Tim McGraw (Photo: Gregg DeGuire)It's been a long and bumpy road along the way, but Tim McGraw finally has announced a release date for his first album on new label Big Machine Records. Appropriately enough, it's titled Two Lanes Of Freedom, and it'll be out on February 5.

The record is a welcome new start for McGraw, who has been embroiled in a long and still-churning legal battle with former label Curb Records. He received permission to record for another label back in November 2011, and signed formally with Big Machine in May 2012.

McGraw explains that the set is reflective of his own life at the moment: "It's about reflecting on old times with a sense of nostalgia, but it's also about creating new memories and living in the moment and looking towards the future. I am doing that in my own life and career now, and I can't wait for my fans to hear the single and album. It's an unbelievably exciting time for me!"

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Toby Keith (Photo: Scott Legato)Here's a surprising fact country music fans may not realize: Toby Keith has not been nominated for a Country Music Association Award in 7 whole years. He's up for one this year--his first nod since 2005--but that leads us to another surprising fact.

He's not going anywhere near the CMA Awards when they take place on Thursday.

"Hell no, I ain't showing up. I gotta go get a root canal that day, or something fun," the multiplatinum-selling star told Country Weekly this month.

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Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will have a lot on their minds on Thursday. They're co-hosting the Country Music Assn. awards for the fifth year in a row. In addition, Paisley is nominated for Entertainer of the Year for the eighth straight year, while Underwood is a finalist for Female Vocalist of the Year for the seventh year in a row.

By now, both artists are used to juggling their host duties and their hopes as nominees. Paisley won Male Vocalist of the Year the first two years he co-hosted the show and Entertainer of the Year the third. Underwood won Female Vocalist of the Year in 2008, which was the first year she co-hosted.

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CMA voters and country music fans are in agreement that the two greatest duets in country music history are Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton and Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn. Wagoner & Parton won the CMA Award for Vocal Group of the Year in 1968 and then took Vocal Duo of the Year in 1970 and 1971 (the first two years it was presented). Twitty & Lynn took Vocal Duo of the Year four years in a row from 1972 through 1975.

Both fabled twosomes also had tons of hits. Wagoner & Parton had 14 top 10 hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart from 1968 to 1980. Twitty & Lynn had 12 top 10 hits from 1971 to 1981.

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Hunter Hayes and Thompson Square may have a date with history when the CMA Awards are presented on Thursday. Hayes, 21, is vying to become the youngest male solo artist to win as New Artist of the Year. He would swipe the title from Bryan White, who was 22 when he won in 1996 (when the award was called the Horizon Award).

Thompson Square, which consists of Keifer and Shawna Thompson, is vying to become the first husband-wife duo to win in the category. The only other duo to win was the mother-daughter duo The Judds, who won in 1984.

This year's other nominees are Lee Brice, Brantley Gilbert and the duo Love and Theft.

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The CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year is most coveted award in country music. Just 30 acts have won the award through the years—21 male artists, six female artists, two groups and one duo. Garth Brooks and Kenny Chesney are tied for the most wins in the category (four each, though Chesney would take the lead if he wins this year). Barbara Mandrell and Taylor Swift are tied for the most wins by a female artist (two each, though Swift would take the lead is she wins this year).

In 1981, Mandrell became the first artist to win twice. In 1984, Alabama became the first artist to win three times. In 1998, Brooks became the first artist to win four times. (He was also the first artist to regain the title after losing it. Until then, once an artist's winning streak ended, that was it.)

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History may be made in several categories at the 46th annual Country Music Assn. Awards on Thursday. Kenny Chesney is vying for a record-setting fifth award as Entertainer of the Year. Chesney is currently tied for the lead with Garth Brooks, who took Entertainer of the Year four times between 1991 and 1998.

But to win, Chesney will have to get past the reigning champ, Taylor Swift. Swift, who also won in this category in 2009, is vying to become the first woman to take Entertainer of the Year three times. She would surpass Barbara Mandrell, who won twice in 1980-1981.

Eric Church's "Springsteen," which topped Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart for two weeks in June, is nominated for Single of the Year, Song of the Year and Music Video of the Year. It's the year's only work to receive nominations in all three categories. It's vying to become only the third hit in CMA history to sweep all three awards. The first two were Alan Jackson's "Chattahoochee" in 1993-1994 and Brooks &

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Rapper Snoop Dogg performs on stage during a concert in Arendal, some 250 km (155 miles) south of Oslo, June 28, 2012. REUTERS/Toer Erik Schroder/NTB ScanpixTwo unlikely artists are in the running for CMA Awards on Thursday. Pop veteran Kelly Clarkson is a surprise finalist for Female Vocalist of the Year. Rap icon Snoop Dogg is up for Musical Event of the Year for his role in Willie Nelson's "Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die," which also features Kris Kristofferson and Jamey Johnson. Snoop Dogg (a.k.a. Snoop Lion) has collaborated with everyone from Dr. Dre and Akon to Katy Perry and the Pussycat Dolls. But country is a stretch. He would be one of the most unlikely artists ever to win a CMA Award.

Clarkson and Jason Aldean won a CMA award at last year's show for their smash "Don't You Wanna Stay." The song, which spent three weeks at #1 on Hot Country Songs in March 2011, won as Musical Event of the Year. Clarkson landed her first major country hit in 2007 when she and Reba McEntire teamed for a duet version of Clarkson's 2005 pop hit "Because Of You." The remake reached #2 on the country chart and was nominated for a CMA Award. But

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