LAS VEGAS —Nineteen eighty-nine was a landmark year incountry music that saw the emergence ofGarth Brooks, Alan Jackson andClint Black — a fearless hat-wearing trio that went on to become some of the genre'smost enduring and influential stars
Now, 27 years later, the bumper crop of artists that broke out in 2015is being compared to that seminal "Class of 1989".
"I think we have the Class of 2015 this year," saidBob Romeo, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. "When you see what Sam Hunt has done and what Chris Stapleton is achieving ...we’ve got two great females in Kelsea (Ballerini) and Cam and then Thomas Rhett and Brett Eldredge, They represent the new blood of country music."
Romeo predicted that,in 10 years,music industry watchers will look back last year's newcomerswith the same awe and admiration they feel for the Class of 1989. Whilehistory must ultimately judge the new wave of artists coming out of Nashville, their debut offerings will be front-and-center here Sunday evening during the51st ACM Awards.The eventhonors country'sbest music of 2015.
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Every artist Romeo named has been nominated for multiple awards, and several are performing live on the show, which airs at7 p.m. onCBS.
“I love the pressure that brings,” said Eldredge, who is nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year. “I have to go in and write the best songs I can write, and … go up there and show people that I want to be worthy of being someone that people can remember.”
Ballerini and Stapleton were early-announcedwinners at the ACM Awards, picking up trophies for New Female Vocalist of the Year and New Male Vocalist of the Year, respectively. Those awardswere revealedin March —one of many new moves orchestrated by the Academy of Country Music to update itsshow and keep its performances as fresh as possible.
“Instead of walking up and just saying thank you for the award, they get a moment to do a full performance and be seen by millions of people doing what they do every night, which is perform,” said Barry Adelman, executive producer of the ACM Awards.
When the 51st annual ACM Awards air Sunday night, at-home viewers will notice other differences, too. The awards show, presented by the California-based Academy of Country Music Awards, will be back in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand after a one-year stint for its 50th anniversary at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Dierks Bentley, who replaced Blake Shelton as Luke Bryan’s co-host this year, said its Vegas location brings a levity to the show that makes it unique among a bevy of country music awards shows.
“It’s a little less biz and a little more fun,” Bentley said. “John Rich and Big Kenny rode up up on a horse one year. You’re catching the singers in an unguarded moment.”
Bentley’s new co-hosting gig is one of the most visible changes on the program. ACM executives knew that due to other career commitments, Shelton wanted to end his run as co-host following the 50th. Because Bentley and Bryan have a friendship off the stage, it made the “Somewhere On a Beach” singer their first choice.
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“There’s a terrific chemistry between them,” said Adelman. “We’re looking forward to a unique relationship — one we haven’t had before on the show. We think it’s going to be a very special bro moment here at the Academy of Country Music Awards.”
Another shift in the program came in the weeks leading up to the Academy of Country Music Awards. After allowing fans to vote for New Artist and Entertainer of the Year categories for several years, the academy eliminated the practice in favor of a full membership vote.
“I think it’s a more level playing field,” Bentley said, explaining that he believes artists who come from fan-voted television talent show backgrounds have a distinct edge in the previous format. Their fans are already trained to show their support through texting and voting.
“Other artists went out and built their fan base by playing clubs their whole lives,” he continued. “They built their fan base by playing one beer at a time, one handshake at a time. There are a lot of fans that are not texting all of the time — they are a different age group, a different demographic. When the call goes out that says this award is going to be fan voted, you know who is going to win those awards already.”
Romeo said the reason the Academy changed their policy on fan voting was due to what was becoming an unsupportive and vindictive campaign climate on social media — in addition to complications in tracking the ways and frequency in which people were voting.
“We realized the academy is now starting to become the police,” he said. “I would never want to break down where artists support other artists, and we saw that start to break down in fan voting all because of social media.”
In addition to eliminating fan voting in New Artist categories, the ACM also added new ones. In the past one New Artist of the Year trophy was awarded — this year, there were three, which allowed Ballerini, Stapleton and Old Dominion to all be winners. Each New Artist of the Year winner will perform on the show.
“Before I knew I had even won New Female, I felt like performing was winning,” said Ballerini, who will sing with Nick Jonas on the show. “I grew up watching the ACMs and tivoing them and watching them over and over again. No one is ever going to forget Taylor Swift performing in the rain on the ACMs.”
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The Ballerini/Jonas performance is one of many made-for-television moments producers created for the awards show. Katy Perry and Dolly Parton have been working on their collaboration for weeks in a nod to Parton’s Tex Ritter Award. Executive Producer R.A. Clark got the idea to team Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban with Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top to cover ZZ Top’s “Tush.” The rock classic is a standing part of Lambert’s nightly set list.
“We have a triple threat in that performance,” said Clark. “It’s pretty killer.”
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