Top 10 Country Tweets of the Week! Country music stars sure love Twitter! Here at GAC, we follow them too. Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week!Miranda Lambert: @Miranda_Lambert    Dom for nom's!!!! Celebration in the airstream!!!Martina McBride: @martinamcbride    Playing "Secret Agents" with my 5 year old is pretty much as good as it gets...Brad Paisley:  @BradPaisley    [...]

Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride: CMA Nominations Trivia When Miranda Lambert set a record for female acts by picking up nine awards nominations this week from the Country Music Association, no one was more surprised than her.But that wasn’t the only shock-a-roonie of the two-day nominations announcement. Lady Antebellum achieved something that’s never been done before, Steel Magnolia and The Band Perry each accomplished something that’s probably been done only once. And Miranda did something that’s only happened twice.Here’s a bevy of CMA trivia that you may not have seen anywhere else:

Brad Paisley's H2O Tour Visits Top 20 Brad Paisley’s H2O World Tour has been one of the biggest concert packages of the summer, and this weekend, Brad and all five of his tour mates — including CMA nominees Steel Magnolia and Easton Corbin — will join host Nan Kelley on GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.Brad’s dates have been mostly outdoors with Darius Rucker and Justin Moore serving as main-stage warm-up acts. In addition, he’s created a big Water World Plaza with lots of side attractions and smaller-stage performances from Easton, Steel Magnolia and Josh Thompson.For an act like Steel Magnolia, which won’t have a debut album in stores until Jan. 11, the chance to be part of such a major tour has provided a first-hand look at one of country’s real stars. And the duo is impressed.

Brooks & Dunn Wave Goodbye When they announced the Nashville finale for the Last Rodeo, Brooks & Dunn hinted that it would have a superstar lineup as they gave all the proceeds from their end-of-the-road concert to the Country Music Hall of Fame, located across the intersection from the Bridgestone Arena.But when the last chord rang out and the lights went up on the sold-out auditorium at Thursday’s last-ever Brooks & Dunn show, you could count the extra artists who showed up on two fingers: Tyler Dickerson, who turned in a solid six-song opening set that sounded more mature than his chronological age — 16 — would suggest; and Reba McEntire, who kicked into gear for the last chorus of “Cowgirls Don’t Cry” a little more than half-way into B&D’s two-hour farewell.Without the fanfare, it felt oddly like a regular Brooks & Dunn show. Kix Brooks broke into a bittersweet smile and doffed his cowboy hat at the end of the aptly titled “You’re Gonna Miss Me (When I’m Gone).” It looked on the video screen as if perhaps, just maybe, he was tearing up, but you couldn’t be certain.

Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert Honor Loretta Lynn Country legend Loretta Lynn has been entertaining fans with her singing and songwriting for 50 years. To commemorate that anniversary, Sony Music Nashville is releasing Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn. When the label started putting the lineup together, they turned to the Coal Miner's Daughter herself to choose which artists would be on [...]

Keith Urban, Band Perry: "Downright Excited" Over CMAs A bunch of country artists got really good news over the last couple of days — Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and The Band Perry were just a few of the acts that found out they’re finalists for the 44th annual Country Music Association awards show.And, guess what: They’re happy! Different forms of happy — in shock, completely elated, humbled, yada yada yada — but they’re happy nonetheless.Here’s what some of the CMA nominees are saying about being on the ballot for Nov. 10:

Little Big Town, Randy Rogers Banded Together at Nos. 1 & 2 To purposely misquote a Paul McCartney classic, bands are on the run in country music — straight to the top of the charts.Little Big Town’s new album The Reason Why, bolts out of the chute to No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Country Albums chart, and it’s followed by the Randy Rogers Band’s Burning The Day, checking in at No. 2. In fact, groups occupy four of the Top 5 slots on the chart. Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now checks in at No. 4, and the the Zac Brown Band hanging in at No. 5 with the double-platinum project The Foundation. The only thing blocking bands from a Top 5 sweep is the Trace Adkins album Cowboy’s Back In Town.Most fans probably don’t think much about it, but being in a band is completely different from working as a solo artist. There are more expenses, more opinions and more egos involved, so decisions require more communication and more time. As a reward for all that extra work, there’s less potential income — the band members have to split up the proceeds in the end.

Tim McGraw Hosts "Country's Night To Rock" Now that the Country Music Association has wrapped up its annual nominations process, the organization is looking forward to tonight’s broadcast of an ABC special, “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock.”The three-hour show is packed with heavy hitters, including Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts and Darius Rucker, and it’s hosted for the first time by Tim McGraw, who’s making it just one of several firsts on his agenda.For starters, he’s set to play Australia for the first time this month, beginning Sept. 16, and he’s already got some extra-curricular plans. Tim and Faith Hill are making a family vacation out of the trip — he’s earned a pilot’s license and plans to fly out over the outback. In addition, one of his daughters has been working at getting certified to take a scuba expedition in a shark cage and see some great white sharks.

Miranda Lambert Sets CMA Nominations Record “The truth,” Miranda Lambert sang in “White Liar,” “comes out a little at a time.”For the first time in history, the Country Music Association rolled out its nominations in a two-day process, and when it was all said and done, the truth is that Miranda had set a new all-time mark. She joined Dierks Bentley to read the finalists in the last five categories Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and discovered she’d amassed nine nominations in all — more than any other female in history.

Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum Take Early CMA Lead In a day of firsts, the Country Music Association began a two-day unveiling of the nominations for its 44th annual awards Tuesday, leaving Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and the Zac Brown Band in an unprecedented overnight drama as they wait to see if they can maintain the lead positions in the list of finalists.Miranda’s “The House That Built Me” and “White Liar” each ended up as finalists in both Single and Music Video of the Year, accounting for four of her five first-day nominations. Additionally, both titles are up for Song of the Year, though Miranda received only one nomination in that category; she was a co-writer on “White Liar” but did not compose “The House That Built Me,” which brought Song of the Year nods to songwriters Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin.