Nominees for the 56th Annual ACM Awards were announced Friday, with Maren Morris and Chris Stapleton leading this year’s back.

Both artists earned six nominations, with Miranda Lambert close behind with five, bringing her overall total to 68 lifetime nominations, the most of any female artist in ACM history. In addition, Miranda earned her 15th Female Artist of the Year nod. (She’s won nine times)

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, this year’s ACM made progress in some areas, and didn’t in others.

For example, the Entertainer of the Year category is made up of males – Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and Stapleton.

But, in the Single of the Year category, every song features a female artist, including Miranda, Gabby Barrett, Carly Pearce (with Lee Brice), Ingrid Andress and Maren.

Also, there a record four Black artists nominated this year – Jimmie Allen, Kane Brown, Mickey Guyton and John Legend, for his duet with Carrie Underwood.

As for the snubs: Carrie didn’t receive a Female Artist of the Year nomination for the first time since 2005, and while she tied with Rhett for Entertainer of the Year last year, she didn’t receive a nod this year. Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw both had new albums this year and neither received a nod. Blake Shelton also only received one nod, for “Nobody But You,” his collaboration with Gwen Stefani. Click here to see artist reactions to this year’s nominations.

The 52nd Annual ACM Awards will air April 18th on CBS, and will take place live from three of Nashville’s most historic venues, the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium and the Bluebird Café.

Check out the complete list of nominees below:

Entertainer of the Year

Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Luke Combs
Thomas Rhett
Chris Stapleton

Female Artist of the Year

Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Ashley McBryde
Maren Morris
Carly Pearce

Male Artist of the Year

Dierks Bentley
Luke Combs
Eric Church
Thomas Rhett
Chris Stapleton

Duo of the Year

Brooks & Dunn
Brothers Osborne
Dan + Shay
Florida Georgia Line
Maddie & Tae

Group of the Year

Lady A
Little Big Town
Old Dominion
The Cadillac Three
The Highwomen

New Female Artist of the Year

Ingrid Andress
Tenille Arts
Gabby Barrett
Mickey Guyton
Caylee Hammack

New Male Artist of the Year

Jimmie Allen
Travis Denning
HARDY
Cody Johnson
Parker McCollum

Album of the Year

Born Here Live Here Die Here – Luke Bryan
Mixtape Vol. 1 – Kane Brown
Never Will – Ashley McBryde
Skeletons – Brothers Osborne
Starting Over – Chris Stapleton

Single of the Year

“Bluebird” – Miranda Lambert
“I Hope” – Gabby Barrett
“I Hope You’re Happy Now” – Carly Pearce & Lee Brice
“More Hearts Than Mine”– Ingrid Andress
“The Bones” – Maren Morris

Song of the Year

“Bluebird” – Miranda Lambert
“One Night Standards” – Ashley McBryde
“Some People Do” – Old Dominion
“Starting Over” – Chris Stapleton
“The Bones” – Maren Morris

Video of the Year

“Better Than We Found It” – Maren Morris
“Bluebird”– Miranda Lambert
“Gone” – Dierks Bentley
“Hallelujah” – Carrie Underwood and John Legend
“Worldwide Beautiful” – Kane Brown

Songwriter of the Year

Ashley Gorley
Michael Hardy
Hillary Lindsey
Shane McAnally
Josh Osborne

Music Event of the Year

“Be A Light” – Thomas Rhett featuring Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin, Keith Urban
“Does To Me” – Luke Combs feat. Eric Church
“I Hope You’re Happy Now” – Carly Pearce & Lee Brice
“Nobody But You” – Blake Shelton ft. Gwen Stefani
“One Beer” – HARDY ft. Lauren Alaina & Devin Dawson
“One Too Many” – Keith Urban, P!nk

Source: ACM

“The Voice” is kicking off it’s 20th season, and 10th year on the air Monday, and Blake Shelton is still surprised it’s lasted this long. “To be honest, I didn’t think the show was gonna last,” he tells “People,” “In fact one of the first conversations I ever had with Adam (Levine) was, ‘Man, how stupid is this?'”

Of course in addition to the show’s success, it is responsible for Blake meeting his now fiancée Gwen Stefani, but it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. He says they met when she performed on the show, and then she was eventually announced as coach, with Blake noting, “It was very much an industry-type meeting, and I told people, ‘I met Gwen Stefani. That’s crazy.'”

Gwen was also still married to Gavin Rossdale at the time, and had just had a baby, so she and Blake really weren’t even friends back then. In fact, the thing that stood out most to Blake had to do with her wheels.

“The thing I remember saying about her when people would ask was, ‘Oh my God, that girl is unbelievable. She drives a minivan to work!,’” he says. “I thought rock stars drove Rolls-Royces, and Gwen was driving a black minivan.”

Source: People

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood announced earlier this month they were quarantining after being exposed to the coronavirus. Well, Garth has now revealed that Trisha tested positive and is recovering from the virus, while he tested negative.

According to a post on Facebook, Trisha is now “diagnosed as ‘on her way out of the tunnel,’” with Garth sharing, “Anyone who knows me knows my world begins and ends with Miss Yearwood, so she and I will ride through this together,” adding, “And anyone who knows her knows she’s a fighter and she’s been doing everything right, so I know we’ll walk out the other side of this thing together.”

The post notes that Trisha is doing okay, with Garth offering, “she’s tough She’s stronger than me.” He then asks fans to send their prayers and good thoughts her way.

“Living with her, I sometimes take it for granted she’s one of the greatest voices in all of music, so the possible long-term effects on her concern me as her husband and as a fan,” he continues. “We’re very lucky she is currently under the greatest care in the best city for treating and healing singers.”

The guys in Florida Georgia Line have expanded their empire to include more than just music and songwriting. They have their Nashville bar, their record label, liquor brand and more. But one thing they haven’t tried yet is acting, unless you count their music videos, and they aren’t ruling it out in the future.

“I think there’s a good chance of that,” Brian Kelley says of the possibility he’ll act one day. “I think of just kind of takin’ the opportunities as they come,” although he notes, “it’d have to mean something if I’m gonna go put out energy to go do that.”

As for Tyler Hubbard, he says he’s “open” to the idea, although admits, “I’ve never considered myself a great actor,” and taking on a role would depend on the opportunity. He says he’d possibly do it if it “sounds fun at the time or feels like the right move to make.”

ONE MORE THING! Florida Georgia Line’s charity livestream “Life Rolls On From The FGL House” was postponed last week due to the bad weather in Nashville, but it’s now been rescheduled. The Amazon Music event will now take place tomorrow, kicking off at 8 pm ET.

Source: Florida Georgia Line

Kenny Chesney has picked his next single. The singer just revealed that “Knowing You,” will be his third official single from 2020’s “Here and Now.”

“’Knowing You’ sounds like coming home in a lot of ways. This is the essence of all the music that country is,” he shares. “When you hear it, something inside tingles, because it’s more than production tricks, the guitars, or how hard the drums hit. It’s just so pure.”

He adds, “Country at its very best is true, it’s from the heart. This song is just that… it’s all heart.”