CMT Artists of the Year 2014 - CountryMusicRocks.net

Music City will celebrate the successes of five of its own when the fifth annual CMT ARTISTS OF THE YEAR premieres LIVE, December 2 at 8:00 p.m. ET on both CMT and VH1. Honoring Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban, and hosted by Larry the Cable Guy, ARTISTS OF THE YEAR will feature live performances and special guests as each honoree is celebrated for his or her achievements over the past year.

Eric Church, Lady Antebellum, Chris Stapleton, Ashley Monroe, T Bone Burnett and Merle Haggard will appear. Slated to present at this year’s show are eight-time Entertainer of the Year and the only country artist in Billboard’s Top 10 live acts of the past 25 years Kenny Chesney; multiple Grammy-winning and Golden Globe nominated singer/songwriter and legendary frontman for pioneering rock bands Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple of the Dog, Chris Cornell; Grammy nominated and multi-platinum selling hip hop artist Wiz Khalifa; NASCAR driver Danica Patrick; and Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton.

Icon Merle Haggard will be in the audience to receive the “Artist of a Lifetime” award, the first time this award has ever been given. He will be honored by a special performance by Eric Church, Ashley Monroe and T Bone Burnett. Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton will present the award to Haggard.

Join the conversation on CMT.com/AOTY and the official Facebook page, or follow @CMT on Twitter using official hashtag #CMTAOTY.