The 54th annual Academy of Country Music Awards kicks off live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
The ceremony will once again be hosted by Reba McEntire, who has hosted the previous six ceremonies. It is the 16th time she has hosted the show.
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In a recent interview with Fox News, McEntire, 64, promised the ACMs will be an apolitical show, focusing on music instead of current events.
“When they asked me if I would host the ACMs, I said I will, but I want you to know right now no politics. This is not what we’re in here for,” the country music legend said. “We’re in here to honor the folks who have worked so hard all year long on their craft and their songs — we’re promoting them. Not politics.”
The ACMs also bring together Hollywood and Nashville for one night in a neutral location, McEntire noted.
“I love the ACM awards because they bring a little bit of Hollywood in with the country,” she told Fox News. “Nashville and Hollywood meet in Las Vegas — and it’s a fun show. Everybody leaves their homes. It’s not in Nashville. It’s not in Los Angeles. We come to Vegas to have a really good time, and Vegas is a wonderful place to have that.”
This year, Jason Aldean will be honored with the ACM Artist of the Decade. He also has a shot at the Entertainer of the Year award, which he has won the previous three years. The other nominees for the top prize are Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Luke Bryan, making 2019 the second consecutive year without a female singer nominated in the field.
The Male Artist of the Year field includes Stapleton, Urban, Thomas Rhett, Dierks Bentley and Luke Combs. Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Ashley McBryde, Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris were nominated for Female Artist of the Year.
Florida Georgia Line, Dan + Shay, Maddie & Tae, Brothers Osborne and LOCASH are up for Duo of the Year. The Group of the Year nominees are LANCO, Old Dominion, Midland, Little Big Town and Lady Antebellum.
Musgraves’ Golden Hour, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year in February, was nominated for Album of the Year. The other nominees in that field are Bentley’s The Mountain, Stapleton’s From A Room: Volume 2, Eric Church’s Desperate Man and Dan + Shay’s self-titled album.
The Song of the Year nominees are Kacey Musgraves’ “Space Cowboy,” Dan + Shay’s “Tequila,” “Yours” by Russell Ricerkson, “Broken Halos” by Stapleton, Cole Swindell’s “Break Up In The End” and Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be.”
This year’s performers are Aldean, Bendley, Brooks & Dunn, Brothers Osborne, Kane Brown, Brandi Carlile, Church, Kelly Clarkson, Luke Combs, Florida Georgia Line, Khalid, LANCO, Dan + Shay, Lambert, Little Big Town, McBryde, Morris, Rhett, Stapleton, George Strait and Carrie Underwood.
Photo credit: Cliff Lipson/CBS
