MCA NashvilleKip Moore‘s ACM nomination for New Artist of the Year means even more to him since that category is decided by the fans. They’re the ones who have been supporting him and his band and crew for years on the road.

“The band and the crew, we’re a family,” Kip tells ABC News Radio. “It’s always about those guys for me, too. It’s my name, but we’ve been through such a grind together for so long and we built a grassroots following years ago, long before ‘Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck’ popped, and it showed with them coming through and voting.”

While Kip would certainly welcome a win at Sunday night’s ACM Awards, the outcome of the New Artist of the Year category won’t affect the way he runs his business.

He says, “I don’t focus too much on awards ’cause it’s out of my control, but it’s validation that this journey and this fight that we’ve been in together wasn’t all in vain. We’re finally getting the recognition of what we’ve been doing.”

Kip is nominated for ACM New Artist of the Year along with Justin Moore and Brett Eldredge. Voting is now open at VoteACM.com. All three New Artist nominees will perform on the 49th Annual ACM Awards this Sunday night at 8 ET on CBS.

Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

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