Academy of Country Music: Get the Scoop on Nominees You Can Download on Freegal

Freegal has free legal downloads of some of the ACM nominees. image credit

Entertainment Weekly calls the ACM awards the Golden Globes of country music.  It looks like it’s going to be a country music show—with a few awards thrown in here and there.

Here’s a roundup of the artists you can download free (and legally) from Freegal:

Entertainer of the Year

Jason Aldean
Miranda Lambert

Male Vocalist of the Year

Jason Aldean

Female Vocalist of the Year

Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Carrie Underwood

Vocal Duo of the Year

Love and Theft
Thompson Square

Album of the Year

Blown Away by Carrie Underwood

Single Record/Song of the Year

“Over You” by Miranda Lambert

Twister Song Blows Away Grammies: “Blown Away” by Carrie Underwood

Simon Cowell continues to be right. Don’t you hate when that happens? But, as he predicted, Carrie Underwood is the biggest singer ever to come out of American Idol.

I was rooting for Ronnie Dunn’s poignant “Cost of Living.” It does what country music does best: paint a picture with words. (As long as pop nominees have lyrics like “I missed you so, so bad,” there’s not much hope for the genre.)

Underwood’s song took a while to grow on me. I’m not sure I like the tweaking on her voice. But the narrative is satisfying, if chilling.  We’re all glad that s.o.b. of a daddy has been blown away.

2013 Grammy Predictions: “Blown Away” by Carrie Underwood

Is Underwood still country’s golden girl? Another in the line of revenge/no-good-man songs, it’s got a strong beat and suitably vivid and vengeful lyrics.

All the songs on Underwood’s album Blown Away are available for free, legal download on Freegal.

A Plea for Peace During the Cuban Missile Crisis: "Do You Hear What I Hear?" sung by Carrie Underwood

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I've always liked the chain of events in this song.

The night wind whispers to the little lamb. The lamb passes on the message to the shepherd boy. And so on. Sort of a Christmas version of telephone.

But I was surprised to find out that it was written during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a plea for peace.

According the The New York Times it was written by a Ms. Gloria Shayne Baker. Her husband wrote the music.

Carrie Underwood's version (along with dozens of others) is available on Freegal.

Carrie Underwood – Good Girls

I remember when Carrie Underwood was just one of a bunch of contenders on American Idol. She seemed pretty good, but so were some of the others.

Then one day Simon Cowell said, "I predict that you are going to not only win American Idol, but you are going to be the top-selling American Idol winner ever."

He was right. I would say you can tell by that smug look on his face, but he always has that look.

This is Underwood's newest.

This song is now available for free music download on Freegal

photo credit : Faguo shoes