The short list of possible winners for the paired titles of Best 2020 Country Music Artist and Country Music Song has been announced and our ladies of country once again strongly dominate the podium.

The three finalists in the Best Country Music Artist (Tui award) category are Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders for their shared ‘Word Gets Around’ album, Katie Thompson with her third album ‘Bittersweet’, and relative newcomer Kendall Elise with her debut album release ‘Red Earth’ released in May 2019.

Katie Thompson features again as a finalist in the Best Country Music Song category with her comeback album’s definitive single West Coast. Tami Neilson has a better than average chance of winning though with two finalist songs, Any Fool With A Heart and Hey Bus Driver (both from her 2020 album ‘CHICKABOOM!’). The fourth song in the running is That Summer by Australia-domiciled Kaylee Bell who became the first Australasian artist to play C2C (Country to Country) London last year.

With Gore’s annual Queen’s Birthday weekend Gold Guitar celebrations cancelled due to Covid-19 the winners will instead be announced on Radio NZ’s Music 101 on Saturday 30 May.

Finalists for Recorded Music NZ Best Best Country Music Artist:

• Delaney Davidson & Barry Saunders – ‘Word Gets Around’
• Katie Thompson – ‘Bittersweet’
• Kendall Elise – ‘Red Earth’

Finalists for APRA Best Country Music Song:

• Tami Neilson – Any Fool With A Heart
• Tami Neilson – Hey Bus Driver
• Kaylee Bell – That Summer
  
• Katie Thompson – West Coast