CMA Awards

2016 marks 50 years of the Country Music Association and promises to be one of the biggest CMA Awards specials ever.  ABC 6 and Cat Country 102.9 want you to be part of this historic, once in a lifetime event. Sign up for your chance to win the trip by clicking here...

Get a look at the process of making the all-star "Forever Country" music video.

Looking through the list of 2016 CMA Awards nominees, country music fans are bound to notice a few surprises ... and a few snubs.

Let's start with the big one, "Entertainer Of The Year".  I have questioned how Chris Stapleton has been winning all of these awards for his "Traveler" album. And now he's up for entertainer. He's had ONE song. One. And how is Dierks Bentley NOT nominated...

The CMA Awards' New Artist of the Year nominees are speaking out about their nominations.

Gord Bamford is officially an international superstar. The Canadian recently took home three Canadian Country Music Awards, including being named the Country Music Association's Global Artist of the Year.

Luke Bryan is nominated for three CMA Awards, including the coveted Entertainer of the Year. His good fortune, he says, is "crazy."

Blake Shelton earned three CMA Award nominations this year, which is exactly one-third of what his superstar wife, Miranda Lambert, received. But while the songstress could certainly boast about her nine nods, her husband says she couldn't be more humble.

Dierks Bentley is nominated for five CMA Awards, including one for Male Vocalist of the Year, making him the top male nominee. But of all his nominations -- which also include ones for Song of the Year, Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year -- he says it's the Album of the Year nod for his No.1 album 'Riser,' which was released earlier this year, that means the most to him.

It's been quite a year for George Strait. The country music superstar wrapped up his sold-out farewell The Cowboy Rides Away Tour, starred in a two-hour TV special, 'George Strait: The Cowboy Rides Away' and will release his live album, 'The Cowboy Rides Away: Live from AT&T Stadium.' He's also nominated for his 83rd CMA Award, for Entertainer of the Year, capping off one of the most memorable years of his career.

The Eli Young Band are nominated once again for a CMA Award for Vocal Group of the Year, a category they've been named in every year since 2012 but have yet to win. But the four-man group says being nominated really is validation enough.

The 2014 CMA Awards nominations were announced this week, and they may be the harbinger of changes coming to country music.