Month: March 2022

Backstage at the 57th ACM Awards at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Monday, reporters gathered in the first in-person press room since the start of the pandemic, while others joined virtually. 

Girl power seemed to be the theme of the night, as Female Artist winner Carly Pearce reminded the room that “the ladies are here to stay.” 

Lainey Wilson arrived to prove the point with trophies for both New Female Artist and Song of the Year for “Things a Man Oughta Know.” 

Single of the Year winner Jason Aldean admitted he was nervous for Carrie Underwood to make her dramatic aerial entrance from above, while Carrie herself revealed she was more than up for the challenge for the performance of their #1 hit, “If I Didn’t Love You.”

Meanwhile, Old Dominion front man Matthew Ramsey confessed five consecutive Group of the Year trophies do make the band anxious about whether their streak can continue. Vocal Duo winners Brothers Osborne reclaimed the title, after relinquishing the crown to Dan + Shay for several years. 

New Male Artist Parker McCollum revealed it was the ACM’s decision to have him sing his breakthrough #1, “Pretty Heart,” instead of his current hit, “To Be Loved by You.” 

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Hey country stars — if you’re ever considering not showing up at a major awards ceremony, just think about Miranda Lambert.  The superstar singer missed the Academy of Country Music Awards for the first time in 17 years Monday night… and ended up winning Entertainer of the Year for the very first time.

Miranda was in London when Dolly Parton announced the news, and in a video message, she said, “I cannot believe I’m not there to celebrate!” It was Miranda’s sixth time being nominated in that category and she said, “I never thought it would happen, but thank you so much to the country music family for embracing me all these years.” 

Miranda is the first female artist to win the award solely on her own since Taylor Swift in 2012; in 2020, Carrie Underwood and Thomas Rhett tied for the trophy.  She and Elle King also won the Video of the Year award for “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home).”

Embattled singer Morgan Wallen won the Album of the Year trophy for Dangerous: The Double Album, and thanked “everyone who’s shown me grace along the way.” He also addressed his fans, who kept the album at number one for weeks, by saying forcefully, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I’m blown away by you guys.”

The night’s other big winners were Chris Stapleton and Carly Pearce for Male and Female Artist of the Year, Old Dominion for Group of the Year and Brothers Osborne for Duo of the Year.

Lainey Wilson, who was named New Female Artist ahead of the ceremony, also won Song of the Year for “Things a Man Oughta Know,” and started her speech by saying, “Holy moly! Country music is my life!” In his acceptance speech, Chris Stapleton gave a rare shout-out to his kids and, in an awards show first, two of them were even seen on camera.

The show, which streamed commercial-free on Amazon Prime Video from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, was co-hosted by Dolly Parton, Gabby Barrett and Jimmie Allen. Dolly kicked off the proceedings by saying that, despite the fact that she’d “rather pass a kidney stone” than get political, she wanted to “send love and hope to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.”

“Why don’t we dedicate this entire show to them and pray for peace around this crazy ol’ world?” she added. Later, at the podium, Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey said, “I'm so thankful that Dolly said what she said at the beginning,” noting that “it felt a little weird” to be having fun at an awards show while “there are people fighting for their lives.”

No commercials meant the show was able to pack in the music, at one point giving us 35 straight minutes of performances. Standouts included Chris Stapleton’s powerful rendition of “Watch You Burn,” written about the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting; Eric Church‘s 16-song medley of hits from his entire career; Kelly Clarkson‘s note-perfect rendition of Dolly’s classic song “I Will Always Love You;” Breland and Thomas Rhett teaming for “Praise the Lord;” Gabby Barrett’s cover of Lee Ann Womack‘s classic “I Hope You Dance” and Brothers Osborne and Brittney Spencer closing the show with “These Boots Are Made for Walkin.'”

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Presale tickets for Maren Morris‘ Humble Quest Tour will be available to members of her fan club starting Tuesday at 8 a.m. local time and until Thursday at 10 p.m. local time. 

Jon Pardi set a personal record with his headlining performance at Rodeo Houston over the weekend, performing for nearly 73,000 fans. 

Brett Young has shared a behind-the-scenes clip of shooting the video for his latest single, “You Didn’t.” 

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Thomas Rhett is the reigning ACM Male Artist of the Year, and he’s nominated again this year, but he’s not expecting to hang onto the title.

“It would be shocking,” the singer admits. “I’m always very thrilled to be nominated, but man, when you’re in these categories with these other people, you’re just like, ‘Man, these people are amazing.'”

To win again this year, Thomas would have to beat out Luke Combs, Jimmie Allen, Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen — some tough competition. TR’s been working hard to win his spot in the nominees list, though, he explains. Specifically, he’s always working on honing his vocal skills.

“I’ve worked on it a bunch,” he reveals. “I think I was naturally an OK singer, but I would say over the last few years I’ve worked really hard, just with a coach…learning how to get my range a little bit more up and down, and learning how to use different parts of my voice. And I think it’s translated a little bit.”

Fans can see his hard work in action tonight when he performs at the ACM Awards. The show starts at 8 p.m. ET, and will stream live from Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on Amazon Prime Video. Dolly Parton, Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett will co-host the show.

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Reunited, and it feels so good! 

Ahead of the 2022 ACM Awards, Carrie Underwood says she’s most excited about reconnecting with her peers, as country music takes over Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. 

“I think what excites me most about being at the ACMs this year is that we’re all together. We’re in Vegas, we’re in this gorgeous, beautiful, giant space and I feel like everybody’s just rising to the occasion of filling this space and I’m just really excited to be a part of it,” the superstar shares with ET Canada. “I’m glad we’re all together and going to have some fun.”

Carrie’s nominated for the show’s top award, Entertainer of the Year, along with Single of the Year, Music Event of the Year and Video of the Year for her duet with Jason Aldean on “If I Didn’t Love You.” 

“I just expect for everyone to bring their A-games to this stadium and big performances, and obviously celebrating a great year in country music,” Carrie adds.

The “Before He Cheats” hitmaker will perform when the 57th annual ACM Awards air live on Amazon Prime Video tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

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Maren Morris‘ new single, “Circles Around This Town,” will get the Vegas treatment tonight when she performs its TV debut at the 2022 ACM Awards.

The show is taking place at Allegiant Stadium, a venue that, Maren says, was pretty dazzling even during rehearsals. “It’s beautiful, and the stage that we’re performing it on is so high up, it almost popped my ears,” Maren explains.

In fact, the stage is so massive that it was even a little daunting to a seasoned pro like Maren. “It’s kind of overwhelming how big it is in there,” she admits.

Still, once the crowd and her country-star peers assemble for the big night, Maren says it’s sure to be an unforgettable experience. “It’s very crazy, but so epic, and the whole window wall is behind us, so you just see the [Las Vegas] Strip,” she describes. “It’s gonna be beautiful.”

In addition to her performance, Maren is a nominee at tonight’s awards show. The event starts at 8 p.m. ET, and it’ll stream on Amazon Prime Video. Dolly Parton, Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett are co-hosting the show.

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Chris Stapleton is offering a very special performance at the 2022 ACM Awards with “Watch You Burn.” 

The singer is using his time in the spotlight to pay tribute to the victims of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. In the early hours of the morning on October 1, a gunman fired into the crowd of country music fans gathered to watch Jason Aldean‘s set, causing the death of 60 people and injuring hundreds of others. 

Chris wrote “Watch you Burn” about the tragedy for his 2020 album, Starting Over. The song features such lyrics as, “Only a coward would pick up a gun / And shoot up a crowd trying to have fun / Now the Vegas lights, they won’t lose their glow / And the band will play and go on with the show.” 

“[Tonight] we’ll be performing ‘Watch You Burn,’ which is a song that I wrote with Mike Campbell about the shooting that happened here during the country music festival,” Chris shares with People. 

The live TV debut of the moving number also will feature a choir and surprise collaborator. 

Chris earned four ACM nominations this year: Entertainer of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Single of the Year for “You Should Probably Leave,” and Video of the Year as a featured guest on Taylor Swift‘s “I Bet You Think About Me.”

The ACM Awards air live from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video.

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Jordan Davis and Luke Bryan's “Buy Dirt” is heading into tonight's ACM Awards ceremony nominated in three categories, and though Luke isn't the primary artist or a writer on the song, he says its message is enormously important to him.

“[Jordan is] so amazing at all this and having so much fun, and I am, too,” Luke says ahead of the show. “That song is really important for me to be on, too. I'm really honored to be a part of it.”

Luke's been lucky enough to put out many songs that are special to him over the course of his career, but he knows it's never a given that a special song will get recognition at an awards show. One example that comes to mind is his chart-topping 2013 ballad, “Drink a Beer.” The song reflects on the loss of a loved one, a pain that Luke knows all too well — when he performed it at the 2013 CMA Awards, he dedicated it to his late siblings, Chris and Kelly.

But “Drink a Beer” was never nominated at an awards show, though in Luke's opinion, it “probably should have been nominated for some stuff,” or even “won Song of the Year.”

Luke has learned never to take awards show recognition for ganted, which makes “Buy Dirt”'s multiple mentions all the more special. “It's always amazing to have the opportunity to try to win one of these awards,” he notes.

The ACMs will stream tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video. Dolly Parton is co-hosting the event with Gabby Barrett and Jimmie Allen.

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