Pistol Annies

Pistol Annies and Miranda Lambert Dominate the Nashville Scene's 12th Annual Country Music Critics Poll

Thursday, January 26, 2012

The 77 writers from all over North America who voted in the 12th annual Country Music Critics Poll named Miranda Lambert Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. Her trio, the Pistol Annies, won Group or Duo of the Year, Best New Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for Hell on Heels. The title track from that album was voted #2 Best Single, while Lambert's  “Baggage Claim” was #3.

There are other winners: Kenny Chesney & Grace Potter's “You and Tequila” was the #1 Best Single. Johnny Cash has the #1 and #5 Best Reissues. Eric Church was the Best Male Vocalist and had the #3 Best Album with Chief. Brad Paisley was the Best Live Act and had the #7 Best Album with This Is Country Music. Hayes Carll was the top alt-country vote-getter as the #2 Songwriter and with the #4 Best Album, KMAG YOYO. Nashville’s Civil Wars were the #2 New Act and had the #5 Best Album with Barton Hollow.

But the poll was dominated by Lambert’s solo and trio projects. Nashville Scene cover story will provide much more than just the results. Geoffrey Himes, who conducts the poll each year, tries to make sense of the voting with a long essay and an interview with Lambert. There are also comments from many of the voters as well as a chart comparing the poll results to the artists’ Billboard rankings.

The voters included writers from such high-profile publications as the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, CMA Close-up, Billboard, People, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, Rolling Stone, National Public Radio, Country Weekly and the Boston Globe. But the voters also came from such heartland publications as the Lincoln Journal Star, Memphis Flyer, Georgia Music, Houston Chronicle, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader and Las Vegas Weekly.

View the stories online here.
View the Digital PDF here.