesney lead the way with nine nominations including Entertainer of the Year which he has previously won four times. Jason Aldean was second with six followed by Lady Antebellum with five, Brad Paisley with four and Toby Keith, Taylor Swift (the current Entertainer of the Year), the Eli Young Band and the normally not very country Grace Potter with three.

As happened with the rival CMA Awards, nominations for veteran performers were few and far between in the major categories. Vince Gill and Amy Grant are up for Song of the Year for Threaten Me With Heaven (recorded by Gill) and Alabama is up for Vocal Event of the Year for Old Alabama which they recorded with Brad Paisley.

Where veterans do shine is behind the scenes as producers, engineers and, especially, instrumentalists. They have 23 nominations in those "off-camera" categories, just over 50% of all of the nods.

Two awards, Entertainer of the Year and New Artist of the Year are voted on by the public at the ACM Awards site (VoteACM.com). The first round of New Artist voting has already begun with the second round and Entertainer voting scheduled to start on March 19.

The awards will be aired on CBS on Sunday April 1 at 8 PM and will be hosted once again by Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton.

The nominees with veteran artists in bold:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

Jason Aldean
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Taylor Swift

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Jason Aldean
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Chris Young

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Sara Evans
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR

Love and Theft
Montgomery Gentry
Steel Magnolia
Sugarland
Thompson Square

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

The Band Perry
Eli Young Band
Lady Antebellum
Rascal Flatts
Zac Brown Band

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Chief – Eric Church
Four The Record – Miranda Lambert
Hemingway's Whiskey – Kenny Chesney
My Kinda Party – Jason Aldean
Own The Night – Lady Antebellum

SINGLE RECORD OF THE YEAR

Crazy Girl – Eli Young Band
Don't You Wanna Stay – Jason Aldean With Kelly Clarkson
Red Solo Cup – Toby Keith
Tomorrow – Chris Young
You And Tequila – Kenny Chesney Featuring Grace Potter

SONG OF THE YEAR

Crazy Girl – Eli Young Band - Composers: Lee Brice, Liz Rose
Home – Dierks Bentley - Composers: Brett Beavers, Dierks Bentley, Dan Wilson
Just A Kiss – Lady Antebellum - Composers: Dallas Davidson, Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott
Threaten Me With Heaven – Vince Gill - Composers: Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Dillon O'Brian, Will Owsley
You And Tequila – Kenny Chesney Featuring Grace Potter - Composers: Matraca Berg, Deana Carter

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Homeboy – Eric Church
Just A Kiss – Lady Antebellum
Mean – Taylor Swift
Red Solo Cup – Toby Keith
Tattoos On This Town – Jason Aldean

VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR

Country Boy – Aaron Lewis Featuring George Jones & Charlie Daniels
Don't You Wanna Stay – Jason Aldean With Kelly Clarkson
Old Alabama – Brad Paisley Featuring Alabama
Remind Me – Brad Paisley Duet With Carrie Underwood
You And Tequila – Kenny Chesney Featuring Grace Potter

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR

Rhett Akins
Dallas Davidson
Ben Hayslip
Luke Laird
David Lee Murphy

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Mark Bright
Buddy Cannon
Nathan Chapman
Jay Joyce
Frank Liddell

AUDIO ENGINEER OF THE YEAR

Jeff Balding
Derek Bason
John Kelton
Mills Logan
Justin Niebank

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Mike Brignardello
Kevin "Swine" Grantt
Mark Hill
Michael Rhodes
Jimmy Lee Sloas

PERCUSSIONIST/DRUMMER OF THE YEAR

Matt Chamberlain
Chad Cromwell
Shannon Forrest
Chris McHugh
Greg Morrow

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Glen Duncan
Stuart Duncan
Larry Franklin
Joe Spivey
Jonathan Yudkin

GUITARIST OF THE YEAR

J.T. Corenflos
Kenny Greenberg
Jay Joyce
Brent Mason
Adam Shoenfeld

PIANO/KEYBOARD PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Tony Harrell
John Hobbs
John Jarvis
Charlie Judge
Michael Rojas

SPECIALTY INSTRUMENT(S) PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Eric Darken
Aubrey Haynie
Ilya Toshinsky
John Willis
Jonathan Yudkin

STEEL GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Paul Franklin
Mike Johnson
Greg Leisz
Russ Pahl
Scotty Sanders