Country Comes to Town

Didn't we just do all this?

Not the National Finals Rodeo, though a year does have a way of flying by. And on the Strip, rodeo week has fallen into a comedian-heavy routine of familiar headliners.

But a country music awards show at the MGM Grand Garden arena? No, it hasn't been a whole year since the Academy of Country Music festivities last April. And it hasn't even been a month since the Country Music Association awards from Nashville.

Neither is stopping the big names from reconvening at the MGM on Monday. This time, it's for a Fox start-up called the American Country Awards.

Producer Bob Bain used to helm the Billboard Music Awards, held in the same arena on the first Monday of each December for nine years, before it disappeared in 2007.

Bain said he told Fox executives, "I think we should do it in Vegas, and I think we should do it exactly when we used to do Billboard. Because when we were doing Billboard, we used to turn cowboy hats away.

"It's crazy not to go back to Las Vegas at this time of year. NFR is all over the place," he adds. "There are tons of people who would be interested in going to this as a live event. And as a television event, it's a great opportunity to sell country music product in the Christmas season."

There is talk of the ACMs jumping ship to Cowboys Stadium in Texas after next year. If this is a pre-emptive strike, grooming a successor for a post-ACM Vegas, nobody is saying it.

"The real impetus for this show in general came from Fox's success with the country audience on 'American Idol,' " Bain says. Carrie Underwood is the big star produced by the TV talent contest, but Kellie Pickler and other "Idol" alumni have helped expand the genre's increasingly younger fan base.

Fox sold Nashville on the network's young demographic and an "Idol"-like fan vote to pick the winners. (Only the Artist of the Year category remains open for voting today at www.theacas.com.)

"A lot of these artists almost immediately started blogging about it" to spread the word of the online poll, Bain says. "Artists want to win, like the rest of us."

And artists seldom have to be sold on Las Vegas.

"We are somewhere between very pleased and incredulous at how well this show is booking for the first year of a show that no one's every heard of," Bain says. "It's booking through the roof."

At least 13 performances are planned for a broadcast prioritizing singing over cue-card chatter. Trace Adkins hosts the affair that features music from Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, Reba McEntire, Josh Turner, Steel Magnolia and Uncle Kracker.

Alan Jackson, who must seem as old as Merle Haggard to Underwood-aged fans, will perform in conjunction with receiving the Greatest Hits Award.

Blake Shelton also sings on the broadcast at 5 p.m. (because it will air live on the East Coast) and then heads to the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay to host a musical after-party with "friends" (perhaps including fiancee Miranda Lambert?) at 8 p.m.

Among those making appearances are four stars you can see elsewhere during NFR week: singers Easton Corbin and Laura Bell Bundy, and comedians Jeff Dunham and Rodney Carrington.

NFR-Related entertainment highlights

■ Country comedy.

Jeff Dunham remembers years ago, he and Bill Engvall shared the same bill at the Riviera's (recently departed) comedy club. "He actually gave me a couple of jokes for Walter," the ventriloquist says of his cranky puppet sidekick.

Dunham missed the "Blue Collar Comedy" train Engvall rode to the big time. "I thought, 'This would be a great thing to be a part of, (but) I would have to force myself to fit that mold.' It would be changing who I am, and I wasn't quite sure if I really needed that."

He didn't, it seems, as Dunham pulls in for another show Saturday at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Engvall works the Treasure Island theater today, Thursday and Dec. 10.

Dunham's fans will see a new character, the son of Achmed the Dead Terrorist. Dunham was in his garage working on the figure as he chatted on the phone recently, gleefully describing it as "wrong, wrong, wrong."

Or at least half right. "The stupid joke is that Achmed took him to 'Take your kid to work day' and he supposedly didn't make it through that. What Achmed doesn't know is that AJ -- Achmed Junior -- actually did make it.

"Literally half his face is just like Achmed's, and the other half is human. The point of it is going to be it's this split personality. He's a really conflicted guy. Does he really love the Western world? Or does he need to do what his father has taught him?"

Other comedians hoping to rope in rodeo-goers include Rodney Carrington (Monday through Dec. 11 at the MGM Grand) and Ron White (today and Saturday, Dec. 10-11 at The Mirage).

■ Golden oldies.

The Golden Nugget goes classic country (on country radio, anything more than 6 years old is "classic") all week. Clay Walker, playing today and Saturday, has been playing during rodeo week since the mid-1990s. He's followed by Ronnie Milsap on Monday, John Michael Montgomery on Tuesday and Clint Black Dec. 9 and 10.

■ Gal pals.

Women have been the big story in country of late, and they're joining the party. Miranda Lambert is rodeo week's hottest star, with a Dec. 10 show at the Palms. She might want to bring a big tote bag to Monday's awards, having taken home three of the top prizes at the CMAs last month.

Laura Bell Bundy is the only country star who performed on Broadway, in "Legally Blonde" and "Hairspray," before releasing her debut album, "Achin' and Shakin'." She's at the Silverton today.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.