Country star Miranda Lambert is now the most nominated female artist over the last 43 years of the CMA Awards after it was announced earlier today in the ABC Morning Talk Show “Good Morning America” that she snagged four more nominations, leading the awards race with a total of 9 nods.

After learning yesterday that her songs “White Liar” and “The House that Built Me” were both vying for the Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year honors, with “White Liar” also included in the Song of the Year race making her initially nominated for five awards, another four categories were added to her nominations: Musical Event of the Year for “Bad Angel” along with Dierks Bentley and Jamey Johnson, and the prestigious honors for Female Vocalist of the Year, Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year for her record “Twang”.

Aside from Lambert, the breakout trio of Lady Antebellum now has a total of six nods after earning two more this morning, and so did New Artist of the Year nominee Zac Brown Band which garnered two more nominations as well, earning a total of four nominations.

The biggest night in country music comes to the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and to the small screen live courtesy of ABC on November 10.  Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley will head the night’s festivities and ceremonies

The Country Thunder concerts next year in Wisconsin and Arizona, according to the event’s website, will be featuring headliners Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban.

The event’s Florence, AZ shows will take place April 14-17.  Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson, Kid Rock and Urban will be the headliners.  On April 15 Lambert will be the headliner with Collin Raye, Jo Dee Messina and Gary Allan providing support.  On April 16 Keith Urban will be the headliner, with support being provided by Kevin Costner & Modern West.  The final Country Thunder night in Arizona will be capped off by Willie Nelson and Kid Rock.

On July 22-25 the festival will be in Twin Lakes, WI.  Opening night will feature Sawyer Brown, John Michael Montgomery and Eric Church.

On July 23, Big Kenny, Jason Aldean and Sugarland, among others, will be featured.

On July 24, Kevin Costner and Miranda Lambert will be the headliners with Kate & Kacey, Gloriana, Collin Raye and Craig Morgan providing support.

On July 25 Chesney will close out the Country Thunder festival, with Luke Bryan, Joe Dee Messina and Billy Currington, among others, providing support.

Country Music Thunder’s website has additional ticket and lineup information available.

It appears that Blake Shelton not only liked it but put a ring to it as well.  Publicists have confirmed that Blake proposed to Miranda Lambert, who has been his girlfriend for five years, on May 9 near Lambert’s Oklahoma home.

Miranda, on her account on Twitter, posted a pic of her and Blake right after he proposed, tweeting finally Blake got a brain,  I did not say no.

Blake Shelton, in his usual comic style and personal way of communicating told his followers on Twitter, I am so excited about being engaged to Miranda that I punched a whooping crane in the throat and used poison ivy to wipe.

Blake, that’s love.  We think.

The year 2010 is shaping up as a banner one for the couple.  Recently for “Hillbilly Bone,” his duet with  the artist Trace Adkins,” Blake won an ACM award.  During the same night Miranda won Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year and Video of the Year.  Earlier this year, Lambert’s song “White Liar” became the first No. 1 hit single for her.

The couple has not announced a wedding date yet.

The night was poised to be a big one for the ladies during the Academy of Country Music Awards 45th annual ceremony on Sunday from Las Vegas at the MGM Grand.  Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert made certain the prediction came true.  The major awards of the evening were swept by the woman-led topping chart trio, former “American Idol” winner and pistol packing country girl.

The show was opened by host Reba McEntire handing out a few sharp tongued barbs along with praise for the hits for the year, including “White Liar.”  She also thanked Jesse James and Tiger Woods for providing so much material for the women of country music.  McEntire aimed some good natured jabs at the young female stars Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.  She joked about the recent engagement of Underwood’s and the runaway success of Swift’s.  I can at least vote, Reba said, grinning at Swift.

Before the accolades even begun, the show was kicked off with Underwood and Lambert performing a duet of “Travelin’ Band,” the 1970 hit from Creedence Clearwater Revival, providing the swampy rock hit with a makeover done in Nashville rock style.  John Fogerty, CCR genius and the song’s composer, made an appearance and ripped a wicked solo off, as he threw a verse down and traded guitar licks with Brad Paisley.  Charlie Daniels, who recovered recently from his minor stroke, joined them on fiddle.

Lady Antebellum’s big night then began.  Their breakthrough country pop single “Need You Now” was named Song of the Year, beating out songs from Lambert, Swift and Underwood.  Singer Hillary Scott thanked God, their families and fans.  The group, which had the most nominations with seven, shortly thereafter was awarded the Single Record of the Year, also for “Need You Now.”  Lady Antebellum actually won two trophies each for the two awards as writers as well as producers.  They also won the Top Vocal Group Award, bringing their total awards to five.

Later in the night Lady Antebellum went acoustic when they performed the ballad “American Honey.”  Mid-song, they gave a shout to their fans to thank them.

Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum said, I don’t think when we wrote the song “Need You Now” that we knew what was in our hands.  You just never know what one song can lead to.  Tonight probably is our career’s pinnacle.

LL Cool J introduced Swift.  She and the Tri-Tones, a San Diego 16 member choir that Swift discovered on YouTube, rocked the house with their rousing “Change” rendition.  Swift, who was dressed down, uncharacteristically, in a black tank top, black boots and black denim leggings, started the song off by flying over the crowd while in a cage dressed in a white dress.  Midair, she changed costumes as she wildly flung her hair around.  The set was capped off by Swift diving into the group of boys who were there to carry her away.  However despite being nominated five times, Swift didn’t win any awards Sunday night.

Laura Bell Bundy, the Broadway star from “Legally Blonde- The Musical” sang a sexy version of “Giddy On Up,” while doing sassy line dancing dressed in super tight jeans with chaps and a cropped top.

Later during the show, Underwood came to the stage once again dressed in a floral flowing gown and gave a moving rendition of “Temporary Home.”  She was backed by four female musicians on cello, acoustic guitar, violin and piano.  Underwood teared up as she accepted her Triple Crown Award.  She joined an elite set of artists who have won ACM’s Entertainer of the Year, Top Female/Male Vocalist and Top New Female/Male Vocalist.  Underwood thanked the fans saying, I could have never wished or asked or dreamed of anything such as this.

Near the ending of the show Underwood thanked the fans again as she made history when she became the only two time female winner of the Entertainer of the Year award voted on by the fans as well in consecutive years for the 40 year history of the award.  As she came onto the stage and accepted her award she said, the phone is buzzing.  To the fans, thank you.  I love you very much.  As she twirled around and jumped around celebrating she added, thank you, country music.

Lambert also got in some major action.  For “White Liar” she won Video of the Year and for “Revolution” her third album, won Album of the Year as well as Female Vocalist of the Year.  Underwood gave her a big hug for winning Female Vocalist.  Music is what I do, said Lambert.  It’s what I live for.  Thank you for loving my music.  This has changed my life, Lambert said after she won Album of the Year.  It’s the second time she has won that trophy.

During her performance later in the evening the rabble rouser did tone things down when she performed “The House That Built Me,” a hushed ballad and sliver of humble pie that is all about honoring and remembering your roots.

Lambert, when speaking with reporters afterwards about her reaction to winning Female Vocalist of the Year she said, are you kidding, I am completely shocked about this.

On the night the guys were not frozen out entirely.  The show was also packed with performances from the guys, featuring songs from Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Dierks Bentley, Jack Ingram, Tim McGraw, Trace Adkins, Blake Shelton and Billy Currington.  There was a tribute for the late Wayman Tisdale, jazz player and NBA great, as well as a taped spot of the Zac Brown Band performing for troops stationed in the Persian Gulf.

Presenter Matthew McConaughey, before he announced the award for Top Male Vocalist, let it slip out that he and his wife Camila Alves following last year’s show had conceived the second of their children.  Brad Paisley, winner of the top Male Vocalist award, was soaking wet still when he received his award.  Moments before he had jumped into a pool during the final part of his performance.

After the last ever performance at ACM by Brooks & Dunn, the soon to be retired duo won their 16th award as Top Vocal Duo for their song “Honky Tonk Stomp.”

The Top New Artist and Top New Solo Vocalist awards went to Luke Bryan and Top New Vocal Duo went to Joey & Rory.  Top New Vocal Group was won by Gloriana.  For “Hillbilly Bone” Trace Adkins and Blake Shelton won Vocal Event of the Year.

Miranda Lambert, the award-winning country singer, has extended her “Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars” outing, which is already in progress.  It is Lambert’s first headlining run in the US.

Last month Lambert kicked off her road trip.  It continues with a show in Cincinnati on April 8.  Twenty performances since last check have been added to the tour’s itinerary, including three Lilith Tour appearances in July.  Lambert will be wrapping up her summer run in Snoqualmie WA on August 7.

For a majority of the tour, opening duties will be performed by Chris Young, Luke Bryan, Wade Bowen, Jake Owen, Eric Church, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Randy Houser, David Nail and James Otto taking turns.

Lambert is promoting “Revolution,” her third studio album.  In September it hit store shelves, making it to the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s chart Top Country Albums.  Three of the set’s tracks- “The House That Built Me,” “Dead Flowers” and “White Liar” have all hit Billboard’s Top 40 on their chart Hot Country Songs.

Recently the singer from Texas received six nominations from ACM, including for “Revolution” Album of the Year and for “White Liar” she was nominated for Video of the Year and Song of the Year.  She was also nominated as Top Female Vocalist of the Year.  Reba McEntire will be hosting the ACM awards ceremony.  On April 18 CBS Television Network will air the ceremony live from Las Vegas at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Miranda Lambert is riding high after racking up six CMA nominations, and she has set her sights on her first headlining tour through the US. The tour will be dubbed the “Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars” tour and it launches March 25 in Kennewick, Washington and runs through June 5 in New Braunfels, Texas. The full slate of Miranda Lambert tour dates is listed below. Opening duties on the tour will be shared with a bevy of country music’s young hunks including Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Randy Houser, James Otto, David Nail, Wade Bowen, Chris Young and Cross Canadian Ragweed.

Miranda Lambert will be touring in support of her third album release “Revolution” which was introduced into stores in September. It climbed up to number 1 on the Billboard Country Album Charts, and she has had three songs land on the Hot Country Song Charts including “White Liar,” “Dead Flowers” as well as “The House that Built Me.”

The CMA’s will be held on April 18 and Lambert will be considered for Best Female Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year courtesy of “White Liar” and caps it off with her Album of the Year nod for “Revolution.”

2010 Miranda Lambert Tour
March 2010
18 – Beckley, WV – Raleigh County Armory
19 – Duluth, GA – Wild Bill’s
20 – Orlando, FL – Mardi Gras 2010
25 – Kennewick, WA – Toyota Arena
26 – Medford, OR – Medford Armory
28 – Airway Heights, WA – Northern Quest Casino

April 2010
8 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
9 – Akron, OH – Akron Civic Center
10 – Kalamazoo, MI – Wings Stadium
15 – Florence, AZ – Country Thunder USA
17 – Las Vegas, NV – Fremont Street Experience
19 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena
22 – Amarillo, TX – Amarillo Civic Center
23 – Belton, TX – Bell County Expo Center
24 – Houston, TX – Sam Houston Race Park
29 – Jonesboro, LA – ASU Convocation Center
30 – Bossier City, LA – CenturyTel Center

May 2010
1 – Stillwater, OK – Tumbleweed Dance Hall & Concert Arena
6 – Davenport, IA – River Center/Adler Theatre
7 – Mankato, MN – Verizon Wireless Center
8 – Spencer, IA – Clay County Regional Events Center
20 – Council Bluffs, IA – Mid-America Center
21 – Fort Smith, AR – Fort Smith Convention Center
22 – Poplar Bluff, MO – Black River Coliseum

June 2010
5 – New Braunfels, TX – White Water Amphitheatre

Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood and Lady Antebellum are leading the pack for receiving the most Academy of Country Music Award nominations.  The 45th annual awards ceremony will take place in Las Vegas next month.

Lady Antebellum, the country trio, with seven nominations is dominating the categories.  Their nominations include Top Vocal Group and Album of the Year.  Underwood and Lambert, the former being the current Entertainer of the Year, follow Lady Antebellum with six nominations each.  Lambert and Underwood have both been nominated as Top Female Vocalist of the Year.  Should Underwood win the Entertainer of the Year award again this year, she will be the first female to ever win two trophies in Academy history for this category.

Taylor Swift received five nominations, while Brad Paisley and Kenny Chesney each received four.

Reba McEntire will be hosting the awards ceremony.  According to a recent press release, CBS Television Network will air the awards ceremony live on April 18 from Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.  It will be the 12th time McEntire has hosted the awards ceremony.

According to information posted on the event’s website, the performers and presenters for the ceremony will be announced shortly.

Fans can vote in three different categories: Top New Vocal Duo, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Solo Vocalist by casting ballots online at VoteACM.com through March 12.  On March 23 winners from the three categories will be announced.  They will compete for the award Top New Artist.

From April 1 to April 18, fans will be able to vote for Entertainer of the Year and Top New Artist.

The Academy, in addition to hosting the awards show, will also be putting on “ACM Presents: Brooks & Dunn- The Last Rodeo”, benefit concert special with all stars, including a McEntire performance.  On April 19 the special will be taped and be aired by CBS later.

Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks, during the special, will be receiving the Milestone Award from the Academy to recognize their record breaking career of twenty years.  The duo has won the most awards in the history of the Academy, with 26 total awards.  They have won Entertainer of the Year three times.

Joining McEntire and Brooks & Dunn for the special taping will be Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney and other all stars to be announced shortly.

Last Rodeo proceeds will be benefiting Lifting Lives, ACM’s charitable arm.

If you want Carrie Underwood, you can have her.  I do admire the remarkable potential and youthful talent of Taylor Swift, after all she is only 18 years old.  However, my blonde and young country singer of choice, or any young country singer for that matter, is Miranda Lambert.

Over her first two albums (with the first being pretty good and the second one great), Lambert alternatively comes across as the kid sister of Gretchen Wilson and the Dixie Chicks rolled into one woman.  At Mystic Lake Casino on Saturday night, during her first headlining performance in the Twin Cities, Lambert came across alternatively like Dolly Parton and the blonde bombshell 1980s rocker Lita Ford.

Onstage the twenty four year old Lambert was a little country and a little rock-n-roll, and quite good at both.  To start with, she’s a top rated songwriter.  Out of the 18 songs she sang, 13 of them were written by Lambert.  During her Saturday performance Miranda also proved that she has a charming personality as well, in addition to being a powerful performer.

Lambert at first appeared to be a little too slick and didn’t seem to connect with the sold out crowd for the most part, except when introducing “Dry Town,” a song about a Texas booze free county.  She quipped, it’s like tonight kinda, where there’s no liquor or beer in sight for miles and miles.  (It’s alcohol-free at Mystic Lake).  That sucks, you know!

All too often, it didn’t appear that Lambert cared that the kick drum of Keith Zebroski’s was too loud and obliterated her vocals quite often.  On the softer songs, however, he didn’t tend to mar the effect.  Lambert, particularly on “Easy From Now On,” sang with an emotionalism that had the subtlety of Dolly Parton.  Her voice had a weariness and longing on the song “More Like Her” which neither Swift or Underwood could come close to.  Lambert unquestionably has a soft and vulnerable side to her, despite making her mark in country music with her tough gal, no-nonsense rants.

Lambert, to be sure, rocked the house as she shook her long, ratty blond hair just like a rock video vixen from the 1980s.  Dressed in tight jeans with a rhinestone belt, t shirt with skull and cross bones, and high heeled, tall boots, she looked like one of the rock circuit Sunset Strip denizens when Motley Crue was reigning supreme.  The crowd was galvanized and waved their fists on “Gunpowder & Lead,” “Stay with Me,” the rollicking classic Rod Stewart tune, and “Kerosene,” the fiery finale.  During her ferocious flurry of six songs to close the set, Lambert was able to prove she can not only rock out with all the best, but also has country music’s best va va voom strut.

After performing onstage for 75 minutes, the Texan, tough as leather songstress didn’t bother having an encore.  The cocky move might have disappointed the fans, but was perhaps befitting of her personae.

Country singer Miranda Lambert will be spending a majority of her spring and summer touring on her North American “Roadside Bars & Pink” outing, which is already in progress.

Last week the trek got underway.  On February 12 it will continue with a Fort Worth, TX show.  Lambert’s schedule will include a mixture of headlining shows along with several gigs as an opener for Brad Paisley and several summer festival performances.  The performer from Texas, through early August, will be visiting venues in 31 different cities.

Lambert is continuing to support “Revolution,” her third studio album, which was released last fall.  “Revolution” topped the Billboard chart Top Country Albums and also made it to the No. 8 spot on Billboard’s 200 chart.  “White Liar” and “Dead Flowers,” two tracks from the set, have made it to the nationwide radio play lists.

Lambert received her third Grammy nomination of her career.  For “Dead Flowers” she was nominated for Best Female Country Performance.

Lambert in May will be hosting “Cause for the Paws” for the third year in a row.  The event is a fundraiser for East Texas’ Human Society.  The show in Tyler, TX will be featuring Lambert along with her entire band in addition to special guests Kacey Musgraves, Whiskey Myers and Nan Kelly.  Tickets will be going on sale on February 10 for the event to be held on May 15.

Lambert said in an interview last summer, I’m a big animal lover.  This all started, as many people know, when I adopted my wired haired terrier Delilah from the East Texas Humane Society.  I felt I was in a place in life where I really could help the shelter out.  I decided I will be a host for Cause for the Paws.

Although “Kerosene,” the debut album from Miranda Lambert, did offer an artistic exuberance that was refreshing and disregarded the methods and conventions that her would-be peers employed at the time, the album did suffer from its lack of refinement artistically as well as narrative naivety.  With “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” Lambert’s second album, her artistic vision was brought into clearer focus.  The album showcased a young singer that had become more road weary and much less blindly optimistic at that point than when she first started on her musical journey.

Despite “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” receiving nearly universal acclaim, the album was bogged down with struggling with aggression and firepower that Lambert’s image had come to be defined by, which also underscored much of her songwriting, with abstract meanderings via a series of heartbreak and love ballads.  The ballads seemed mostly esoteric.  The album did provide a certain degree of rebellion and irreverence that has been lacking in country music recently, nevertheless the set appeared to be an artistic statement that was incomplete, with Lambert failing to realize her potential fully or completely utilizing her considerable multi-dimensional talent.

All of the conflicting issues are brought into balance with her new album “Revolution,” with the result being the most satisfying and even set from Lambert to date.  As a vocalist she has fully evolved and her songwriting skills have matured significantly.  Here she avoids for the most part burning things and shooting people.  She chooses to instead focus on deconstructing her frustration, anger and most surprisingly her happiness, which was notable absent on her two previous albums.

The songwriting of Lambert’s has improved dramatically since her last album “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”  Even the best songs on that set lacked clarity and definition.  Revolution includes 15 tracks.  Each of them are stories that are fully formed and stick, thanks to the deft lyrical strokes from Lambert and her being willing to candidly write about her shortcomings as well as her personal strengths.  “Love Song,’ which she co-wrote with Blake Shelton, Charles Kelly and Dave Haywood, is the most accessible and mature ballad from Lambert to date, while the singles “White Liar” and “Dead Flowers” provide interesting insights into love that’s in transition.

Best known for her “attitude songs,” Lambert has moved away from them to make way for what is probably the aspect of “Revolution” that is the most satisfying, which is getting the opportunity to experience parts of her personality that had been obstructed previously by her need for proving she was a bad girl.  The wry sense of humor of Lambert’s shines in “Only Prettier.”  The playful ditty stands far outside of the typical thematic boundaries of country music.  The album’s middle section showcases three quirky  songs that have the feel of a sequence of character sketches, serving as a romp through the more intriguing possibilities of country music.  “Airstream Song,” “Maintain the Pain,” and “Me And Your Cigarettes,” each draw from difference influences which range from the Bakersfield sound to pop country, yet surprisingly fit snugly together during a subset of seven minutes that gives the long album a certain depth that doesn’t ever outwear its welcome.

By all accounts “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” was an album loudly demanding attention.  Her new set “Revolution” is more nuanced, quiet and sensitive, and overall more satisfying due to these qualities.  Lambert has become a storyteller for the very first time, fulfilling the potential that many always that she could.  “Revolution’s” material goes well beyond her prior work from the earlier albums.

It is especially true on “The House That Built Me,” the finest track on “Revolution.”  Ironically it’s the one track Lambert didn’t write.  The song was written by Allen Shamblin and Tom Douglas and finds Lambert returning to her childhood home as she remembers how she was shaped by the place.  It’s a great song, however it’s Lambert’s beautifully emotive and restrained vocal performance which makes the song so moving.

If there is anything lacking from “Revolution” it’s that producers Mike Wrucke and Frank Liddel were not able to match the greatness of Lambert’s.  The album’s production at times is too layered, too generic and too full.  Mostly this is true on the more rocking tracks on the album.  The arrangements at times are sloppy and the playing lacks character quite often.  Great producers, bands and artists tend to approach the recording of music with a borderline neurotic and obsessive attention to details, with the belief that each single note played or sung needs to serve a specific purpose in order to make it into the final recording.  With these perfectionists, the music is powerful, timeless and sacred.  On “Revolution” sometimes that attention to detail is lacking and it betrays the commitment Lambert has to her art.

Those instances, fortunately, only occur on occasion.  The writing and singing of Lambert helps to elevate past the production limitations.  “Revolution,” to that ends, fires on practically all cylinders, hitting almost every mark to position itself as this year’s best country album and serving as a young woman’s turning point in her career.  Miranda Lambert is the most artistically relevant and most interesting artist in country music today.