Keith Urban ‘Still Working on’ ACM Awards Hosting Duties

Keith Urban was tapped as the host for the 2020 ACM Awards, which will take place on Sept. 16 in Nashville after originally being scheduled for April in Las Vegas. This year’s show will be the first time ever that the annual ceremony is broadcast from Music City, and the ACMs will take place at three iconic venues in Nashville; the Ryman Auditorium, The Bluebird Cafe and the Grand Ole Opry.

Speaking to Taste of Country Nights, Urban opened up about his upcoming gig, sharing that he’s still figuring out just what he’ll be doing as the host of the first-ever virtual ACMs. “What my hosting duties are gonna be, I’m still working on right now,” he said. “We’re still piecing this all together. I love the fact that we’re going to do it in Nashville; I love that it’s going ahead. Here we are in September — ACMs in September is a first. I love that we’re going to be doing it in a few amazing places.”

“I’m going to be hosting from Grand Ole Opry House and crossing over to some performances in the Bluebird Cafe and also Ryman Auditorium,” he continued. “So what’s great about this is, even though a lot of people won’t be able to come — and obviously we can’t have people in the audience — there’s going to be a lot of people around the world that get to see these places that have never seen them before.”

All of the performers for the show have officially been announced and a group of artists will perform from each venue. Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Mickey Guyton and Morgan Wallen will perform at the Opry, Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Riley Green, Maren Morris, Old Dominion, and Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi, and Tenille Townes will take the stage at the Ryman and Jimmie Allen, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert featuring songwriters Natalie Hemby and Luke Dick, and Tim McGraw will perform from The Bluebird Cafe.

“We want to ensure the safety of our artists and industry, and to ease the burdens of traveling large teams; therefore, we decided to bring the ACM Awards to them this September in Nashville,” Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music, previously said in a statement. “Now, more than ever is the time to bring our community together to honor the best in our genre, and there is no more special place to do that than three of the most revered venues in Country Music – The Grand Ole Opry House, The Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Cafe.”

The 2020 ACM Awards, “A Night of Heart and Hits,” will air live on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and will be available to stream on demand on CBS All Access.