Aldean nominated for country music's top entertainer (Reuters)

NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) – Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton and Taylor Swift led with five nominations each for the Country Music Association awards on Tuesday, and will compete for the genre's top prize.

Paisley and Carrie Underwood will host the annual CMA Awards for the fourth time on November 9, with the show to be broadcast live on ABC from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

Keith Urban was the fifth nominee for the top prize of Entertainer of the Year announced in Nashville and New York on ABC's "Good Morning America" show.

Aldean said he was sleeping when the nominations were announced, but his wife, Jessica, made sure he got the news.

"She just about gave me a heart attack," Aldean told Reuters. "She was so excited that I was up for (top) entertainer and male vocalist."

"Once I understood what she was saying I was like, 'Okay, cool.' I didn't realize that I had been nominated for the other awards until I started getting text messages congratulating me on the five nominations," he said.

Overall, the nominations were evenly spread among established artists such as Paisley and Swift and newcomers The Band Perry and Zac Brown.

In contrast to past years when the CMA seemed to heap nominations on breakout artists a year late, this year's nods to Aldean and Shelton appeared timely.

Aldean headlined his own tour for the first time, selling out venues across the United States while performing such hits as "Dirt Road Anthem," which was nominated for Song of the Year. Shelton has been celebrating his No. 1 single, Single of the Year nominee "Honey Bee," and is co-hosting NBC's talent show "The Voice."

Aldean grabbed his first nomination for CMA Male Vocalist of the Year and will vie with Paisley, Shelton, Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney for that award.

Aldean was also nominated for Album of the Year ("My Kinda Party"), Single of the Year ("Don't You Wanna Stay," with Kelly Clarkson), and Musical Event of the Year.

"Obviously I felt like we had a great year with the success of the album and the singles and the tour," Aldean said.

"I felt like we had as good a shot as anybody, so you just hope for one or two nominations. But to get five or six, that was definitely beyond what I thought might happen, so we're pretty excited about it," he said.

Swift, Underwood, Sara Evans, Miranda Lambert, and Martina McBride were the nominees for top Female Vocalist.

Newcomers The Band Perry and Zac Brown Band each earned four nominations each, including top songwriter nods for Kimberly Perry, and for Zac Brown and Coy Bowles.

The nominees for top vocal group were The Band Perry, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Rascal Flatts, and Zac Brown Band, the CMA announced.

New Artist of the Year nominees were The Band Perry, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Thompson Square and Chris Young.

Shawna Thompson of Thompson Square, nominated with husband Keifer Thompson for Duo of the Year and New Artist awards, recalled how excited she got watching the show as a child.

"I would pretend that I had won, and I would grab a Mason (glass) jar and use it as my award," she said. "After I had proclaimed myself a winner, I would go in the kitchen and give my acceptance speech."

(Editing by Andrew Stern and Jackie Frank)

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Gregg Allman: living proof of music's healing power (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – Gregg Allman is a believer in the healing power of music.

Barely a year after undergoing a liver transplant, the veteran American musician is back on the road with his regular band, looking a little frail but in good voice and excellent spirits.

The Gregg Allman band kicked off a European mini-tour at London's Barbican Center Friday, with two further UK dates scheduled plus more in Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany before they head home next month for a lengthy tour of the United States and Canada.

The backbone of their set is a series of songs from the album "Low Country Blues," his first record for 14 years.

It was released in February to critical acclaim and commercial success to match, debuting at No. 7 in the U.S. Billboard chart.

Diagnosed with hepatitis C and advised he needed a new liver, Allman decided to go into the studio to record an album of songs by his blues heroes, before going under the surgeon's knife in June last year.

With award-winning producer/guitarist T-Bone Burnett at the helm, the result is a spare, no-frills collection of classics by the likes of "Sleepy" John Estes, Skip James, B.B. King and Muddy Waters.

It shows off Allman's skills as a hollering blues performer and a musician of eclectic good taste.

Allman, 63, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band with his brother Duane in 1969, says music was a consolation during his traumatic health problems before and since his transplant surgery.

"It was a great feeling to have a real good record in the can," he told Reuters backstage at the Barbican. His famous long blond tresses are now white and tied in a ponytail and his bushy beard trimmed neatly.

He said the operation was "the most horrendous pain I have ever been through" and it had taken him a year to recover enough to be able to tour again, although he is still in pain and will need further treatment later in the year. "I feel like someone hit me with a sledgehammer. But I'm alive."

As part of his musical therapy, he went on a brief tour with Elton John and Leon Russell four months after the operation. "But it was good and it got me out of the house."

Greeted by a standing ovation when he took to the Barbican stage, Allman was subjected throughout the performance to shouts and whoops from an audience that was more like a meeting of the faithful than a gathering of music fans.

However, he dealt with them with grace and southern charm and led the band on a brief tour through his back catalog and some choice cuts from "Low Country Blues," switching between his trademark Hammond B-3 organ and electric and acoustic guitars.

Shunning the airs and mannerisms of the rock star performer, he preferred to showcase the talents of fellow musicians in his rocking ensemble, with some stunning solos from guitarist Scott Sharrard, pianist Bruce Katz and sax man Jay Collins. For the London gig only, the band was augmented by two British horn players, Lee Badau on sax and trumpeter Alistair Walker.

Saving the best until last, the hyperactive crowd was treated to encores of Estes' "Floating Bridge" a haunting track from "Low Country Blues," and a barnstorming rendition of Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues," a vinyl classic from the Allman Brothers' 1971 live album "At Fillmore East," with Sharrard recreating the slide guitar of the late Duane Allman.

Allman appeared genuinely touched by the warmth of the reception from the London crowd. As he left, he wound his way slowly along the edge of the stage to shake outstretched hands and mumble thank-yous.

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