Martina McBride Says CMA Awards Nominations Mean More Later in Her Career

Martina McBride has been nominated for and won many CMA Awards during her 20-plus-year career. But as she told The Boot during 2014 CMA Awards week, the nominations and awards never get old -- in fact, McBride says she might actually appreciate them more now.

"[I] just come at it from a different perspective," the Female Vocalist of the Year-nominated songstress says. "You appreciate it more [when you get older], I think."

Part of the reason for the deepened appreciation, McBride thinks, is because the beginning of an artist's career can be "such a whirlwind," with so many other things happening.

"Everybody’s pulling at you in a million different directions, and sometimes I see new artists now, and I think to myself, ‘Oh, I just want to tell them to enjoy it because it goes by fast," she says. "You always appreciate things more, I think, as you do it longer."

But McBride says she still remembers her first win for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1999. It wasn't her first CMA win -- that came in 1994, with the Music Video of the Year Award, for 'Independence Day' -- but she hadn't won when previously nominated in the Female Vocalist category in 1996 and 1998.

“I just remember feeling like a princess, you know, just like, walking on air," McBride says. "It was just an amazing feeling because I’d watched the show since I was a kid and had big dreams, and to really actually hear them call your name and go up there on the stage, it’s so surreal and so exciting and amazing, and I’ll never forget it."

The fact that the CMA Awards are voted on by industry peers makes them extra special, McBride says.

"There’s something about when your peers notice what you do and like it and vote for you," she says. "It’s a great feeling."

The 2014 CMA Awards air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena tonight (Nov. 5) at 8PM ET on ABC.