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On the morning of Thursday, April 9, Emily Ann Roberts received some very exciting news, she had earned her first-ever ACM Award nomination. The rising country star shared her excitement in an emotional new video capturing the moment she told her loved ones the news.
Roberts is heading into the award show vying for a win in the category of New Female Artist of the Year. As soon as she found out, she had to share the news with some very special people in her life. The new video that has surfaced on Roberts’ Instagram first shows just her and her mom celebrating the news via Facetime.
She slowly built the anticipation as she read off each of this year’s nominees including Avery Anna, MacKenzie Carpenter, Dasha, Caroline Jones, and finally, Emily Ann Roberts. An elated scream instantly erupted through the phone from her mom, matching both hers and her husband Chris Sasser’s excitement over the news. Roberts’ hand flew to her face in an attempt to cover the tears of joy filling up in her eyes.
“I knew it, I knew it…you’re gonna win,” the voice from the phone said, promoting a big laugh out of the songstress. Her mom then told her to “start getting your speech ready.”
The “Easy Does It’ singer humbly stated that she doesn’t think she will take home the win, but she is “thankful to be nominated.”
Slowly, more loved ones began to join the facetime call, prompting more tears and more celebratory reactions.
“That’s crazy” Roberts added with tears streaming down her face as she read off the list of nominees once again.
A male voice from the phone proudly added, “There’s 10 years worth of work, sweet pea.”
The video ended on a lighter note as someone on the other end of the line asked, “Can you send me a screenshot of that.”
Emily Ann Roberts wrote in the caption that she will “remember this morning forever” before then sharing the utmost gratitude towards the ACM Awards for recognizing her this year.
“Thank you Jesus and thank you @acmawards !!! 😭🤍 I’ll see ya in Vegas in May !!!!!!”
Fans can tune into the 61st ACM Awards on Sunday, May 17, 2026 to see which country stars will take home a win in each of the categories. The show is set to stream live exclusively on Prime Video for a global audience across more than 240 countries and territories on Sunday, May 17, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. PT from the iconic MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Viewers watching from home can also see all the excitement unfold through the Amazon Music channel on Twitch and through the Amazon Music app.
Performers for the 2026 ACM Awards include Cody Johnson, Kacey Musgraves, Lainey Wilson, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert, and Riley Green, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.
This milestone news for Emily Ann Roberts follows the release of her newest track, “Whipped,” which she penned alongside Jeremy Spillman, Trent Willmon, and Ryan Beaver. The playful, lighthearted tune offers a hilarious nod to her husband and all that the has done for her, especially since moving into their first home together.
Additionally, the Tennessee native is set to drop another new song inspired by her love life titled “My Future.” Roberts reveals that the heartfelt story behind the song, which arrives on Friday, April 10, was actually her husband’s idea.
He thought it would be a great song idea after seeing so many comments on social media saying, ‘I think I see my future.’ I started daydreaming about it and fell in the love with the idea of a girl seeing a guy and planning their whole life together in a matter of minutes. A little crazy? Yeah maybe, but when a woman knows what she wants, she knows!”
The creativity began to flow between her and co-writers Shane Minor and Micah Wilshir and before they knew it, they had a new tune that’s “full of personality and exactly what I dreamed it would be.”
Fans can find Roberts serving as support for Cody Johnson and Thomas Rhett on their respective 2026 tours in addition to a few headline dates and festivals. Her time on the road with Johnson will include dates across the U.K. and Ireland.
A full list of Emily Ann Roberts’ upcoming tour dates can be found at EmilyAnnRoberts.com.
The post WATCH: Emily Ann Roberts Gets Emotional Sharing First ACM Nomination News with Family appeared first on Country Now.
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We would have NEVER guessed it from listening to the lyrics, but it makes total sense. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
We would have NEVER guessed it from listening to the lyrics, but it makes total sense. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Kelsea Ballerini may be soaking up life in New York City for now, but she might not be sticking around for too long.
Last month the songstress sparked buzz during An Evening with the Grand Ole Opry at Carnegie Hall, where she announced she had made the move to the Big Apple. Ballerini explained it was something she had dreamed about for years.
“Ever since I was a little kid and I got here for the first time, I always promised myself that I would do a season or chapter of life in the city and that season and chapter is right now,” Ballerini told the crowd.
The news came as a surprise to fans, who have followed her various moves from sharing a Nashville penthouse with ex-husband Morgan Evans to the post-divorce home in Tennessee that she purchased from fellow country star Kacey Musgraves. She also spent a good amount of time between L.A. and South Carolina in recent years while dating her now ex-boyfriend, Chase Stokes.
Just as she told the audience at Carnegie Hall, her next chapter finds her spending some time in NYC. The six-time Grammy nominee recently gave an update to E! News about her living situation, revealing that her move to New York is likely not permanent.
“I’m not permanently moving,” Ballerini told the outlet in an interview at the 2026 Fashion Trust U.S. Awards in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 7. “I’m just there through the summer, and I’m loving it so much.”
Since she is still coming off a fresh breakup from Stokes, who also appeared at the L.A. event, Ballerini is enjoying “just discovering” new things in the city and focusing on herself.
“I feel this resurgence of energy just doing stuff for myself,” she admits. “It’s been really nice, and I’m really excited.”
While settling into her new NYC chapter, Ballerini also revealed that a top priority on her list right now is to find the best “spicy rigatoni.”
“That’s my Italian, that’s my heart. I gotta go find it,” she notes.
In another video from the event, Entertainment Tonight asks how she would describe this new chapter of her personal life. Ballerini responds, “I feel so creative and really free right now.”
Coming off her massive headlining tour of 2025 in support of her latest Patterns project, Kelsea Ballerini currently has only two upcoming shows on the books for 2026, including the Barefoot Country Music Festival on June 19.
Additionally, it was announced today that Ballerini has earned her ninth nomination for Female Artist of the Year head of the 61st ACM Awards, set to stream live exclusively on Prime Video for a global audience across more than 240 countries and territories on Sunday, May 17, 2026.
The post Kelsea Ballerini Reveals Whether Her New York City Move Is Permanent appeared first on Country Now.
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When it comes to deciding country music awards show nominees, there’s a new king. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
When it comes to deciding country music awards show nominees, there’s a new king. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Max McNown is opening up about life, love, and new music in the latest Country Now Pupdate, where he also gets in some puppy playtime with three adorable dogs from Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue.
A dog lover through and through, McNown instantly lit up when the three puppies were unleashed onto the set. As they played and gobbled up treats, McNown recalled where his love for dogs first began: when he was six years old during a camping trip with family, when he fell in love with a dog named Jake. When he returned home, he convinced his parents to get a dog, and his first pup, Bear, a Rottweiler lab retriever mix, entered his life.
Now, McNown is a proud dog dad to the “sweetest in the world” German Shepherd Pit Bull mix.
“Her name is Astoria, but we call her Story. We named her after one of my favorite beaches in Oregon, right on the border to Washington. And we’re actually training her right now because someday I want her to be a road dog with me and take her on the bus,” he revealed. “So we’re getting her nice and trained up. And maybe at some point, if we can get her trained up, we might even have her on stage.”
The 24-year-old Oregon native has seen his fair share of stages in recent months, thanks in part to the success of his now double Platinum hit “Better Me For You (Brown Eyes).” The song has fueled his meteoric rise with over 455 million worldwide streams and charting across multiple formats.
What’s wild is that the song almost wasn’t a single. McNown revealed that his manager, who also happens to be his uncle, is who encouraged him to release it. Putting his trust in him, McNown released the song and says watching its journey has been truly “amazing.”
“It’s just slowly grown. The consistency and the slow burn is really, really good for long-term success. There are a lot of songs that can have kind of an initial explosion and then fizzle hard, but it’s been going strong and increasing ever since it came out,” he pointed out.
Watch Max McNown on the Pupdate
Following the release of his 2025 sophomore album Night Diving (The Cost of Growing Up), McNown continues to feed fans’ desire for new music, and after writing five to six days a week in recent months, he kicked off 2026 with a steady stream of new releases, including “World Change Me,” “Done For,” and his latest track, “Standstill (My, My, My).”
After making a statement with “World Change Me” about “standing your ground and standing up for what you believe in and not falling for the pull that the world often temps you with,” McNown got personal with “Done For,” which explores falling deeply and unexpectedly in love with someone and choosing a lifelong commitment, despite outside pressure to stay free and not settle down. This mirrors his personal life, as he got married last fall.
The Story Behind “Done For”
“‘Done For’ is a song that kind of acknowledges and affirms my choice to start my life with the person I love early and just bet on the future and kind of choose this one person very early in my career,” he explained.
McNown said people questioned his decision to settle down and get married at a young age.
“As simple as it gets, I fell in love and I’m never looking back and I don’t really want to test the waters anywhere else. Love is something that you work for every day and I want to work for it every day. And so the first line of ‘Done For,’ …’They say you’re only young once. You don’t want forever, boy, you better sleep around while you can.’ And so that’s very specifically what I was told. And this song is basically, screw that, I want to give you a lifetime.”
With “Standstill (My, My, My),” McNown took a different approach.
“That is one of those songs that’s just designed to be a feel good, windows down, belted out song. It’s not as much of a statement like ‘World Change Me’ and ‘Done For’ is, but I think there’s a place for those songs as well as a place for the statement songs. And every album should have its unique messages behind each song. And so I kind of tried to switch it up. It doesn’t always have to be so serious.”
Since the release of his 2023 debut EP and his 2024 full-length Wandering, Max McNown’s life has changed dramatically. He said he tries to soak it all in because he knows it could be gone in an instant.
“To see what my life looks like now, I mean, it’s the cliche, but if you would’ve told me even just a year and a half ago that I would be doing what I’m doing in the places I’m doing it right now, I would’ve called you a liar, not because I didn’t trust you, but because I didn’t believe in myself. And so it’s really just a blessing that I can’t even comprehend right now. And I try to journal and I try to really take it in because I know that it can be gone real quick.”
Just Announced: The Summer Vacation Tour
Fans can catch Max McNown on tour throughout the summer. Following back-to-back sold-out shows at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium as part of the ongoing The Cost of Growing Up Tour, the hitmaker has also unveiled plans for The Summer Vacation Tour, bringing his headlining show to cities across North America throughout July and August. Tickets and VIP info can be found HERE.
Adopt Molasses
One of these sweet pups, Molasses, is still looking for his forever home. Those interested in adopting should contact Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue, a foster-based 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in Middle Tennessee and run primarily by volunteers. Proverbs is fully dedicated to the care and well-being of every animal they rescue. To learn more or make a donation, click HERE.
The post Max McNown Talks Life, Love & New Music While Reflecting on His Meteoric Rise on The Pupdate appeared first on Country Now.
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