Botetourt natives Matt Ramsey and Whit Sellers will be with the rest of their Old Dominion band members during this year’s Country Music Association (CMA) awards show on November 8 in Nashville.
And it’s a good bet there will be a bunch of local family and friends watching the television show when the awards are presented live because Old Dominion has been nominated for two major ones— New Artist of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year.
Old Dominion is in stout company for the Vocal Group of the Year award with Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Rascal Flats and Zac Brown Band.
The other nominees for New Artist of the Year include Luke Combs, Jon Pardi, Brett Young and Lauren Alaina.
Ramsey and Sellers have had a busy year already. Old Dominion’s second major album— “Happy Endings”— came out in August and they kicked it off by opening for Kenny Chesney in Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Oh, and one of their singles hit No. 1 on two charts.
“No Such Thing As A Broken Heart” reached No. 1 on last week’s Billboard Country Airplay chart, and this week it is No. 1 on Mediabase country radio singles chart.
It’s also leading in chart points, according to radio and country music trade sources. “No Such Thing” ranks as the Mediabase country panel’s most-played song for the August 27-September 2 tracking week. It was played 9,050 times and ranks as the week’s second-most-heard song. Its audience impression totaled 59.389 million.
Folks who are fortunate enough to score tickets for Nashville Night on October 8 at James River High School will get a chance to see Ramsey, who is from Buchanan and graduated from JRHS, and another Old Dominion band member, Trevor Rosen.
They’re being joined by two fellow songwriters who have CMA award nominations of their own, Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally.
Those two will also be at the CMA awards show because a song they collaborated on as songwriters has been nominated for Song of the Year. They wrote “Body Like A Back Road” with Zach Crowell and Sam Hunt.
Matthew Jenkins, another award-winning songwriters, is also joining the quartet of for the JRHS “round” to raise money for the Buchanan Area Ministerial Association (BAMA) Food Pantry.
According to a CMA announcement, Miranda Lambert tops the list of nominees for “The 51st Annual CMA Awards” with five nominations. Little Big Town and Keith Urban each garnered four nominations, tying for the second most nominations this year.
“The talent of the past year for country has been exceptional,” said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “It’s great to see nominee names that have graced the list before, and continue to deliver quality artistry. It’s equally thrilling to see six new names – ushering in a new generation earning their first CMA Awards nods.”
“The 51st Annual CMA Awards” will be hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and broadcast live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. on the ABC Television Network.
For details about tickets for Nashville Night, see the accompanying story.
