First Round of Performers Announced for 54th Annual CMA Awards

The Country Music Association today announced the first round of performers for “The 54th Annual CMA Awards.” Hosts Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker will take the stage together for an emotional, groundbreaking tribute performance. Rucker will also take the stage with Lady A. 

Additional performances include Gabby Barrett feat. Charlie Puth, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde, Maren Morris, Rascal Flatts and Thomas Rhett feat. McEntire, Hillary Scott and Chris Tomlin.

“The 54th Annual CMA Awards” will mark the first time the biggest names in Country Music will come together—safely, all in one room—this year.

In celebratory fashion, this year’s show will honor the very best in the genre and deliver an unparalleled evening of entertainment and surprises. Country Music’s Biggest Night™ will broadcast live from Nashville’s Music City Center Wednesday, Nov. 11 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on ABC.

“We are thrilled to have this incredible group of artists taking the stage at the CMA Awards this year! It is a privilege to bring these live performances to our viewing audience with the energy and excitement that the CMA Awards are known for,” says Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “And although the show will feel a bit more intimate this year, we look forward to hosting our nominated artists and their guests as we celebrate the best of Country Music in a fully safe and physically distant environment. It will be an honor to bring the biggest Country stars in the world together – in one room – for the first time this year. You won’t want to miss it!”

This year’s performers range from all-time CMA Awards record breakers to those enjoying their first-ever nomination. Two-time CMA Awards nominee this year Barrett will be joined by Puth, making his CMA Awards debut to perform Barrett’s CMA Single of the Year nominated “I Hope.” Two-time nominee this year Thomas Rhett performs his CMA Musical Event of the Year nominated “Be A Light” alongside McEntire, Scott and Tomlin. McEntire will also be joined by Rucker for a showstopping collaboration, while Rucker enlists nominees Lady A to perform his new single “Beers & Sunshine.”  

With two nominations this year, Church will perform “Hell of a View,” while six-time nominated Combs will perform “Cold As You.” Nominees Florida Georgia Line will perform “Long Live,” while Lambert, this year’s top nominee with seven nominations, will perform “Settling Down” from her CMA Album of the Year nominated album Wildcard. Reigning CMA New Artist of the Year and three-time nominee this year McBryde will perform “One Night Standards” from her CMA Album of the Year nominated album Never Will. Morris, a five-time nominee this year, will perform her CMA Single and Song of the Year nominated “The Bones.” And nominees Rascal Flatts will take the stage to perform “Bless the Broken Road.” Additional performers and presenters will be revealed soon. 

“The 54th Annual CMA Awards” is a production of the Country Music Association. Robert Deaton is the Executive Producer, Alan Carter is the Director and David Wild is the Head Writer.  

For more information about “The 54th Annual CMA Awards,” visit CMAawards.com and follow CMA on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Dierks Bentley Returns With New Single “Gone”

“One of Country music’s most adventurous artists” (Billboard), Dierks Bentley is back with the release of his new single “Gone” (Capitol Records Nashville) today. Grounded by the unmistakable grit in his vocal and driven by an aching groove that builds into an infectious chorus, it’s a heartbreak story with big effect. Bentley will perform “Gone” for the first time during the 2020 iHeartCountry Festival tomorrow (10/23 at 7:00P CT on LiveXLive) and the new single is now available at Country Radio and all digital partners.

“Country music is the best genre for storytelling, and I feel like we are realizing it probably now more than ever since we can’t congregate together at concerts, high five each other, sing and shout at the top of our lungs. A good country show is just about the greatest communion there is out there,” Bentley said. “We are all relying on lyrics and melodies at home and trying however we can to find different ways to connect with our fans, so that they know how important they still are to us. I hope this song resonates with mine, and I’m counting the days until we can all be back together again, beers in the air.”

Written by Nicolle Galyon, Ben Johnson and Niko Moon and produced by David Garcia, Bentley again finds himself pushing new sonic territory. This time by layering dobro, piano and guitar sounds with the same fearlessness that has won him both critical acclaim and commercial viability over the last nine albums and 19 No. One hits.

For more information visit www.dierks.com.

Garth Brooks’ “Shallow” Duet With Trisha Yearwood Impacts Country Radio

Garth Brooks is meeting overwhelming fan demand today as he makes “Shallow” (the duet with Trisha Yearwood) officially available at country radio today, and now streaming only on Amazon Music here.  Brooks and Yearwood initially performed the track based on a fan’s request during a live Facebook performance and then again on their CBS Special “Garth & Trisha Live!”

Their moving performance of the track, best-known from the film “A Star Is Born,” sparked an onslaught of support to officially record it and release it as a single. The song will appear on Brooks’ anticipated 14-song studio album FUN, which is set for release on November 20th and also features Brooks’ recent top 5 single DIVE BAR, his “rowdy” (Rolling Stone) and “anthemic” (Billboard) collaboration with Blake Shelton, as well as “All Day Long” and “Stronger Than Me.” 

Recently honored with Billboard’s“Music Icon Award,” Brooks will also release TRIPLE LIVE DELUXE on November 20th. Featuring 30 tracks, the album takes fans on a journey through Brooks’ three and a half year record breaking Garth Brooks World Tour with Trisha Yearwood, as well as tracks from his record-shattering Stadium Tour.  FUN and TRIPLE LIVE DELUXE are available for pre-order at amazon.com/garthbrooks. The entire catalog from the best-selling solo artist in U.S. history, including all 16 albums, is exclusively available to stream on Amazon Music. Brooks will discuss both projects in a live, interactive event Monday evening (7:00pm ET/6:00pm CT) on GarthBrooks.com and the TalkShopLive platform. 

“From the moment Ms. Yearwood and I first performed ’Shallow’ we have just had so much FUN with performing it, and so have the fans, that it just felt right to share this with country radio,” explained Brooks. “Getting to sing this duet with the queen is really special and it’s nice way to work up to the release of my album FUN coming out next month.” 

Winners of the 2020 CMT Music Awards

CMT revealed the winners of the “2020 CMT Music Awards” following an epic night for country music’s only entirely fan-voted awards show.

Country music superstar Carrie Underwood took home the most awards of the evening, including the highly coveted “Video of The Year” and “Female Video of the Year” for the second consecutive year. Underwood continues her reign as the most awarded artist in CMT history, now with 22 career wins.

Additionally, it was a year of first for three artists, as Gabby Barrett scored her first win for “Breakthrough Video of the Year,” presented by past category winner Taylor Swift; Chris Young took home his first CMT trophy for “CMT Performance of the Year;” and Gwen Stefani took home a win for “Collaborative Video of the Year” alongside seven-time CMT Awards winner Blake Shelton.

“2020 CMT Music Awards” Winners:
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Carrie Underwood – “Drinking Alone”

FEMALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Carrie Underwood – “Drinking Alone”

MALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Luke Bryan – “One Margarita”

GROUP VIDEO OF THE YEAR 
Old Dominion – “One Man Band”

DUO VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Dan + Shay – “I Should Probably Go To Bed”

BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Gabby Barrett – “I Hope”

COLLABORATIVE VIDEO OF THE YEAR 
Blake Shelton with Gwen Stefani – “Nobody But You”

CMT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
From CMT Artists of the Year: Chris Young – “Drowning”

CMT EQUAL PLAY AWARD
Jennifer Nettles

QUARANTINE VIDEO OF THE YEAR (SOCIAL ONLY AWARD)
Granger Smith – “DON’T COUGH ON ME!”

The “2020 CMT Music Awards” aired Wednesday, October 21st at 8:00PM ET/7:00PM CT on CMT, MTV, MTV2, Logo, Paramount Network, Pop and TV Land with performances from Ashley McBryde, Dan + Shay, Gabby Barrett, Jimmie Allen + Noah Cyrus, Kelsea Ballerini + Halsey, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs + Brooks & Dunn, Maren Morris, Morgan Wallen, Sam Hunt and Shania Twain. Breakout stars Caylee Hammack, HARDY, Ingrid Andress, Mickey Guyton, Riley Green and Travis Denning also made their debut on the Ram Trucks Side Stage.

Hosted by Ashley McBryde, Kane Brown and Sarah Hyland, the awards show celebrated music’s biggest stars and brought Nashville’s one-of-a-kind energy to music fans across the globe through epic outdoor performances in and around Music City.

Carrie Underwood Releases First Ever Holiday Album

Seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner Carrie Underwood, releases her first-ever Christmas album, My Gift, listen HERE.

My Gift features a combination of beloved traditional favorites celebrating the spiritual nature of the holiday, as well as several originals. Two of the new original songs are written by Underwood, frequent collaborator Brett James (“Jesus, Take the Wheel,” “Something In The Water”), and her Cry Pretty co-producer, David Garcia.  In addition to a very special appearance by Underwood’s 5-year-old son, Isaiah Fisher, on the holiday classic that inspired the album title, “Little Drummer Boy,” My Gift also features her first collaboration with Emmy, GRAMMY®, Oscar, and Tony Award-winner John Legend, on the original track, “Hallelujah,” written by Legend and Toby Gad (“All of Me”).

Carrie appeared on NBC’s TODAY to discuss My Gift as well as her historic ACM win and how she’s spending time with family this year, watch HERE. Carrie also shared that with the release of My Gift, she helped celebrate the season of giving through her C.A.T.S. Foundation (Checotah Animal, Town, and School Foundation). She recently donated $100,000 worth of Chromebooks and other supplies to the students in her hometown Checotah, Oklahoma school system (K-12) to help during the pandemic, and has set up a website for fans to share their own stories about acts of kindness as well as examples of how we can all inspire others by paying it forward. Go to umgn.us/SeasonOfGiving for more information.

Carrie is also set to star in an all-new holiday special, which will be available exclusively on HBO Max. She will appear with a live orchestra and choir, performing a combination of beloved traditional favorites celebrating the spiritual nature of the holiday, as well as new original material from My Gift. The Max Original special will be executive produced by Gary Goetzman and Tom Hanks for Playtone, along with Underwood and her manager, Ann Edelblute. The streamer will premiere the event this holiday season.

Fans can purchase new merchandise bundles in the Official My Gift store. My Gift is set to be released on vinyl October 30.

My Gift Track List
1. Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (Traditional)
2. O Come All Ye Faithful (Traditional)
3. Let There Be Peace (Carrie Underwood, Brett James, David Garcia)
4. Little Drummer Boy (featuring Isaiah Fisher) (Harry Simeone, Henry Onorati, Katherine Davis)
5. Sweet Baby Jesus (Carrie Underwood, Brett James, David Garcia)
6. Hallelujah (with John Legend) (John Stephens aka John Legend, Toby Gad)
7. O Holy Night (Traditional)
8. Mary, Did You Know? (Buddy Greene, Mark Lowry)
9. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin)
10. Away In A Manger (Traditional)
11. Silent Night (Traditional)