The 2011 CMT Music Awards, hosted by Kid Rock, air tonight live from Nashville at 8 pm ET.

Jimmy Buffett and the Zac Brown Band are nominated in the CMT Performance of the Year category for their collaboration on last year’s CMT Crossroads episode.

The CMT Performance of the Year category is for a musical performance on a television show, series or variety special on CMT.

Here are the nominees in the category:

• Martina McBride and Train – “A Broken Wing” from CMT Crossroads: Train and Martina McBride
• Reba McEntire – “If I Were a Boy” from Unplugged: Reba
• Darius Rucker and Adele – “Need You Now” from 2010 CMT Artists of the Year
• Keith Urban and John Mayer – “Sweet Thing” from CMT Crossroads: John Mayer and Keith Urban
• Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffett – “Margaritaville” from CMT Crossroads: Jimmy Buffett and Zac Brown Band

The Zac Brown Band is performing during the show. Their latest single, “Knee Deep,” is a duet with Buffett. Could Buffett make a surprise appearance and join them on stage? Tune in at 8 o’clock to watch!

CMT announced their nominees for the 2011 CMT Music Awards on Wednesday and Jimmy Buffett earned a nomination in the CMT Performance of the Year category for his CMT Crossroads episode with the Zac Brown Band.

The CMT Performance of the Year category is for a musical performance on a television show, series or variety special on CMT.

Here are the nominees in the category:

• Martina McBride and Train – “A Broken Wing” from CMT Crossroads: Train and Martina McBride
• Reba McEntire – “If I Were a Boy” from Unplugged: Reba
• Darius Rucker and Adele – “Need You Now” from 2010 CMT Artists of the Year
• Keith Urban and John Mayer – “Sweet Thing” from CMT Crossroads: John Mayer and Keith Urban
• Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffett – “Margaritaville” from CMT Crossroads: Jimmy Buffett and Zac Brown Band

The awards are entirely fan-voted, and voting is now open at CMT.com through June 7. So go vote for Jimmy!

See the full list of nominees here.

The show will take place in Nashville on June 8.

He’s won CMA’s Musician of the Year award three years running, and now Coral Reefer Mac McAnally’s home state of Mississippi has bestowed even more honors on the singer/songwriter:

First during a ceremony in Jackson, and emceed by Marty Stuart, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and the Mississippi Arts Commission presented McAnally with the 2011 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. A bronze cast statue designed by artist Bill Dunlap represents the distinction.

The next day, McAnally became only the sixth artist to be recognized with a marker on the Mississippi Country Music Trail. The marker was unveiled at the same city park in Belmont, MS where Mac once played as a child. He joins such music luminaries as Jimmie Rodgers and Marty Stuart.

“This is an amazing honor for me to be acknowledged in such a way by the state I grew up in and was inspired by,” McAnally said. “Music is a vital part of life in Mississippi—from the Delta blues to country to Southern rock. It seeps into your very soul. I am proud to have grown up in a state so rich in culture and with such an amazing and deep musical heritage.”

Music was a direct path for young Lyman “Mac” McAnally. Born in Red Bay Alabama and raised in Belmont, Mississippi, he was a guitar and piano prodigy performing in clubs at 13, writing songs at 15 and a Muscle Shoals studio mainstay by 18. He scored his own record deal by the age of 17 and was later touring as a member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, a position he holds to this day. As a songwriter, McAnally has scored numerous #1 hits, including Kenny Chesney’s 2009 #1 “Down The Road.”

Congrats Mac on another well-deserved honor!

The Country Music Association (CMA) held their 44th annual awards show on Wednesday night and Coral Reefer Band member Mac McAnally won Musician of the Year for the third straight year. The award was doled out before the show.

Mac beat out Paul Frankin, Dann Huff, Brent Mason, and Randy Scruggs for the honor.

In an interview last month, Mac described how humbled he was to win the award twice and be nominated again:

“I know we’ve had this conversation before, but I was flattered and felt unworthy to be nominated the first time and now I’ve won two,” McAnally said.

“Once again, I’m awfully grateful to be thought about in any positive light by my peers,” McAnally said.

“Playing music is my favorite thing to do,” he said. “It’s certainly not a bad thing to get called to do some more.”

Congrats Mac!

Coral Reefer Mac McAnally is very humbled by his CMA Musician of the Year nomination, an award he’s won the last two years. The Times Daily has an interview with Mac:

“I know we’ve had this conversation before, but I was flattered and felt unworthy to be nominated the first time and now I’ve won two,” McAnally said Friday during a telephone interview from San Francisco where he was preparing for a show with Jimmy Buffett.

The CMA Musician of the Year Award is given to studio musicians in recognition of their work in the past year, particularly with chart-topping songs.

McAnally speculated 2009’s win was the result of his studio work with Kenny Chesney on “Down the Road,” a song McAnally wrote more than 20 years ago. The previous year, he said it was likely because of his work with Buffett and George Strait.

“Once again, I’m awfully grateful to be thought about in any positive light by my peers,” McAnally said.

He normally is busy as a producer, performer and studio musician, but back-to-back CMA awards brought him telephone calls from artists he has not heard from previously.

“Playing music is my favorite thing to do,” he said. “It’s certainly not a bad thing to get called to do some more.”

He said this year’s nomination probably is linked to several things he did during the past year, including co-producing “Buffett Hotel” and work with George Strait as well as up-and-coming country artist and Alabama native Jamey Johnson.

“I’m not without a lot of work in the pile,” McAnally said.