Garth Brooks Grateful to Not Be Nominated for a CMA Award

Garth Brooks has been nominated for a total of 33 CMA Awards, winning 13 trophies, including six times for Entertainer of the Year, a title he held for the last two years. But this year, perhaps surprisingly, Brooks failed to receive a single nomination – a fact that might have disappointed fans, but left Brooks elated.

"The fact that [I'm] not nominated for Entertainer of the Year is going to make it a much more fun night for me to relax and just enjoy it all," Brooks shared with PopCulture.com and other media. "So this is probably going to be my most enjoyable CMA [Awards] yet. Because I get to go with the love of my life, my best friend, we get dressed up and probably get to go to Taco Bell afterwards."

Brooks has already announced he will perform a song for his wife, Trisha Yearwood, an idea the CMAs initially turned down.

"The queen and I are going to be there," Brooks said. "We don't know what we're doing yet because the whole thing was, between you and me, there's a song that we cut about two months ago. Me and the five guys and the engineer. We won't play it for anybody else. It's a song, you're not going to believe it's written by guys. It's a song about the strength of a woman. And for me, it's stressful, it's tough."

Brooks proposed letting his wife of almost 13 years hear the song for the first time at the CMA Awards, which was initially rejected.

"What I offered to the CMAs was: let me sing this to her. She hadn't heard it, she won't hear it until that moment. Nobody will. They've been very sweet. They kind of came back and just said, 'Hey, look, something new, that's a ballad, probably doesn't work for us.' So, cool. I'll find some other way for her to hear it," he said.

The Country Music Association apparently had a change of heart, because Brooks later announced on Inside Studio G that he would, indeed, debut the song from stage.

Other performers during the star-studded night include Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs, Jason Aldean, Brett Young, Keith Urban, Florida Georgia Line, Pistol Annies, Midland, Dierks Bentley, Kelsea Ballerini and more.

The 2018 CMA Awards will air live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Michael Loccisano