Lady Antebellum Join Nashville Gala for Grammy Nominees

Nashville had plenty to celebrate Tuesday night (January 18) at this year's star-studded Grammy Awards nomination bash at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza downtown. The worlds of country, rock, pop, bluegrass, jazz, and classical collided and commingled to applaud the numerous Grammy nods scored by acts based in Music City. The city definitely lived up to that name, with artists ranging from Lady Antebellum and Kings of Leon to Paramore, Dierks Bentley, and Patrick Carney of the Black Keys on hand for the gala event.

Record label heads, artists, managers, agents, publicists, publishers and even Nashville Mayor Karl Dean all filed into one of the hotel ballrooms to eat, drink, and celebrate the remarkable depth and breadth of Nashville's Grammy nominees this year. Recording Academy Chair George Flanigen, renowned video producer and Grammy nominee himself, acknowledged the hometown artists' accolades during his welcome speech, reminding the packed house just how prestigious the nominations alone are within the music industry worldwide.

"Tonight we're here to honor the nominees for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards," George said as he welcomed the crowd, "and this year's Nashville nominations span over 35 categories. The Nashville community is represented in three out of the four overall categories, and the Nashville Symphony, for one recording, is nominated for five Grammys. Look around the room at the amazing and diverse work that pours out of this community. And for you first time nominees there's another distinction - from this moment on, you will forever carry a moniker - Grammy nominated - so it's Grammy-nominated Rivers Rutherford. It's Grammy-nominated Chris Young. It has a ring to it - it's pretty cool. So join me now and let's give all the nominees a round of applause. We hope to see everybody at the show. We'd love to see you there to find out who wins."

Music veterans Marty Stuart and Ricky Skaggs mingled throughout the evening next to first-time nominees and newcomers David Nail and the Band Perry, enjoying hors doeurves and champagne as they chatted about the upcoming February 13 gala, which will be telecast live on CBS. Country was well-represented at the evening's festivities, with Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Gretchen Wilson, Chris Young, Little Big Town, Ty Herndon, Jimmy Olander of Diamond Rio, Sam Bush, Jeff Hanna and Jett Williams all in attendance.

Lady Antebellum, who arrived at the party straight from the studio where they are currently laying down tracks for their third CD, came to celebrate their six Grammy nods this year. "To be nominated that many times and to be representing country music we feel pretty special about that and we'll probably be clapping for Eminem the whole night," Charles tells the Boot. "But we're gonna soak it in and enjoy the night and try not to put too much pressure on the night."

The trio confirmed exclusively to The Boot that they will also be among the acts performing on the Grammy telecast.

Gretchen, who received a Best Female Country Vocal Performance nomination for her song 'I'd Love To Be Your Last,' expressed her thrill at being included in such prestigious company and summed up what the nomination means to her as a longtime artist.

"I'm so proud that the Grammys believe in the creativity and the music, and you don't have to be the song that got worn out over the summer and then just makes you want to throw up every time you hear it now because they played it so many times -- you don't have to be that song. Sometimes you're watching the Grammys and you see somebody win and you go, who, and the what, and people are like, huh? But that's what's great about the Grammys, because it doesn't have to be the most popular, it doesn't have to be the one that sold the most records, it has to be the best song. And that is probably what I'm the most proud of tonight is just that I was capable of finding an amazing song. And that the songwriters were gracious enough to allow me to record it, and that my little bitty team of people believed in it this hard to work on it. And we're getting a little pat on the back, and that feels really good."

The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards will air live from Los Angeles on February 13, on CBS.