"I was absolutely surprised when I heard the news and I’m thrilled to be nominated for this award," stated Holden from Boston where Movin’ Out performs through April 10. "It’s an honor to be in the company of such wonderfully talented performers."

Holden will go up against such country names as Tim McGraw and Toby Keith for the Best Country Male Artist award. His album "Live & Learn" was released by Doubledee and has a single, "Wherever You Are," currently in the top 30 of country music charts. For more information on Holden, check out www.darrenholden.com.

Holden, who performed with the Broadway show sporadically as understudy to Michael Cavanaugh, kicked off the national tour for Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp's Movin' Out from Detroit's Fisher Theatre, Jan. 26.

The bookless show, currently residing at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre, uses Joel's song lyrics and Tharp's choreography to tell the story of five friends and lovers across three decades through love, war and loss. There is no dialogue and all songs are performed by pianist-singer Michael Cavanaugh, who sings non-stop and heads an on-stage band during the show.

The songlist includes many of Joel's hit songs and even interpolates some of his classical work. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" functions as a sort of overture, introducing the characters. The story kicks off with "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and moves through other songs as the popular "We Didn't Start the Fire," "Big Shot," "Uptown Girl" and "Captain Jack," as well as more obscure early work like "James," "Summer, Highland Falls," and "Angry Young Man." Producers of the Broadway run — James L. Nederlander, Hal Luftig, Scott E. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Clear Channel Entertainment and Emanuel Azenberg — also present the current tour.

For more information and updates on the tour, visit www.movinoutonbroadway.com/tour.