Miranda Lambert will contend in seven of the 12 categories at the upcoming 44th annual CMA Awards airing on ABC Nov. 10. Lambert's nominations include album, female vocalist, song, musical event and the big prize of entertainer of the year. Double nods in both single and music video of the year bring her nomination haul up to nine. In both of those races, her competition includes her beau Blake Shelton and the lovebirds also face off for best musical event. Shelton is also nominated for male vocalist.

By equaling the achievement of Merle Haggard back in 1970, Lambert established a new benchmark for nominations for a female artist. The overall record was set by Alan Jackson with 10 nominations in 2002.

Among Lambert's competition for the coveted title of entertainer of the year is the trio Lady Antebellum, which also contends for album, single, vocal group and music video. The Zac Brown Band is up for both the entertainer and new artist prizes, the first act to pull off this double play since Ricky Skaggs in 1982. The boys in the band also vie for vocal group and musical event.

The entertainer race also includes CMA co-host Brad Paisley, who contends as well for male vocalist (he has won the last three years) and video. Paisley’s bids this year push his career total to 52 and he jumps from No. 5 to No. 3 on the overall list ranking behind only Alan Jackson (79) and George Strait (81). Strait earned the latest two of that record haul this year with noms for male vocalist and album. In 27 years, Strait has only been shut out of CMA Awards nominations two times, in 1992 and 2006.

Taylor Swift and reigning champ Carrie Underwood face off against six male artists for the top prize at the 45th annual Academy of Country Music awards on April 18. Three of the men in the race are former winners of entertainer of the year -- Kenny Chesney (2004-2007), Toby Keith (2002, 2003) and George Strait (1989). Another two are multiple male vocalist of the year champs -- Brad Paisley (2006-2008) and Keith Urban (2004, 2005) -- while the final entry -- the Zac Brown Band -- are relative rookies. The ACM entertainer of the year will be determined by online voting as will the four newcomer awards.

Perennial ACM host Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton announced the nominations Tuesday morning on CBS' "The Early Show." McEntire -- the 1994 entertainer of the year -- contends this year for female vocalist, an award she has won seven times already. Shelton is vying for vocal event of the year for "Hillbilly Bone."

While Lady Antebellum did not earn an entertainer of the year bid, the group lead with seven other nominations including vocal group, album, single and song. Both Underwood and Miranda Lambert have six nominations while Swift has five.

Expect Swift -- who swept the CMAs last fall with four wins including the coveted entertainer of the year title -- to do just as well at the ACMs. In addition to her entertainer of the year bid, Swift contends for female vocalist and is up for three awards for "You Belong With Me" -- video of the year, song of the year performer and song of the year co-writer.

At last fall's CMAs, Swift ended the three-year reign of Kenny Chesney as the top entertainer. His loss there had been foretold by his defeat for the same award -- after four wins in a row -- at last spring's ACMs to Carrie Underwood. Underwood -- who co-hosted the CMA Awards -- had won female vocalist there for the previous three years but was bested by Swift.

Underwood has won that same award at the ACMs for the last three years and contends again this year. Her CMA co-host, Brad Paisley, won his third consecutive CMA male vocalist prize last fall and is defending his three-year winning streak at the ACMs.

Even the most die-hard country music fans have a tough time explaining the difference between the Country Music Assn. (CMA), which handed out awards last fall, and the Academy of Country Music (ACM), which passes out honors every spring. The only differences besides the dates are network affiliation and geography -- the CMA Awards air on ABC from Nashville; the ACM Awards are doled out on CBS from Las Vegas. Both awards are bestowed by industry organizations with many of the same voters and -- no surprise -- many of the same winners.

In the 45-year history of the ACM Awards, just 23 men and 24 women have won the vocalist prizes. And only 21 different acts have been named entertainer of the year. The CMAs are no different, with many of the champs there having won first at the ACM Awards or vice versa. Over 43 years, the CMA Awards has seen 23 men and 24 women take top vocal honors while 29 different acts have ranked as entertainer of the year.

For the full list of nominees, visit the ACM website.

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At last night's CMA Awards, it came as no great surprise when Kenny Chesney won entertainer of the year for the fourth time in five years. After all, that top prize tends to reward the artist who's king of the road tour and CD sales. That's Kenny Chesney, who continues to be a top draw on the concert circuit, playing to more than a million people a year while racking up seven platinum albums in the last decade.

In a way, it was fitting that 1999 winner Shania Twain made the presentation. Like Twain, who counts only this one win among her 10 Country Music Assn. kudos nominations, Chesney has little hardware from the CMA beyond these four awards. He has amassed 29 nominations but has managed only three other wins — for recording and producing the 2004 album of the year "When the Sun Goes Down" and for his vocal collaboration last year on "Find Out Who Your Friends Are." Indeed, Chesney has lost male vocalist for seven years running.

The latter fact suggests one ominous possibility. Since the CMA award is the Oscar of the Nashville music scene, it seems to be saying something curious and revealing about what the industry secretly thinks of that beer-chuckin', back-slappin', girl-chasin' good ole boy: They respect Kenny Chesney as someone who can sell CDs and concert seats, but he's not really respected as a vocal artist.

Among those Chesney edged out for the entertainer prize last night were two men who have beaten him in that category: show co-host Brad Paisley, who repeated as male vocalist winner and three-time male vocalist champ Keith Urban, who interrupted Chesney's streak as entertainer of the year with a win in 2005. And while Chesney lost new artist of the year (then known as Horizon award) in 1999 to Jo Dee Messina, Paisley won in 2000, as did Urban the following year.

Chesney also triumphed over George Strait, a five-time male vocalist winner and entertainer of the year in 1989 and 1990. Last night, Strait had to be content with becoming the all-time CMA champ with 22 awards total (out of a staggering 75 nominations). He picked up four trophies as both artist and producer of the best single ("I Saw God Today") and best album of the year ("Troubadour"). While this was only his second single to win after 1996's "Check Yes or No," it was Strait's fifth win for an album after "It Just Comes Natural," 2007; "Carrying Your Love With Me," 1997; "Blue Clear Sky," 1996; and "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind," 1985.

Even the most die-hard country music fans have trouble distinguishing between the awards bestowed tonight by the Country Music Assn. (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM) kudos handed out every May. Both prizes come from industry organizations with many of the same voters and, not surprisingly, many of the same winners.

Tonight's hosts — Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood — were the top vocalists with both groups last year and are competing again this year. The chief differences between the two kudos: The CMAs are based in Nashville and the ceremony is telecast by ABC; the ACMs are based in Hollywood and the show is telecast on CBS. For a list of all the CMA nominees, click here.

Kenny Chesney has taken the top prize of entertainer of the year at the ACMs for four years running and at three of the last four CMAs, including the most recent two. Tonight Chesney competes against 2005 winner Keith Urban, veteran George Strait, hot duo Sugarland and Paisley. Todd Marten takes an in-depth look at this race over at his Pop & Hiss blog. As Todd points out, "touring success and mainstream appeal figures heavily into the prize, and Chesney, according to Pollstar, had the second-highest-grossing tour of 2007, behind only the Police. In July, Billboard speculated Chesney would be near the top again when 2008 figures were tallied." So there is little doubt who will win that CMA trophy again, eh?

While a dozen different prizes will be handed out tonight, the three-hour kudocast devotes a big chunk of time to performances. Among the roster of talent lined up are all five entertainer of the year nominees, as well as four of the female vocalist contenders (Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride and Taylor Swift ), male vocalist nominee Alan Jackson (the other four nominees are entertainer of the year contenders), and all five new artist nominees (Jason Aldean, Rodney Atkins, Lady Antebellum, James Otto and Kellie Pickler).

When the CMA was founded 50 years ago in Nashville (one year after the Grammy Awards parent organization, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, was formed in Los Angeles), the association's mission was to serve as an industry think tank and networking organization for Nashville music makers, not to present awards. Then along came the upstart Country and Western Music Academy, formed in 1964 by country artists who had ditched honky-tonk Nashville for the glamour of Hollywood. That group, which eventually morphed into ACM, started handing out prizes the following year. The CMAs followed suit in 1967, showcasing country talent on NBC's "Kraft Music Hall."

At that time, the only live kudocasts were the Oscars, Emmys and Tonys. The Grammys were presented in a rather dull, taped one-hour special billed as "Best on Record." Then in 1971, the Grammys went live and Paul McCartney showed up to accept an award for the recently busted-up Beatles. Both the crowd and the TV viewing audience went crazy and ABC had an unexpected hit on its hands. Foolishly, however, the alphabet network gave up the broadcast rights one year later when the Grammys wanted to move their show to Nashville. CBS not only grabbed the rights, but also launched a live, stand-alone CMA show. And the ACM award show also began airing in 1972. Suddenly, there were three live music-award shows on TV and all of them scored socko ratings.

For even die-hard country music fans explaining the difference between the awards bestowed by the Country Music Assn. (CMA), which announced the nominations for their November kudos Wednesday, and the Academy of Country Music (ACM), which passes out honors every May, is harder than putting lipstick on a pig. The only difference is that the CMAs now air on ABC while the ACMs are on CBS. Both awards are bestowed by industry organizations with many of the same voters and — no surprise — many of the same winners.

For example, Kenny Chesney, who has won the CMA top prize of entertainer of the year for the last two years, competes again this year. And he has won the same award at the ACMs for four years running. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood were the top vocalists with both groups last year and are competing again at the CMAs.

CMA was founded first, in Nashville in 1958, just one year after the Grammy Awards parent organization, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, was formed in Los Angeles. The association's mission was to serve as an industry think tank and networking organization for Nashville music makers, not to present awards. The first country music kudos were actually bestowed in 1965 by the upstart new Country and Western Music Academy, formed one year earlier by country artists who had ditched honky-tonk Nashville for the glamor of Hollywood. That group eventually morphed into ACM. In 1967, CMA started passing out prizes, too.

West Coasters like Merle Haggard dominated the early ACM awards, while Nashville faves Johnny Cash and Charlie Pride swept the CMAs. Nowadays both groups favor the same artists with one odd exception: Toby Keith, who's probably been punished by CMA members for not making Nashville his home.

Another key difference: The ACM Awards are staged in Las Vegas while the CMA Awards usually stay home in Nashville. Traditionally, the CMAs have more viewers than the ACMs but both are so popular that they're aired during sweeps months (May and November) and sometimes one or both beat the Nielsen ratings scored by the Primetime Emmys.

The CMAs and ACMs are responsible in part for the modern explosion of award shows on TV. Before the late 1960s the only awardcasts were the Oscars, Emmys and Tonys. Then the CMAs nabbed a spot in prime time, but NBC crammed it into its regular weekly "Kraft Music Hall." The Grammys only existed on TV in a rather dull, taped one-hour special billed as "Best on Record."

That all changed in 1971, when the Grammys went live in a stand-alone awardcast. When Paul McCartney showed up to accept an award for the busted-up Beatles, the crowd and TV viewing audience went crazy and ABC had a hit on its hands. Foolishly, however, the alphabet network gave up the broadcast rights one year later when the Grammys wanted to move their show to Nashville. CBS not only grabbed the rights, but also launched a live, stand-alone CMA show. The ACM awardscast was launched in 1972 too. Suddenly, there were three music-award shows on TV at the same time and all of them scored socko ratings.