It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - or is it?

There are 3 things I look forward to every year: Christmas, March Madness and the CMA Awards. Yes, I'm a Johnny Cash Junkie, Buck Owens Freak. Too bad the CMA folks aren't anymore.

Will this be the year the CMA Awards make some daring moves and shake things up with their selections or will country music fans be subjected to the same ol' homogenized stuff? Whatever happens, here are my predictions for the 43 annual CMA Awards in no particular order:

1. Someone will make reference to Taylor Swift getting hosed by Kayne West at the MTV Awards with a cheesy joke.
2. The producers of the show will have trouble providing the correct mix of audio with most of the performances for television viewers.
3. Recepients of awards, especially the biggie at the end of the show that you've waited for all night, will be rushed to say their "thank yous and record labels".
4. Dave Matthews will regret doing the show live because most of the audience of stiffs sitting too close to the stage will scratch their heads after his performance.
5. Taylor Swift will be winded after her performance and be off key.
6. The CMAs will blow past honoring Hall of Fame inductees with a simple :30 second segment.
7. Jamey Johnson/Kid Rock duet will steal the show as the most refreshing and buzz worthy performance of the evening.

And you thought I was going to predict the awards? Well, why not. Remember, these selections reflect who I believe have earned the awards.

• Vocal Group - Zac Brown Band in an upset over Rascal Flatts
• Vocal Duo - Sugarland. (why is Big & Rich even nominated this year?)
• Song of the Year - Goes to the songwriter. All great choices. I'll go with the sentimental favorite "I Told You So" Randy Travis.
• Single of the Year - Brad Paisley "Then" (It's gonna be a big night for the co-host)
• New Artist of the Year - No disrespect to Darius, but this one goes with the guy that shares the same name as me.
• Musical Event of the Year - Tough category and usually it's not. I'll take Carrie/Randy since they were featured on American Idol this year.
• Video of the Year - When it comes to videos, Brad Paisley reigns supreme. Cudos to Randy Houser's video for "Boots On".
• Male Vocalist of the Year - Nice to see Darius nominated, but Keith Urban scores in this category
• Female Vocalist of the Year - Miranda don't be mad at me, but gotta go with Carrie Underwood.
• Album of the Year - If the CMA's go with sales as the leading factor, it's Taylor Swift and "Fearless". If they lean on the critical side, it's between "American Saturday Night" and "That Lonesome Song". I'll go with Brad Paisley.
• Entertainer of the Year - B R A D P A I S L E Y...and he tears up on stage and tells the producers to take their wrap-it-up signals and shove it!

Let's hear your thoughts! Post your comment or send me an email, I'd love to hear from you.

www.cmaawards.com ... Wednesday at 8pm on ABC.

CMA Awards, Useless Ramblings and Catching Up

First let me start off by apologizing for not keeping this blog fresh. I check it and see people are stopping by, yet if I don't have something to say then I don't have a lot to blog about. Still, no excuse and I appreciate the fact you took the time to swing by to kill some time.

So our U.S. Government has officially recognized country music? Congress has honored country music. Isn't it funny how it takes the government so long to recognize what the MAJORITY of people enjoy/like/cheerish or support? Just a thought. http://www.cmt.com/news/news-in-brief/1624210/congress-passes-resolution-honoring-country-music.jhtml

How about my boy Darius? Last update I wrote about the wonderful transformation of Darius Rucker and I think it's great to see him get the credit he's due. Here's a guy that has been working nearly 10 years to shed the "Hootie" image (although he didn't help himself with those Burger King commercials). He's a true artist and has a bright future in country music. He may not win Male Vocalist of the Year this go around, but this won't be his last rodeo. Congrats Darius from one of your biggest fans.

And I'm just going to lay it out here and say there needs to be a shakeup in the vocal band category. Rascal Flatts needs to be overthrown. If the CMA's want to reward a band that's made an earth-shattering splash into mainstream music and culture while causing more talk in music circles than the polished boys that were appealing to soccer moms when their daughters were digging on the Backstreet Boys, then give the award to a band with substance - Zac Brown Band. Get a copy of their mainstream debut if you haven't already. I love the tunes "Jolene, "Highway 20 Ride", "Toes", "Whatever It Is", "Mary", "Free" ...Ok I love the whole album!

Give ZBB the vocal group of the year award. I'm glad Taylor Swift has been nominated for Entertainer of the Year, yet with the impending hiatus of Kenny Chesney coming (he's taking next year off in terms of touring) I think the biggie should go to Brad Paisley. He's a triple threat, a true country performer and has changed the way we enjoy country music while adding something to it. He writes songs from a perspective that no other country artist has ever tried. I've heard songs that reflect nostalgia, but nothing like "Welcome to the Future". I've heard songs about finding self confidence and discovering yourself, but nothing like "Letter to Me".

Here's to hoping the CMA's honor current country music with much needed changes and credit that's overdue. Let's go Darius, ZBB and Brad.

The Wonderful Transformation of Darius?

I've always loved Darius Rucker, even through the Burger King years! Some country fans are still getting adjusted to having Darius around. Just the other day I heard someone refer to him as "Dar-us"...it's pronounced "Dare-E-us", please get it right before I call the English police.

Everyone in the media says Darius has "gone country". I disagree. Go back and listen to those old Hootie & the Blowfish tunes and you'll agree with me that many of those tunes could/would pass as country songs today. "Hold My Hand", "Let Her Cry" and "Time" were all major Top40 hits in the 1990's and today they could all be top country hits and in my opinion, if released today for the first time, those songs would be ignored by Top 40 radio.

If you get a chance this month (and if you are a Dish Network subscriber) check out Darius' exclusive free concert. It plays all day and honestly, you could give it more than 1 listen. He pulls out the old Hootie stuff and breaths C-O-U-N-T-R-Y into them - especially "Let Her Cry."

Darius Rucker was ahead of country music in the 1990s and today his hits fit right in. Can't wait to here the follow-up album and "If I Had Wings" needs to be a single this fall.

Keep listening!!!

With Randy or Without?

Alright, so I'm getting tons of suggestions for our "Top 5 @5" countdown here on 96.5...Of those request, we get a lot for the lovely Carrie Underwood and her resurrected tune "I Told You So." Now today, I played the duet version which features Carrie and the songs original tunesmith Randy Travis. Which do you like better? Honestly, I like her solo version the best because she does what Simon Cowell encourages and that's to take a song and make it your own. If you never knew the song was a former #1 in the 1980s (and most younger Carrie fans didn't), you would think it was simply another hit song recorded by the hottest gal in country music (my apologies to Miranda Lambert).

I do enjoy the duet version...kinda gives the tune a different perspective, like an old couple remembering "when our love first began."

Which do you like the best? Leave your comments.

As a matter of fact, which female country artist has the most "staying power" in your opinion? Who will be making hits the longest? Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Heidi Newfield or Taylor Swift? Those are the newer female faces? I say Carrie...

It's OK to kill some time here!

You have found a place to kill some time and blow off some steam - The Killin' Time Blog. Feel free to leave comments below each post and play around with my arcade games. Right now I have Pac Man uploaded simply because it was one of my favorite games growing up on the Atari 2600.

On this blog in the near future you'll find some interesting stuff on the music you love to listen to on Coal Country. You'll also find some useless knowledge that you can amaze your friends and co-workers with. And you never know, we may even coordinate an on-air contest with this blog in the future.

So keep checking back in when you come to coalcountry965.com and be sure to click on "Killin' Time" anytime!

Jammin' Jamey