24 March 2020

The ACM Awards have been rescheduled to September 16 as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping the world. The awards, which are set to be hosted by reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year Keith Urban, were initially set to be hosted on April 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, but the outbreak has forced the hand of the organisers to find an alternative date later on this year. When it eventually takes place, Thomas Rhett and Maren Morris are both set for a busy night in Las Vegas as both have five nominations each at the showpiece event. Rhett has been nominated for Entertainer of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for ‘Center Point Road’ and Video of the Year for Remember You Young, while Morris is up for Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for ‘GIRL’, Group of the Year for her role in The Highwomen and Musical Event of the Year for her featuring role on Miranda Lambert’s Fooled Around and Fell in Love. Due to how ACM Awards work however, if an artist is a producer for an Album of the Year nominee, it technically counts as two awards as producers get one too – hence why both have five nominations.

Willie Nelson has taken the decision to delay his forthcoming album ‘First Rose of Spring’ until July 3 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. You can pre-order the album here. Initially, the album from Nelson was due to be released on April 24, but has now been shelved until July – presumably as a direct result of the pandemic, which has forced a number of other artists to push back their record releases and postpone their tours. So far, Nelson has released two songs from the record in his Chris Stapleton cover of Our Song and the title track and the record would’ve been his first since he won Best Country Solo Performance for Ride Me Back Home at the 2020 Grammy Awards. The tracklisting for ‘First Rose of Spring’ by Willie Nelson is: 1. First Rose of Spring – (Randy Houser, Allen Shamblin, Mark Beeson) 2. Blue Star – (Willie Nelson, Buddy Cannon) 3. I’ll Break Out Again Tonight – (Sanger ‘Whitey’ Shafer, Doodle Owens) 4. Don’t Let The Old Man In – (Toby Keith) 5. Just Bummin’ Around – (Pete Graves) 6. Our Song – (Chris Stapleton) 7. We Are the Cowboys – (Billy Joe Shaver) 8. Stealing Home (Marla Cannon-Goodman, Casey Beathard, Don Sampson) 9. I’m The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised – (Wayne Kemp, Bobby Borchers, Mack Vickery) 10. Love Just Laughed –(Nelson, Cannon) 11. Yesterday When I Was Young (Hier Encore) – (Charles Aznavour, Herbert Kretzmer)