Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Keith Urban will be up for Entertainer of the Year honors at the 2018 CMA Awards. (ABC Photo)

The ceremony is set for Wednesday, Nov. 14, in Nashville and will be televised on ABC, beginning at 8 p.m.

Carrie and Brad Paisley will serve as hosts for the 11th straight year.

Keith is nominated for the night’s biggest award, Entertainer of the Year, along with Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney and Chris Stapleton. Keith was Entertainer of the Year back in 2005. He was nominated in the same category last year, but Garth Brooks took home the award.

He’s also nominated for album of the year and male vocalist of the year.

Carrie is nominated as female vocalist of the year, a category she won every year from 2006-2008 and again in 2016. Her other nomination is for video of the year.

By some strange CMA logic, Lauren Alaina is up for best new artist honors for the second straight year. Heck, she wasn’t even a new artist last year, having released a debut album in 2011, for crying out loud. And I have no idea how you can be a “new” artist two years in a row. Oh, well. Jon Pardi won in 2017.

The other nominee with a singing show past is Nicolle Gallyon. She was a contestant on Season 2 of The Voice and has made a mark in Nashville as a songwriter. “Tequila,” which she wrote with Dan Smyers and Jordan Reynolds for Dan + Shay is up for song of the year, a songwriters award.

Here are the singing show nominees and the competition they’re up against.

Male Vocalist of the Year: Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett, Chris Stapleton

Female Vocalist of the Year: Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves

Album of the Year: Graffiti U, Keith Urban; From a Room Vol. 2, Chris Stapleton; Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves; Life Changes, Thomas Rhett; The Mountain, Dierks Bentley

New Artist of the Year: Lauren Alaina, Luke Combs, Chris Janson, Midland, Brett Young

Song of the Year (for songwriters): “Tequila,” Dan + Shay (Dan Smyers, Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynolds); “Body Like a Back Road,” Sam Hunt (Sam Hunt, Zach Crowell, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne); “Broken Halos,” Chris Stapleton (Chris Stapleton, Mike Henderson); “Drowns the Whiskey,” Jason Aldean with Miranda Lambert (Josh Thompson, Brandon Kinney, Jeff Middleton); “Drunk Girl,” Chris Janson (Chris Janson, Scooter Caruso, Tom Douglas)

Music Video of the Year: “Cry Pretty,” Carrie Underwood; “Babe,” Sugarland; “Drunk Girl,” Chris Janson; “Marry Me,” Thomas Rhett; “Tequila,” Dan + Shay