Dan + Shay Grew Up, Became Stars On Their Self-Titled Album

With the Academy of Country Music Awards coming April 7, we're looking at the Album of the Year nominees over the next few weeks. Here, we dive into Dan + Shay's self-titled album.

Shay Mooney said in June of 2018, “With this album, we really wanted to make something that was reflective of ourselves. And that’s obviously life-changing things that have happened to us, getting married and having a kid. It’s definitely life altering, and that goes into your music and we have songs that reflect that.”

In 2014, the guys released their debut album, Where It All Began, and immediately got a lot of  love (and airtime) from country radio, as their debut single “19 You & Me” broke the top ten.

A year later in 2015, the duo enjoyed number one chart success with “Nothin’ Like You,” followed by four more chart-toppers bringing us to their latest number one “Speechless.”

But it was  “Tequila,” from the self-titled album, that garnered them award nominations and a 2019 Grammy win. “Tequila” is also nominated for Single, Song of the Year and Music Video of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Dan Symers says of “Tequila,” which he co-wrote, “It tells a story, and that’s what fans connect we see it in our shows and we see it in social media. Immediately when we out that out we saw the fans resonating with the lyrics.”

The album is full of radio-friendly songs; the duo is also nominated for ACM Musical Event of The Year for their duet with Kelly Clarkson for “Keeping Score.”

Whether or not Dan + Shay win ACM’s Album of the Year, one thing is for sure: it’s been a career-changing project and deserves every ounce of metal it can get.

Other Nominees for the Academy of Country Music Awards’ Album of the year are: Eric Church's Desperate Man, Chris Stapleton's From A Room Vol.2, Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour and Dierks Bentley's The Mountain

The ACM Awards will air live on CBS on April 7, 2019 on CBS.

-Nancy Brooks