Carrie Underwood receives six ACM Award nominations

Carrie Underwood is already having a great week, and it's only Tuesday. The nominees for the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards were announced this morning on CBS's The Early Show, which revealed that Carrie nabbed six noms in all, tying Miranda Lambert and just one shy of Lady Antebellum. An interesting tidbit is that Carrie is the only Idol-related artist to be nominated for any awards.

This comes one day after Carrie made her guest appearance on the "Hook" episode of CBS's sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

Below are the categories that Carrie has a chance to be victorious in (keep in mind - the "sixth" nomination is Carrie's role as a producer on "Cowboy Casanova" in addition to being the song's artist):

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Kenny Chesney
Toby Keith
Brad Paisley
George Strait
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Keith Urban
Zac Brown Band

TOP FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Miranda Lambert
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Lee Ann Womack

ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company(s)]
American Saturday Night - Brad Paisley (Arista Nashville)
Produced by: Chris DuBois, Frank Rogers
Lady Antebellum - Lady Antebellum (Capitol Records Nashville)
Produced by: Victoria Shaw, Paul Worley
Play On - Carrie Underwood (19/Arista Nashville)
Produced by: Mark Bright
"Quitter" Produced by Max Martin & Shellback for Maratone Productions and Mark Bright
Revolution - Miranda Lambert (Columbia Nashville)
Produced by: Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke
The Foundation - Zac Brown Band (Southern Ground / Bigger Picture / Atlantic)
Produced by: Keith Stegall, Zac Brown

SONG OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Composer(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]
Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood
Composers: Mike Elizondo, Brett James, Carrie Underwood
Publishers: Brett James Cornelius Music (ASCAP), Carrie Okie Music (BMI), Rincon Ave Music
(ASCAP), Stage Three Songs (ASCAP)
Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
Composers: Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott
Publishers: EMI Foray Music (BMI), Darth Buddha (ASCAP), Dwhaywood Music (BMI), Hillary Dawn Publishing (SESAC), Radiobullets Publishing (BMI), Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI), Year Of The Dog Music (ASCAP)
People Are Crazy - Billy Currington
Composers: Bobby Braddock, Troy Jones
Publishers: Crozier Music Enterprises LLC (BMI), Mighty Nice Music (BMI), Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Tiltawhirl Music (BMI)
White Liar - Miranda Lambert
Composers: Natalie Hemby, Miranda Lambert
Publishers: Pink Dog Publishing (BMI), Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Tiltawhirl Music (BMI)
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift
Composers: Liz Rose, Taylor Swift
Publishers: Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Taylor Swift Music (BMI)

VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company] (Off Camera Award)
Hillbilly Bone - Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins (Reprise Records / Warner Music Nashville)
Producer: Scott Hendricks
Honky Tonk Stomp - Brooks & Dunn featuring Billy Gibbons (Arista Nashville)
Producer: Ronnie Dunn, Terry McBride
I Told You So - Carrie Underwood featuring Randy Travis (19/Arista Nashville)
Producer: Mark Bright
I'm Alive - Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews (Blue Chair/BNA)
Produced by: Buddy Cannon, Kenny Chesney
Seeing Stars - Jack Ingram featuring Patty Griffin (Big Machine Records)
Produced by: Jack Ingram, Jeremy Stover

Las Vegas' MGM Grand will be the setting for the ACMs, which will be televised live on CBS on Sun., April 18 at 8 p.m.

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Clips of Carrie Underwood starring on 'How I Met Your Mother' released

The buzz just keeps building on Carrie Underwood's much anticipated guest appearance on CBS's hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother airs on Monday. Today, three snippets from the episode featuring Carrie were made public, which show her to be showing off her assets in her sitcom acting debut. Watch one of the clips below:

 

A commercial also went into rotation highlighting the episode, so if you're planning on watching CBS over the next week, be sure to keep an eye out for it. Carrie's episode of How I Met Your Mother, titled "Hooked," will air on Mon., March 1 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

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'Idol' odds 'n ends: Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young join the cast of 'Hair'

The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:

>It was revealed this week that Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young will be members of the new cast taking over the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hair starting Tues., March 9. According to an article on NYTimes.com:

Mr. Young, who made his Broadway debut in 2008 as Kenickie in the last revival of “Grease,” had been previously reported as in negotiations to play the merry-making hippie in “Hair.” (Berger does more audience crowd work than anyone else in the production.)

Ms. DeGarmo, who has been rumored for awhile as in line for a role in “Hair,” had her Broadway debut in 2006 as the character Penny Pingleton in the musical “Hairspary."

BroadwayWorld.com also came up with video of the new cast rehearsing "Let the Sun Shine In," which can be viewed below:



The show calls the Al Hirschfield Theater home. No word yet on when Diana's and Ace's engagements will run up.

>Phil Stacey yesterday announced he would be joining Natalie Grant and Britt Nicole on this spring's "Love Revolution" tour. Per his official Web site:

Phil is very exciting to announce that he is hitting the road with Natalie Grant and Britt Nicole this Spring on the Love Revolution Tour. Make sure to check out his tour dates and mark your calendars for all the fun! Check back regularly because more dates are going to be added soon.

The tour will kick off on Sat., March 20, at Grace Chapel in Mason, Ohio, according to a schedule on Grant's official Web site.

>Carrie Underwood really has been adding lines to her resume under her "filmography" section, as she was spotted filming the biopic Soul Surfer earlier this week. Carrie will be playing Per Carrie's official Web site:

The inspirational film is based on the autobiography of 19-year-old champion surfer Bethany Hamilton, who, for over six years, has defied all odds to compete and win professional championships after losing her arm in a shark attack at age thirteen.

Below is video of Carrie filming the other day in Hawaii:


Carrie will played the role of Sarah Hill, a church youth group leader, and the film will feature actors like AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt. This comes after shots of Carrie on the set of CBS's How I Met Your Mother have been steadily released to the public during her guest appearance on the episode "Hooked," which will air Mon., March 1.

>For the first time in six years, an episode of Idol did not finish first in its time slot, as Wednesday's Top 24 reveal finished behind NBC's broadcast of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. The Olympics garnered a 9.0 with 30.07 million viewers in the 9 p.m. hour, while Idol was only able to manage a 6.9 with 18.42 million viewers. This came one day after the Olympics' 5.1 and 19.74 million viewers weren't enough to pass Idol's 9.1 and 24.64 million viewers.

>Ayla Brown had a busy week in terms of nationally televised appearances, as she sat down with Joy Behar and even performed her single "Pick It Up" on FOX & Friends. One of the more interesting appearances was her interview on ABC News NOW's What's the Buzz? on Monday, where she talked about a challenge she and her dad made to President Obama. Watch the interview below:



The offer has been picked up far and wide throughout the media, including an article that showed up on the Politico on Tuesday. Stay tuned to see if anything ever materializes from this.

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'Idol' odds 'n ends: Blake Lewis unveils new single choice

The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:

>Blake Lewis revealed his new single choice, "Heartbreak on Vinyl," and sent a link for fans to listen to a remix of the song by LA Riots in an e-mail sent to fans. In the e-mail, Blake also mentioned a fan-made video that made Yahoo!'s Top 10 Most Awesome Music Videos of 2009, which can be viewed below:

In addition to the LA Riots remix, the single will include remixes by Chew Fu and Bimbo Jones and will be available digitally on Tues., Jan. 19.

>Carrie Underwood will take a stab at acting in her first guest appearance on a CBS sitcom when she stars in an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Per The LA Times:

Underwood will make her acting debut on the CBS sitcom as a love interest for Ted (Josh Radnor), CBS confirmed. Her character, Tiffany, is an enigmatic pharmaceutical sales rep.

The newly-engaged Carrie recently took her comedy skills on a test drive on her variety special that aired on FOX last month. The episode will air sometime in March.

>Katharine McPhee's latest stop in support of her sophomore album Unbroken was on NBC's Today Show, which aired yesterday. Kat spoke with co-host Hoda Kotb and America's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan. Watch the segment below:



After fending off the usual comments about her "new" (and by "new" it's really 8-9 months-old) hairstyle, Kat spoke about why she decided to name her album Unbroken and what was behind her covering the quirky song "Brand New Key."

>Two Idol alums launched new blogs this week. Kimberly Caldwell recently tweeted about her new blog, which basically seems to be a Twitter feed on her site:

Check out my blog: kimberlycaldwell.tumblr.com Good news about the pup! 3:21 PM Jan 7th from Echofon

Meanwhile, Felicia Barton similarly revealed her new blog, as she announced via her own Twitter account:

thanks to everyone that is following me on my new blog!..I am really excited about it!!!... www.followingfelicia.blogspot.com 11:11 PM Jan 7th from web

>Since CBS failed to broadcast David Archuleta's halftime performance at the Brut Sun Bowl in San Antonio, Tex., on Thurs., Dec. 31. Watch him perform "Don't Stop Believin'" below:



David also sang his songs "Crush" and "Zero Gravity" during the halftime set. Prior to halftime he also sang "God Bless America."

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