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The nominations have been announced for the 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards.

Kenny Chesney leads with nine nominations.   Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, and Brad Paisley follow.

Check out the entire list of nominees here.

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Tomorrow is Friday meaning the #FridayFeature is coming. Any suggestions out there?

03-20 New Orleans, LA - Big Top 03-21 Tampa, FL - Crowbar 03-22 Orlando, FL - Will’s Pub 03-23 Atlanta, GA - 529 03-24 Johnson City, TN - The Hideaway 03-26 Raleigh, NC - Kings 03-27 Richmond, VA - Strange Matter 03-28 Baltimore, MD - Golden West 03-29 Washington, D.C. - DC9  03-30 Philadelphia, PA - Northstar Bar 03-31 Brooklyn, NY - Public Assembly

Via Facebook’s “Share” feature, you have probably bumped into a satirical motivational poster by now with this text:

PROCRASTINATION: “Hard Work Often Pays Off After Time, But Laziness Always Pays Off Now.”

On paper, this certainly shows with regard to the newly-released fifth single, “No Hurry”, from the industrious Zac Brown Band’s current album You Get What You Give: vying to tie Rodney Crowell’s record for most Billboard Hot Country Song #1 hits from a single album.

As you could indubitably guess from the title alone, this song depicts a passive protagonist whittling the day away and basking in faineancy without a care in the world. Lyrically, it regurgitates all-too-familiar images associated with relaxed, simple living. Old cane fishing pole? Check! Fold-up easy chair? Check! Hiding out from the “bossman”? Gotta have that, right?

It also follows an all-too-familiar narrative arc, where the first two verses are concerned with personal details, while the third and final verse moves onto more universal ruminations with regards to life and death (“Heaven knows that I ain’t perfect, I’ve raised a little cain. And I plan to raise a whole lot more, before I hear those angels sing…”)……..and feels the need to obligatorily exclaim “Gonna get right with the lord!” immediately after so not to, you know, displease the Focus On The Family types.

From the band that has already given us “Knee Deep” this time around, it sounds, straight-up, consonant to the band’s strengths. Who can go wrong with a harmless ditty that would probably make for a fine official anthem in observance of the Day After New Year’s Day, and the inevitable plentitude of nullified resolutions that appear in its wake?

So, lyrics aside………why does the band sound like it’s trying too hard here?

Ironically, Brown sounds as though he’s trying to give it his all vocally. By the time we reach the climatic final verse, he actually sounds like he’s rehearsing for a Bud Light “Real Men of Genius” television advertisement promo as opposed to singing an ode to quiet living (imagine that…….Zac Brown saluting Mister Croup-Preventing Skullcap Weaver………if not Mister Sweet Tea, Pecan Pie & Homemade Wine Fixer-Upper! ;) )

He certainly doesn’t sound laid-back by that point. He sounds like he’s starting to run a cold sweat. Which underscores the main reason I can’t seem to connect with this. The band actually makes procrastination sound……….dare I say it…………not any fun at all. Even funereal.

Jimmy De Martini provides another hearty helping of fiddle here that nevertheless only reinforces this lasting impression that the effort would sound better fitted to a late-autumn dirge than to the scents of early spring. Come on, fellas, you assured me before the only thing I ought to fear is if the tide is going to reach this easy chair!

Then again, as far as we know, perhaps that is the point. After all, “No Hurry”, punctuated by mournful fiddle throughout, may not be so much about celebrating procrastination than, from a more practical standpoint, accepting that we’d be fools not to worry about everything we can’t change in a more philosophical sense…….or else, in doing so, we would be fated to the tagline of another satirical, grimmer motivational poster on the issue of procrastination, depicting a dying goldfish in a dirty bowl:

PROCRASTINATION: “It’s, Hands-Down, Our Favorite Form Of Self-Sabotage”

Either way you skin it, “No Hurry” is a time-waster in that it fails to inspire either a rousing or reflective quality…….resulting in their weakest of ten singles to date. In spite of that, expect this to quite likely make history in making the Zac Brown Band the first group in the history of country music to produce five Billboard Hot Country Song #1s from a single album.

See, what did I tell you? Laziness Always Pays Off Now! Even for a band whose work ethic and rise to stardom has been anything BUT slothful.

Written by Zac Brown, Wyatt Durette, and James Otto

Grade: C

Listen: No Hurry

Whoa- New ♥ MY LOVE IS TRUE ♥ PDF is causing a stitcher stampede nearly crashing my site! http://t.co/F2zCNgzm #embroidery #patterns #diy

♥ MY LOVE IS TRUE ♥ > New PDF with lotsa pretty stitched pictures an stuff > > http://t.co/3JxVEwgd #embroidery #patterns...

Good x - x - x Morning x - x - x Stitchers! I have a new PDF pattern for you > > http://t.co/RukcF5q2

01-28 Brisbane, Australia - Laneway Festival  01-30 Auckland, Australia- Laneway Festival 02-03 Sydney, Australia -  Metro Theatre 02-04 Melbourne, Australia -  Laneway Festival 02-05 Sydney, Australia - Laneway Festival  02-09 Melbourne, Australia - Prince Bandroom 02-10 Adelaide, Australia - Laneway Festival  02-11 Perth, Australia - Laneway Festival 02-15 Lille, France -  Le Grand Mix * 02-16 Nantes, France - Stereolux * 02-17 Paris, France - La Machine * 02-18 Strasbourg, France - La Laiterie *  02-22 Sheffield, England - The Plug ^ 02-23 Manchester, England  HMV Ritz ^   02-24 Leeds, England - UNI Stylus ^ 02-26 Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches ^  02-27 Lancaster, England - Lancaster Library ^ 02-28 Nottingham, England - Rock City ^  02-29 Birmingham, England - HMV Library ^  03-01 London, England - Koko ^   03-06 Cologne, Germany - Gloria 03-07 Amsterdam, Netherlands - 5 Days Off  03-15-17 Austin, TX - SXSW 03-18 New Orleans, LA - Mardi Gras World  03-21 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge # 03-22 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade # 03-24 Tampa, FL - The Orpheum 03-25 Miami, FL - Ultra Music Festival 03-27 Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre # 03-28 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel # 03-30 Washington, DC - 930 Club % 03-31 Philadelphia, PA - TLA  % 04-02 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall Williamsburg (DJ set) ! 04-03 New York, NY - Webster Hall ! 04-04 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club  % 04-06 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues % 04-07 Chicago, IL - House of Blues % 04-08 Madison, Madison, WI - Majestic % 04-10 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre % 04-11 Aspen, CO - Belly Up % 04-13 San Diego, CA House of Blues # 04-14 Indio, CA - Coachella 04-16 San Francisco, CA - The independent # 04-18 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom # 04-21 Indio, CA - Coachella  05-06 Dublin, Ireland - Academy  06-01 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival 06-02 London, England - Field Day

* with Karin Park ^ with Disclosure  # with Machinedrum  % with Willis Earl Beal  ! with Sepalcure

#loveit RT @GraceMoulton: I grew up listening to the @dixiechicks and so will my kids #fact

I'll do a big gooey announcement tomorrow (but if you're smart you know where to find it before then). xo g'night stitchers xo@ebscrafts

There is a new one in there if you know what I mean. xo

RT @kglaurie: Forgive, sounds good. Forget, I'm not sure I could. They say time heals everything, But I'm still waiting @dixiechicks

@popptalk @craftninjas @thezenofmaking @Shemp3 @emjayecks @avgjanecrafter Coming right up! For early birds..er late owls ;)

Anybuddy wanna new pdf pattern?

@guerillagirl @rena_tom Yup.

01-27 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue 03-09 Minehead, England - All Tomorrow's Parties  03-26 Sevilla, Spain - Teatro Central 03-27 Barcelona, Spain - Apolo 03-28 Madrid, Spain - Teatro Kapital 03-29 Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Sala Capitol 03-30 San Sebastian, Spain - Kursaal 03-31 Madrid, Spain - Círculo de Bellas Artes 03-31 Toledo, Spain - Círculo de Arte de Toledo 04-02 Birmingham, England - Glee Club  04-03 London, England - Royal Festival Hall  04-10 Denver, CO - Ellie Caulkins Opera House ^ 04-11 Omaha, NE - Omaha Music Hall ^ 04-13 Louisville, KY - Louisville Palace ^ 04-14 Grand Rapids, MI - Covenant Fine Arts Center at Calvin College ^ 04-15 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre ^ 04-16 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre ^ 04-19 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall ^ 04-20 Montreal, Quebec - St. Jean Baptiste Church ^ 04-21 Boston, MA - Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre ^ 04-23 Providence, RI - Veterans Memorial Auditorium ^ 04-24 Buffalo, NY - Kleinhan's Music Hall ^ 04-25 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre ^

^ with Death Cab for Cutie

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D'oh! And there's @RenegadeCraft 's Sue Daly on the last page! Okay, I'm bought in, @Anthologymag I heart you.

Just finished looking at my first (gorgeous) issue of @Anthologymag and was so excited to see my friend Cathy! http://t.co/TQyMZpRG