I’d be happy to see Jamey Johnson win whatever he’s nominated for – “In Color” might be one of the weaker tracks on that album (despite the Bill Anderson co-writing credit), but the rest of it towers over most of what’s on country radio and is so good that it’d be a shame if it didn’t take home some hardware.

The Academy Of Country Music Awards are essentially the American Music Awards to the Country Music Association Awards’ Grammys: Both came along a little later, and both seem to lack the prestige of their mainstream competitor. Still, even putting aside their very similar acronyms, the ACMs aren’t terribly distinctive from the CMAs.

You remember how “country” music used to be known as “country & western” music? According to always-right Wikipedia, the ACM was originally called the “Country & Western Music Academy” and was formed to promote recognition of “Western music” artists who felt they were being snubbed by the Nashville-based CMA. Nevertheless, a quick perusal of the lists of winners of each academy’s awards over the years shows little significant difference of winners in the major categories. So, you’re right — they really always have been duplicative.