Johnson, Bryan, Young top ACM nominations

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 – Luke Bryan, Jamey Johnson and Chris Young were among the nominees announced Wednesday for the Academy of Country Music Awards.

The three singers are up for Top New Solo Vocalist.

The ACM and Great American Country (GAC) also announced that for the second year, the three newcomer categories - Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Duo and Top New Vocal Group - will be opened up to interactive fan voting through VoteACM.com. As previously announced, the Top New Solo Vocalist category will take the place of the Top New Male Vocalist and Top New Female Vocalist categories.

Other nominations announced were:

Top New vocal duo
Bomshel
Joey + Rory
Steel Magnolia

Top new vocal group:
Eli Young Band
Gloriana
The Lost Trailers

Professional members of the ACM select the final nominees in the three categories. Professional member votes will be combined with fan votes to obtain the winners.

Fan voting starts Friday, Feb. 26 and closes on Friday, March 12. The winner in each category will be announced in mid-March and will move on to compete for Top New Artist.

Voting for the Top New Artist category will start on Thursday, April 1 and close on April 18. The winner will be announced live at the 45th ACM broadcast.