LGBTQ+ Artists Earn Multiple 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards Noms

Call this the yeehawification of Out.com!

The nominees for the 57th annual Academy of Country Music Awards were announced this morning, and three out, queer stars made the cut. TJ Osborne, of Brothers Osborne fame, was nominated for Duo of the Year alongside his brother and bandmate John, Lily Rose was nominated for New Female Artist of the Year, and songwriter and producer Shane McAnally was nominated for four different awards.

McAnally was nominated for Album of the Year for producing Carly Pearce's album 29: Written in Stone, for Single of the Year for producing Walker Hayes' viral hit "Fancy Like," Music Event of the Year for producing "Never Wanted to Be That Girl" by Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde, and for Song of the Year for producing Morgan Wallen's "7 Summers."

McAnally has been an out country superstar producer for years. He's produced and written songs for artists like Walker Hayes, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Lady A, Kelsea Ballerini, Reba McEntire, The Band Perry, Kelly Clarkson, and Old Dominion.

One of his biggest claims to fame is producing and co-writing music with Kacey Musgraves. In 2014 he won two Grammy awards, Best Country Album and Best Country Song for his work on Same Trailer Different Park, and he again won a Grammy for Best Country Song for co-writing "Space Cowboy" in 2019.

McAnally is no stranger to the ACM Awards. He's been nominated 24 times before this year's ceremony, already winning four awards including Songwriter of the Year in both 2014 and 2019.

Brothers Osborne are also deeply familiar with the awards, having been nominated fifteen times since 2014, winning five awards. But this will be the first ACMs since TJ publicly came out. Last February, he announced in Time Magazine that he is gay. "I'm very comfortable being gay," he said at the time. "I find myself being guarded for not wanting to talk about something that I personally don't have a problem with. That feels so strange."

Georgia-based artist Lily Rose broke into the country music scene last year with her viral hit "Villain." She released a seven-song EP Stronger Than Me and was also nominated for a GLAAD Award this year for Breakthrough Music Artist.

Overall, Chris Young leads all artists at the ACMs with seven nominations, and Walker Hayes, Miranda Lambert, and Chris Stapleton each received five nominations. The ACM Awards will be held on Monday, March 7 at 8pm ET and will be live-streamed on Prime Video.

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