The 40 Best Country Albums of 2014, According to “Rolling Stone”
“Rolling Stone’s” list of the “40 Best Country Albums of 2014” is topped by MIRANDA LAMBERT’s “Platinum”. Alt country stud STURGILL SIMPSON’s “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music” is at #2. Here’s the Top 10:
1. “Platinum”, Miranda Lambert
2. “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music”, Sturgill Simpson
3. “The Outsiders”, Eric Church
4. “Small Town Heroes”, Hurray for the Riff Raff
5. “Pain Killer”, Little Big Town
6. “The Way I’m Livin'”, Lee Ann Womack
7. “Riser”, Dierks Bentley
8. “The River & the Thread”, Rosanne Cash
9. “Provoked”, Sunny Sweeney
10. “Band of Brothers”, Willie Nelson
The “American Country Countdown Awards” Winners Will Be Determined by Numbers, Not Judges
Have you ever watched an awards show and said to yourself, “Seriously? Who picked these winners and why are they given such power?”
Well, that won’t be the case at Monday’s “American Country Countdown Awards”, because there are no mysterious judges or “academy members”.
It’s the only country music awards show where the winners are based exclusively on data like album sales, radio airplay, and touring info.
One of the show’s producers put it in plain words to“Billboard”, quote, “If you sold the most albums, you’ll win Album of the Year. If your song got played the most, according to ‘American Country Countdown’, your song will win Song of the Year.”
The only time anybody’s opinion counts is Breakthrough Artist of the Year, because that one is fan-voted. (Voting closed Wednesday.) But even then, they selected from a group of finalists determined by the same numbers as the other categories.
Scotty McCreery, Lee Brice, Randy Houser, and Cole Swindell Would All Like to Kiss Jennifer Aniston Under the Mistletoe
Taste of Country asked a few country stars what celebrity they’d like to kiss under the mistletoe . . .
Brett Eldredge went with Jennifer Lawrence, Miranda Lambert chose Justin Timberlake, andCassadee Pope would enjoy some Leonardo DiCaprio. Luke Bryan is all about Betty White, while Darius Rucker chose Minnie Driver.
In the end, one celebrity totally ruled: Scotty McCreery, Lee Brice, Randy Houser, and Cole Swindell ALL chose Jennifer Aniston. (Check out the video of each country star, plus a few others, making their selections at TasteOfCountry.com.)
MADDIE & TAE got to meet one of their heroes. They Tweeted a photo and wrote, “We’ve looked up to SHANIA TWAIN for as long as we can remember. Can’t believe we got to meet her!”