The first group of performers for the 52nd annual CMA Awards has officially been announced, with big-name stars set to hit the stage in Nashville next month.
CMA Awards nominees Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Dan + Shay, Old Dominion and Keith Urban have been named as performers, as has the event’s co-host, Carrie Underwood.
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Ballerini is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year and Bryan for Entertainer of the Year, with Chesney also tapped as a nominee for Entertainer of the Year as well as Musical Event of the Year. Dan + Shay are nominated for Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year for their song “Tequila” as well as Vocal Duo of the Year, and group member Dan Smyers earned a nod for Song of the Year for helping to pen “Tequila.”
Old Dominion is up for Vocal Group of the Year and Urban for three awards — Male Vocalist of the Year, Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year for Graffiti U, while Underwood was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year.
Winners are determined by eligible CMA members, who will vote in a final round which ends on Oct. 24.
The show will be hosted by Underwood and Brad Paisley for the eleventh year in a row. As they have in years past, it’s definitely a possibility that the pair will take playful aim at one of their favorite celebrity targets, Tim McGraw, during their stint on stage.
“Tim and [wife] Faith [Hill] are good sports,” Underwood said in a clip posted to the CMA Insider Facebook page. “I like people that laugh at themselves.”
“Tim and Faith, Blake [Shelton], Luke [Bryan], they’re willing to just…they laugh,” she said, while Paisley added, “They’re good sports.”
For all their antics, Underwood joked, “I feel like they’re gonna get us back at some point.”
When the duo hosted the awards show in 2014, Paisley revealed live on-stage that Underwood was pregnant with a baby boy, so it’s also possible that Underwood will use this year’s ceremony to reveal the sex of her second child, which she and husband Mike Fisher know but have not yet shared.
“I feel like everybody knows so much about us,” she told E! News at CMT’s Artists of the Year event in Nashville on Wednesday. “We just kinda want to keep a little secret for a while.”
The 2018 CMA Awards will air live from Nashville on Nov. 14.
Photo Credit: Getty / Jason Kempin
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