10/18/2010

Mac McAnally earns fourth straight CMA nomination!

Mac McAnally jokes he doesn’t have enough money to buy ads asking people not to vote for him for Country Music Association Musician of the Year.

After all, this is the fourth straight year he has been nominated for the award that he won in 2008 and 2009.

“I know we’ve had this conversation before, but I was flattered and felt unworthy to be nominated the first time and now I’ve won two,” McAnally said Friday during a telephone interview from San Francisco where he was preparing for a show with Jimmy Buffett.

McAnally, who splits his time between homes in Nashville and Sheffield, is a longtime member of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band.

The CMA Musician of the Year Award is given to studio musicians in recognition of their work in the past year, particularly with chart-topping songs.

The 44th CMA Awards show will be televised live on ABC from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Nov. 10. The show begins at 7 p.m.

McAnally speculated 2009’s win was the result of his studio work with Kenny Chesney on “Down the Road,” a song McAnally wrote more than 20 years ago. The previous year, he said it was likely because of his work with Buffett and George Strait.

McAnally and Chesney also were nominated but did not win the 2009 CMA “Musical Event of the Year” Award, again for “Down the Road.”

McAnally and Chesney received a 2009 Grammy Award nomination for “Best Country Collaboration with Vocals,” but did not win.

“Once again, I’m awfully grateful to be thought about in any positive light by my peers,” McAnally said.

He normally is busy as a producer, performer and studio musician, but back-to-back CMA awards brought him telephone calls from artists he has not heard from previously.

“Playing music is my favorite thing to do,” he said. “It’s certainly not a bad thing to get called to do some more.”

He said this year’s nomination probably is linked to several things he did during the past year, including co-producing “Buffett Hotel” and work with George Strait as well as up-and-coming country artist and Alabama native Jamey Johnson.

“I’m not without a lot of work in the pile,” McAnally said.

In 1981, Shoals songwriter Donnie Lowery and McAnally co-wrote “Old Flame,” which became a No. 1 hit for the country group Alabama.

“Mac is one of the most amazing musicians I’ve ever met and worked with, and I’ve worked with dozens of them,” Lowery said. “He never ceases to amaze me with his ability to work in the studio.”

Lowery said McAnally’s arrangements on the demo recording for “Old Flame” likely helped it get cut.

“It was all due to Mr. McAnally,” he said.

They also co-wrote “Tennessee” for Hank Williams Jr. and “Nickle Dreams,” which was recorded by several artists, including Reba McEntire.

McAnally also is an accomplished keyboard, mandolin and banjo player.

(read the original article here)

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