Sara Evans on the GAC special, How Great Thou Art: Gospel Favorites Live from the Grand Ole Opry. 2008 Copyright Grand Ole Opry, Photo by Chris Hollo.
Feb. 23, 2009 — How Great Thou Art: Gospel Favorites From The Grand Ole Opry — an album that led to a successful 2008 GAC special — helped Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Vince Gill and Alan Jackson each collect a pair of nominations for the Gospel Music Association’s 40th annual Dove Awards.
How Great Thou Art is in the running for the GMA’s Best Special Event Album honor, a category that has Brad, Sara, Vince and Alan competing against themselves. Alan, Sara and Brad garnered their second nominations for appearances on the soundtrack to Billy: The Early Years, a Special Event nominee. Vince is part of the crew featured on Country Bluegrass Homecoming Volume One, likewise among the finalists for the same award.
For their contributions to How Great Thou Art, Billy or Country Bluegrass Homecoming, a bevy of other artists were also featured on the Dove nominations list, including such well-known country stars as Brooks & Dunn, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Loretta Lynn, Trace Adkins, Ronnie Milsap, Ricky Skaggs, the Whites, Patty Loveless and Marty Stuart.
Randy Travis’ Around The Bend and Richie McDonald’s I Turn To You are among the five finalists for Best Country Album, while George Strait’s "I Saw God Today" — written by Monty Criswell, Wade Kirby and Rodney Clawson — got a nod for Best Country Recorded Song. Its competition includes the Oak Ridge Boys’ "Did I Make A Difference," written by Rob Crosby and Bill Anderson; and the Gaither Vocal Band’s "Jesus And John Wayne," whose four writers include Doug Johnson and Kim Williams, who previously wrote Randy’s "Three Wooden Crosses."
Others on the list with country connections include:
• Sawyer Brown’s Mark Miller, producer of Casting Crowns’ Peace On Earth, up for Best Christmas Album. Casting Crowns earned a total of five nominations, tying the band for second place behind singer-songwriter Chris Tomlin, who received seven.
• Phil Madeira, nominated as a songwriter on Point Of Grace’s Country Recorded Song nominee "I Wish." Phil has contributed keyboards to hits by Toby Keith and Travis Tritt.
• Bluegrass music’s Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, who picked up three nominations.
• Keyboard player Bernie Herms, nominated twice as a producer for his wife, Natalie Grant, who received a total of five nominations. Bernie’s worked as a musician on a raft of Brad Paisley hits, including "Wrapped Around," "Little Moments" and "I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)."
• Producer Brown Bannister, a double nominee. A veteran of the Christian music business, Brown also produced country hits in the 1980s and ‘90s for Kenny Rogers and Paul Overstreet.
• Former "American Idol" contestant Chris Sligh, nominated twice. He shares one of those nods with co-writer Clint Lagerberg for Song of the Year candidate "Empty Me." Chris and Clint co-wrote Rascal Flatts’ current country hit "Here Comes Goodbye."
The 40th annual Dove Awards will be presented April 23 at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House — the same place where GAC taped the How Great Thou Art special.
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