Lady Antebellum heard their name called a whopping seven times this morning as Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire announced the nominees for the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on the CBS program, The Early Show. The ACM Awards will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 8 at p.m. ET (delayed PT) on CBS and will be hosted by Reba for the 12th time.

For the third year, fans will select the winner of the Academy’s most prestigious honor, Entertainer of the Year and for the second year, the three newcomer categories for the annual Academy of Country Music Awards —Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo — will also be opened up to fan voting. The winner in each Top New category will then move on to compete for Top New Artist which is also a fan voted category. Online voting for all fan voted categories will be available at http://www.voteacm.com/. The winners of Entertainer of the Year and Top New Artist will be announced live during the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

Lady A’s seven nominations include Album of the Year for Lady Antebellum and Top Vocal Group. In addition, the trio was nominated for Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year for “Need You Now.” They were also nominated as a producer for Single Record of the Year and as a composer for Song of the Year.

Miranda Lambert is nominated for six awards, including Album of the Year for Revolution and Top Female Vocalist. Miranda won the 2007 Album of the Year for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. She is nominated for Single Record of the Year and as an artist and composer for Song of the Year for “White Liar,” which is also nominated for Video of the Year.

Carrie Underwood is nominated for six awards, including Entertainer of Year. Carrie is the reigning Entertainer of the Year, and, if she wins that category again, she will be the first female in Academy history to capture two Entertainer of the Year trophies. Carrie is also nominated as an artist and composer for Song of the Year for “Cowboy Casanova,” as well as Vocal Event of the Year for “I Told You So” with Randy Travis. In addition, Carrie is nominated for Top Female Vocalist and Album of the Year for Play On. If she wins Top Female Vocalist, it will be the fourth consecutive year she has won the category. Carrie also won the 2006 Album of the Year for Some Hearts.

Taylor Swift is nominated for five awards, including her first nod for Entertainer of the Year. If she wins Entertainer of the Year, she will be the eighth female in Academy history to win in this category. Taylor is nominated as an artist and composer for Song of the Year for “You Belong With Me,” for which she is also nominated for Video of the Year and she also received a nomination for Top Female Vocalist.

Kenny Chesney is nominated for four awards, including Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist. If he wins Entertainer of the Year, it will be his fifth win in the category. He is currently one of only 3 acts in Academy history to achieve four wins for Entertainer of the Year. Kenny is also nominated as an artist and producer for Vocal Event of the Year for “I’m Alive” with multi-platinum recording artist Dave Matthews.

Brad Paisley is nominated for four awards, including Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist. Brad is the reigning Top Male Vocalist, and, if he wins the category, it will be his fourth consecutive Top Male Vocalist title. Brad is also nominated for Album of the Year for American Saturday Night and for Video of the Year for “Welcome to the Future.” He won the 2005 Album of the Year for Time Well Wasted.

Zac Brown Band is nominated for four awards including Entertainer of the Year, their first nomination in the category. If Zac Brown Band wins Entertainer of the Year they will be the third vocal group in Academy history ever to win the award. Zac Brown Band is also nominated for Album of the Year for The Foundation, Single Record of the Year for “Toes,” and Top Vocal Group. They are the reigning Top New Vocal Group.

Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band also received two additional individual nominations as the producer for both Album of the Year for The Foundation and Single Record of the Year for “Toes.”

Also, in its ninth year, the Academy of Country Music/The Home Depot Humanitarian Award will be given to Montgomery Gentry for their ongoing community service and charitable giving of their time and talent. The award recognizes country music artists who serve others, have a generous spirit and help build the dreams of those in need.

Article courtesy of GAC.