There’s some excitement going around in the natural state! The official list of nominees for the 2024 Arkansas Country Music Awards was just announced this month on Thursday, February 8th! 

This year, the seventh annual Arkansas Country Music Awards will return for the fourth year in a row to the Reynolds Performance Hall on the University of Central Arkansas Campus in Conway, Arkansas on June 3rd, 2024! 

The list of nominees is continually evolving and this year is no different, as the list includes a lot of new names being included. In fact, it was said in a post, there is 50 first-time nominees featured on this year’s list. 

There’s five artists which leads the pack this year with four nominations each including, Marybeth Byrd, David Adam Byrnes, Cliff Prowse, Sylamore Special and Andy Wallis. Following right behind them with three nominations each is Big Shane Thornton, Justin Keith and Erin Enderlin. It’s wonderful news for Enderlin as it brings her to a record number of career nominations to 35 for the Arkansas Country Music Awards. 

The seventh annual Arkansas Country Music Awards had some minor changes in it’s categories this year, with the change of one category going from Steel/Dobro Player of the Year to becoming the Speciality/Utility Musician of the Year to feature more inclusivity of musicians of all types. “Now, all musicians, regardless of their instrument, will have a category for consideration,” said Vice President and Annual Co-Host of The Arkansas Country Music Awards, Charles Haymes. 

Along with that, comes the expansion with a new category, Music Collaboration of the Year. “The number of collaborations of multiple artists has increased to where a Music Collaboration of the Year category was necessary. And now with that, the Vocal Duo/Group category will solely be for the regular vocal duos and groups,” stated Charles Haymes. 

This year, the Arkansas Country Music Awards will be giving the Momentum Award to female country artist, Mae Estes. She is the second artist to receive this award. Along with that, the Lifetime Achievement award will be given to K.T. Oslin, Randy Goodrum and Wood Newton. They join previous Lifetime Achievement recipients including Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Conway Twitty, Charlie Rich, Floyd Cramer, Mark Wright, and Bob Robbins just to name a few. 

It was recently announced country music historian, Charles Haymes, who recently celebrated 30 years as a country music journalist and Miss Arkansas 2014, Ashton Gill would return to co-host the seventh annual Arkansas Country Music Awards this year! This will be a very interesting year for this special music event in the natural state! Final voting is determined by a special awards committee, who are each sent a final ballot, and a collective tally of fan, online voting. The fan portion of voting starts on March 1st-14th! Congratulations to all the nominees! See the full list of the 2024 Arkansas Country Music Awards Nominees here!

Entertainer Of The Year
David Adam Byrnes
Midnight South
Sylamore Special
Tom Yankton
Tyler Kinch

Americana Artist of the Year
Aaron Headley
Bonnie Montgomery
Eureka Strings
JD Clayton
Posey Hill

Bluegrass Artist of the Year
Arkansauce
Casey Penn
Front Porch
Sylamore Special
Tacie and the Sunshine Band

Country Artist of the Year
David Adam Byrnes
Erin Enderlin
Lance Carpenter
Marybeth Byrd
Ward Davis

Inspirational Artist of the Year
The Bilderbacks
The Butler Creek Boys
Josie Hargis
Ray Hollis
Sylamore Special

Female Vocalist of the Year
Alexis Wilkins
Erin Enderlin
Hannah Blaylock
Kelsey Lamb
Marybeth Byrd

Male Vocalist of the Year
Blane Howard
Cory Jackson
David Adam Byrnes
Jason Lee Campbell
Tyler Kinch

Acoustic Act of the Year
Aaron Headley
Ashtyn Barbaree
Common Roots
Markus Pearson
Nik & Sam

Vocal Duo/Group of the Year
Cliff & Susan
4Runner
Hayefield
Midnight South
Sylamore Special

Music Collaboration of the Year
“Good Clean Livin'” by Jon Bailey featuring Trey Pendley and Grace Stormont. Produced by Cliff Prowse.
“Just the Same” by Big Shane Thornton featuring Justin Keith and Andy Wallis. Produced by Andy Wallis.
“Other Side of Lonesome” by Kish Moody featuring Moonshine Mafia. Produced by Kish Moody and Bobby G. Rice.
“Whistle Whine” by Dillon Massengale & Junior Brown. Produced by Wayne Massengale, Melody Hart, Garrett Massengale and Dillon Massengale.
“Words Unspoken” by Jason Lee Campbell featuring Cris Mobley. Produced by Travis Mobley.

Album of the Year
“Boneheaded” by Eli Adams. Produced by Jason Weinheimer.
“Fiddle & Keys” by Cliff & Susan. Produced by Cliff Prowse and Larry Beaird.
“Free Country” by Adam Hambrick. Produced by AJ Pruis.
“The Greatest Is Love” by Brad Williams. Produced by Brad Williams.
“I’ve Seen a Lot of Highway” by Billy Don Burns. Produced by Denny Knight, Jerry Laseter and Billy Lawson.

Song of the Year
“Addicted” Written by Marybeth Byrd, Caryn Dixon, Callie Dixon, Gabe Neal, Libby Cummings and Dennis Cooke. Performed by Marybeth Byrd.
“Hey Maker” Written by Mason Horne, Heath Sanders and Casey Paraday. Performed by Mason Horne and Heath Sanders.
“If I Was Your Cowboy” Written by David Adam Byrnes and Wade Kirby. Performed by David Adam Byrnes.
“Just the Same” Written by Big Shane Thornton and Luke Williams. Performed by Big Shane Thornton featuring Justin Keith and Andy Wallis.
“Walk of Honor” Written by Pamela Hopkins, Anna Brinker and Lonnie Abbott. Performed by Pamela Hopkins.

Songwriter of the Year
Adam Hambrick
Candy Lee
Erin Enderlin
Lance Carpenter
Phil Evans

Music Producer of the Year
Andy Wallis
Anton Rasmussen
Cliff Prowse
Travis Mobley
Tyler Bell

Sound Engineer of the Year
Anton Rasmussen
Bryce Roberts
Darren Crisp
Jeremy Huddleston
Jon Raney

Promoter of the Year
Beth Brumley
Jon Walker
Lacy Hampton
Lucas Clonts
Rickey Crawford

Video of the Year
“Arkansas Is Nice” by Bailey Bigger. Directed by Josh Cannon.
“Boot ‘n’ Rally” by Blane Howard. Directed by Steve Jawn.
“Drive” by Tom Yankton. Directed by Micah Schweinsberg.
“Just the Same” by Big Shane Thornton featuring Justin Keith and Andy Wallis. Directed by Sharpe Dunaway.
“People Pleaser” by Marybeth Byrd. Directed by Donny Herndon, Callie Dixon and Libby Cummings.

Radio Station of the Year
KAMO, “Nash Icon 94.3,” Rogers
KBFC, “Delta Country 93.5,” Forrest City
KDXY, “The Fox 104.9,” Jonesboro
KHPQ, “Hot Country 92.1,” Clinton
KKYR, “Kicker 102.5,” Texarkana

Radio DJ of the Year
DJ Taylor, KSSN, Little Rock
Johnny Story, KCJC, Russellville
Lainey-Beth & The Chicken Hawk, KXRD, Fayetteville
Lisa Johnson, KHOZ, Harrison
Marty Scarbrough, KASU, Jonesboro

Publication/Blog/Podcast of the Year
AY Magazine
The C.L.I.M.B.
The CMBeat
Fayettetunes
The Payton Collier Podcast

Venue of the Year
The Collins Theater (Paragould)
The Hall (Little Rock)
Hempstead Hall (Hope)
The Majestic (Fort Smith)
The Ozark Highlands Theater (Mountain View)

Young Artist of the Year
Brody McKinney
Brooke Martin
Drew Pulliam
Grace Wells
Sofie and the New Relics

Bass Player of the Year
Dennis Crouch
Doug DeForest
Garrett Jones
Michael Rinne
Robert Akers

Drummer of the Year
Evan Hutchings
Kirby Bland
Mitch Trotter
Quinn Hill
Scott Gibson

Fiddle Player of the Year
George Mason
Jenee Fleenor
Michael Schembre
Nathan Agdeppa
Wayne Massengale

Guitar Player of the Year
Alex Carson
Darren Barry
Jake Stogdill
Jon Conley
Randall George

Specialty/Utility Musician of the Year
Charles M. Barnes
Harry Clark
Josh Matheny
Michael Heavner
Tim Crouch

Be sure to follow the Arkansas Country Music Awards on their social media including on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can learn more about the awards by visiting their website HERE.

What do you think about this year’s nominees for the 2024 Arkansas Country Music Awards? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave me a comment below or on social media!