Ballerini, Stapleton, Old Dominion win ACM new artist honors

Wednesday, March 23, 2016 – Chris Stapleton, Kelsea Ballerini and Old Dominion were named today the New Male, Female Duo/Group of the Year respectively by the Academy Of Country Music Awards.

These awards mark the first-ever ACM Award wins for Ballerini, Stapleton and Old Dominion. Ballerini is also nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, Stapleton leads the ACM nominations with six additional nods, including Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year, and Old Dominion received a nomination for Vocal Group of the Year.

This is part of a great stretch for Stapleton, whose "Traveller" debut CD has topped the charts for many weeks. He was a surprise winner of three Country Music Association awards in November. Stapleton took the honor over Thomas Rhett, Brett Eldredge, Chase Rice and Chris Janson.

Ballerini, a Tennessee native with hits including "Dibs" and "Love Me Like You Mean It," won over Cam, Mickey Guyton and RaeLynn.

Old Dominion, which has hits with "Snapback" and "Break Up With Him," beat out A Thousand Horses, Brothers Osborne, Maddie & Tae and Parmalee.

Previously fan-voted, the newcomer categories are now all incorporated into the professional membership voting process this year.

The awards, co-hosted by Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley, will be broadcast live from Las Vegas on April 3 at 8 p.m. live eastern/delayed Pacific on CBS.

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Old Dominion has gained a following on the heels of two albums of lively material. Their self-titled third release stays the course and delivers a dozen radio-friendly songs. The hyper positive lead single "Make it Sweet" sets the stage with an ode to the brighter side of everything. Most tracks are upbeat but, ironically, there is not an official party anthem or even a drinking song. The closest they get is "American Style," which is laden with standard innocent imagery »»»

From A Room: Volume 2

There is no bigger artist in country music today, perhaps even in American music, than Chris Stapleton. His appeal reaches beyond just the commercial country fans for his gritty bluesy approach. 2015's "Traveller" set a high bar, which was met by this year's release of "From A Room: Volume 1," which won Album of the Year in the 51st CMA Awards. Stapleton also garnered the Male Vocalist of the Year for his second time. Now seven months after that release, "From »»»

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