Miranda Lambert Chose Country Music Because of “Awful” SAT Scores

 There were a couple of different things that helped MIRANDA LAMBERT figure out what she wanted to do for a living.  One of them was the dreaded college admission tests.

She says, quote, “I was trying to figure out SATs and graduating high school, and I realized I was awful at all of that.”  So, she put all of her energy into writing songs, and stayed totally focused.  Quote, “I didn’t really have a back-up plan.”

And then she headed to Nashville to record a demo.  She let a producer choose the songs, but that didn’t work out.  Quote, “I was trying to sing these songs that I realized didn’t make me feel anything.”

Thankfully, she regrouped and made a decision that set her on her way.  Quote, “When I came back home from that recording session, I thought, ‘I wanna feel something when I sing it.  Otherwise I can’t sell it.’  That’s when it started to click.”

Dierks Is ‘a Little Uneasy’ About Hosting the ACMs

“I’m always looking for those things that make me feel a little uneasy,” Bentley adds. “Certainly being a host — which I’ve never done before, [and] with Luke, you never know what he’s going to say — will be a good challenge, so we’ll see how it turns out.”

Bryan, who has hosted the ACM Awards for three years, had previously been joined by Blake Shelton. Shelton retired from his hosting duties this year, after hosting for the past five years, first with Reba McEntire, then with Bryan.

“The way I’m looking at it, Blake got edged out,” Bentley quipped. “He’s done this thing, it just wasn’t working, people were getting tired of it. They had to go a little top-notch, so I’m in there.”

All kidding aside, Bentley is taking plenty of notes on how to make the evening a success.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for people who are good hosts,” he says. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Blake. I’ve got a lot of respect for Reba, the years that she did it. Brooks & Dunn, Vince [Gill] was such a good host; he was the pillar …

“Hosting an awards show, there’s people that are really good at that,” Bentley continues. “I’m taking it seriously. I want to have fun with it and, at the same time, be loose. I have a lot of respect for people who have done it in the past.”

Bentley has tried to get advice from his co-host, but he has yet to gain any words of wisdom from Bryan.

“I can’t get anything off Luke on how to do it,” Bentley says. “He’s like, ‘Buddy, you’ll do fine. Just have a few drinks. We’ll get through the monologue.’ No real pointers on anything so far. I’m a little nervous about it, but I think it’s a good thing … Hopefully it will go good. We’ll see. Either way, it’s going to be a fun time in Vegas.”

The Arizona native hopes that, at the very least, Bryan will take some of the pressure off of him.

“I should be more scared, I think,” Bentley concedes. “… I’m with Luke, so he’s a parachute for me. He’s going to do something way worse, or say something off the cuff. He’s going to take all of the fire for me, I think.”