Leading the way as finalists for the 37th CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia is Australian country music icon John Williamson, industry darlings Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson and surprise packet Peter Denahy, who along with all finalists were announced today at a function held at the harbour-side Opera Point Marquee located at the Sydney Opera House. Over 550 nominations were received for the 2009 Awards and the judging process was once again extremely intense.
John Williamson was announced as a finalist in 6 categories while this year’s ARIA Award winners for Country Album of The Year, Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, have picked up 5 nominations as has Peter Denahy’s with his youtube hit Sort Of Dunno Nothin'.
Artist's nominated for the Best New Talent award, which Gibson Guitar are sponsoring, are 8 Ball Aitken for Cyclone Country, Rob Black for We Have Kids, Jasmine Rae for Country Singer, Robertson Brothers for Language Of Heaven and Talia Wittmann for The Reckless Side Of Me.
Entering its 37th year, the CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia is Australia's longest running music awards ceremony & concert and the 2009 Awards will be held at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Convention Centre (TRECC) on Saturday, January 24, 2009.
For more information and a full list of the 2009 nominations please check out http://www.country.com.au/ or visit http://www.visittamworth.com/