Winners Announced for the 41st Annual ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS

Winners Announced for the 41st Annual ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS

Kenny Chesney Wins Entertainer of the Year; Keith Urban Wins Top Male Vocalist; Sara Evans Wins Top Female Vocalist; Brad Paisley Wins 3 Awards; Carrie Underwood and Brooks & Dunn Win 2 Awards Each; The Late Buck Owens Honored With All-Star Tribute; Vince Gill Wins Academy of Country Music / The Home Depot Humanitarian Award

LAS VEGAS, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Winners have been announced for the 41st ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS. Honorees received their awards during a star-studded ceremony broadcast LIVE on the CBS Television Network from MGM GRAND in Las Vegas.

This evening Kenny Chesney won Entertainer of the Year, Keith Urban won Top Male Vocalist, Sara Evans won Top Female Vocalist, Brad Paisley won three awards, Brooks & Dunn won their 20th & 21st ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, the late country music legend Buck Owens was honored with an all-star musical tribute and Vince Gill won the Academy of Country Music / The Home Depot Humanitarian Award.

Kenny Chesney's win for Entertainer of the Year makes two in a row: he won in the same category last year as well. As an artist who has won Top New Vocalist, Top Male Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year, Chesney holds the Academy of Country Music's Triple Crown, which salutes artists that have won in all three of those categories. His fellow Triple Crown winners are Brooks & Dunn, Dixie Chicks, Mickey Gilley, Merle Haggard and Barbara Mandrell.

Tonight world-famous artists from all walks of popular music joined together to salute the late Buck Owens in a special performance. Dwight Yoakam, ZZ Top guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons, Brad Paisley, Buddy Alan Owens (son of Buck & Bonnie Owens), original Buck Owens & The Buckaroos steel guitarist Tom Brumley, Chris Hillman (The Byrds) and blink-182/+44 drummer Travis Barker played together in the tribute, which was introduced by Vince Vaughn.

Owens, a country music legend who had twenty-one #1 country hits during the course of his remarkable career, passed away in March. He was the Academy of Country Music's very first Top Male Vocalist winner, in 1965; he was also honored with the Academy's most respected honor, the Pioneer Award, in 1988.

Also this evening, Vince Gill was honored with the 5th annual Academy of Country Music / The Home Depot Humanitarian Award, which salutes an artist or group in the country music industry who is committed to serving others, has a generosity of spirit and a dedication to helping build the dreams of those in need. In the spirit of giving, Gill gave the award to a young girl named Caitlin, who he met this week through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Gill was selected by a special blue-ribbon committee comprised of executives in the country music industry as well as local and national philanthropic leaders for his ongoing community service and charitable giving of his time and talent.

As the award's winner, Gill will have a community playground built in a city of his choice through the efforts of The Home Depot and KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America.

Following is the list of winners in the 13 categories voted on by the membership:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

KENNY CHESNEY

TOP MALE VOCALIST

KEITH URBAN

TOP FEMALE VOCALIST

SARA EVANS

TOP VOCAL GROUP

RASCAL FLATTS

TOP VOCAL DUO

BROOKS & DUNN

TOP NEW MALE VOCALIST

JASON ALDEAN

TOP NEW FEMALE VOCALIST

CARRIE UNDERWOOD

TOP NEW DUO OR VOCAL GROUP

SUGARLAND

ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Award to Producer(s)/ Artist(s)/ Record Company]

TIME WELL WASTED
BRAD PAISLEY
PRODUCERS: CHRIS DuBOIS, FRANK ROGERS
ARISTA

SINGLE RECORD OF THE YEAR [Award to Artist(s)/ Producer(s)/
Record Company]

JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL
CARRIE UNDERWOOD
PRODUCER: MARK BRIGHT
ARISTA

SONG OF THE YEAR [Award to Composer(s)/ Publisher(s)/ Artist(s)]

BELIEVE
WRITERS: RONNIE DUNN (BMI), CRAIG WISEMAN (ASCAP)
SONY / ATV TREE PUBLISHING CO. (BMI), SHOWBILLY MUSIC (BMI), BIG LOUD
SHIRT INDUSTRIES (ASCAP)
BROOKS & DUNN

VIDEO OF THE YEAR [Award to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)]

WHEN I GET WHERE I'M GOING
PRODUCERS: MARK KALBFELD, PETER TILDEN
DIRECTOR: JIM SHEA
ARTISTS: BRAD PAISLEY AND DOLLY PARTON

VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR [Award to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company]

WHEN I GET WHERE I'M GOING
BRAD PAISLEY AND DOLLY PARTON
PRODUCERS: CHRIS DuBOIS, FRANK ROGERS
ARISTA

FAST FACTS ON THIS YEAR'S AWARDS:

* Sara Evans, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean and Sugarland each won their
first ever ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS tonight. Evans won for Top
Female Vocalist. Underwood won for Top New Female Vocalist and Single
Record of the Year -- not only her first ACM but her first
network-televised country music awards show win. Aldean won for Top
New Male Vocalist and Sugarland won for Top New Duo or Vocal Group.

* With his win tonight as Top Male Vocalist, Keith Urban also had
back-to-back wins. He was honored in the same category last year as
well.

* Brooks & Dunn won their 20th and 21st Academy of Country Music Awards
tonight: Top Vocal Duo and Song of the Year (for "Believe"). Ronnie
Dunn was also acknowledged separately for his writing credit on
"Believe." The pair's win for Top Vocal Duo was their 6th consecutive
win in that category.

* Rascal Flatts' win for Top Vocal Group was their fourth in as
many years.

The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 with a mission to support, promote and enhance the advancement of the country music industry worldwide. The Academy, which is comprised of more than 4,000 professional members and more than 35,000 associate members, is headquartered in Burbank, Calif. For more information on the ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS and the Academy of Country Music, please visit www.acmcountry.com.

The ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS is produced for television by dick clark productions. The show is executive produced by Allen Shapiro and R.A. Clark, and produced by Barry Adelman. The executive in charge of production is Bob Bardo, and the executive in charge is Fran LaMaina.

The ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS were broadcast LIVE from the MGM GRAND on CBS Tuesday, May 23, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Source: Academy of Country Music

CONTACT: Brooke Primero of BNC, +1-310-854-4800, for Academy of Country
Music

Web site: http://www.acmcountry.com/

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