Randy Rogers Band gets good news

The band learned of their nomination this morning while in a Los Angeles hotel room, where they spent the night after performing on Conan.

"It means the world to the band and crew," Rogers said. "We take this seriously, obviously, and it's our livelihood, so being included in a category that is recognized nationally like that is validating for us for sure."

"I am proud to represent all of the hard-working touring bands who are in the trenches playing 200 shows a year that have strong fan bases."

"It's been a crazy January because we didn't know any of this was coming down the pike at the end of the year," Rogers said. "Everything just happened and snowballed. We went to Colorado to the big music festival we do every year. On the way home, we heard about Leno, and it hasn't stopped since then. We are very thankful."

Rogers and the band attribute much of their success to their work ethic and loyal fans. "We have been playing now for 10 years," he said. "We have been touring more than 200 shows a year for the past 6 or 7 years. We have developed a fan base that has an identity. They know who they are and what they like, and they are opinionated. We have gotten to know them and we interact with them as much as we can on every level, through social media and at shows. We try to know who our fan is."

"They've given us the respect of sticking around for years and supporting us," he said. "They've helped grow our fan base for us, and that's very unique in a fan. We have fans that are aggressive about music and love music so much that they'll help try to be a part of the team."

The news arrived on the heels of last night's appearance on Conan, where the band performed Interstate off "Burning the Day."