The Country Music Awards has unveiled their list of nominees for this year’s ceremony and it includes a few surprising selections. Heading up the the top prize in the album of the year category is Jason Isbell for his fantastic new record The Nashville Sound. He’s joined by the likes of Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town and Lady Antebellum.
#CMAawards ALBUM of the Yr nominees by: @LittleBigTown@ChrisStapleton@LadyAntebellum@JasonIsbell and the 400 Unit@MirandaLambert pic.twitter.com/wileE4vEP8
— CMA Country Music (@CountryMusic) September 4, 2017
Isbell later celebrated the nomination on Twitter, while also giving some shine to his fellow nominees.
We're grateful for the CMA recognition. Happy to be included in a category with some real country artists.
— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) September 4, 2017
When we made our album at RCA, Stapleton had just left the night before. Glad that place didn't become a bunch of condos.
— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) September 4, 2017
The Nashville Sound rates highly on just about every critics list of the best albums of 2017. It’s tender and biting words and sounds combine together to form a record of staggering beauty and intense, emotional heft. Talking to our Steven Hyden, Isbell, opened up about how his own life makes it into the music and how meticulous he is in putting it all together. ” I really just try to document my life with these songs, and spend as much time as I possibly can getting every word and every melody correct,” he said. “I don’t have schematic ideas, but certainly there’s going to be threads like that that appear. Just like they do in the story of my life. Definitely what you describe, it’s sort of the way my life has gone, even though I’m still learning how to live. I haven’t got that quite down. I don’t know that I ever will.
