Image Courtesy ABCWithout a doubt, Luke Bryan is the country torchbearer at this year’s American Music Awards, as the only artist from the genre nominated in the all-inclusive Artist of the Year category. Luke confesses it’s a little hard to believe he’s up against the likes of Beyonce and One Direction.
“Anytime I’m in the room with all of music, I get really, really inspired. I’m very flattered. I always think about representing country music in the best way I know,” he says. “I just love being in that room. It’s always fun going out to the AMAs and seeing all of the talent in the room. And knowing that this year I’m nominated in the category of overall artist is really, really hard for me to wrap my head around. It’s amazing.”
Even though he’s also competing against Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton for Favorite Male Artist in the country category, Luke vows he won’t let the pressure get to him.
“I just wanna go out there and enjoy it. I love meeting all of the people in all of music. At the end of the day, I think we’re all in there to make the art of music better. Hopefully, I can represent Nashville.”
On the female side, Carrie Underwood squares off against Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves for Favorite Female Artist – Country. Carrie says the fan-voted awards remind her of the beginning of her career.
“I’m excited to be nominated for an AMA. I see every day on my Twitter feed, people have been retweeting and doing all that stuff, which is really cool. They’ve always had my back, and seeing their enthusiasm about voting for me is something that is really cool because that’s how I got here in the first place with American Idol,” she remembers. “So, it makes me feel good to know that there are still people out there that are voting their fingers off.”
Whether or not Florida Georgia Line is able to wrestle the country Band, Duo or Group trophy from Lady Antebellum and Eli Young Band, Tyler Hubbard thinks it’s just fun to get to rub elbows with artists from other kinds of music.
“It’s a huge honor, to be honest, to be a country artist and then to be able to be at an all-genre awards show feels great. It’s definitely humbling, and so it’s cool,” he says. “And we’re excited. You get to see a lot of cool people and meet a lot of nice people and see a lot of different, basically, music cultures. It’s neat for us, you know. “
Garth Brooks, who’s up for country’s Favorite Album, is set to perform on the show, while his fellow nominee Brantley Gilbert will help hand out one of the trophies. You can find out who wins Sunday, November 23 at 8 p.m. E.T. on ABC.
The nominees in the country categories for the 2014 American Music Awards are:
Favorite Male Artist — Country
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Blake Shelton
Favorite Female Artist — Country
Miranda Lambert
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood
Favorite Band, Duo or Group — Country
Eli Young Band
Florida Georgia Line
Lady Antebellum
Favorite Album — Country
Garth Brooks, Blame It on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences
Eric Church, The Outsiders
Brantley Gilbert, Just as I Am
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