Daily Times (Primos, PA)

Underwood, Paisley celebratin­g a decade as CMA hosts

-

Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood are celebratin­g their 10-year anniversar­y — as hosts of the Country Music Associatio­n Awards.

The duo has hosted the show consecutiv­ely since 2008, and they returned Wednesday for the 2017 CMA Awards at the Bridgeston­e Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

While Underwood and Paisley planned to tell jokes, watch performanc­es and hand out awards, they also sought to honor the 58 people who were killed at a country music festival in Las Vegas last month.

“We can’t ignore that, but at the same time, I think it’s our job to use this as something that’s uplifting. This show can be a combinatio­n of entertainm­ent and therapy to some degree, and it feels like we’re going to do our best to honor those we’ve lost and also sing this music at the top of our lungs,” Paisley said.

Jason Aldean was performing at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Oct. 1 when a gunman fired on the crowd from a hotel room. Nearly 500 people were injured.

Underwood said country music wants to pay tribute to the victims and their families.

“You just want to be respectful and do it right. They’re a part of our country music family and we want the families to know that we care a lot,” she said.

Underwood will wear several hats during the show as host, performer and nominee. Last year she ended Miranda Lambert’s six-year streak as female vocalist of the year. Both singers are nominated for the award this year, along with Reba McEntire, Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini.

Nominees for the show’s top prize, entertaine­r of the year, include Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban, Eric Church and last year’s winner, Garth Brooks. Stapleton, Urban, Church, Thomas Rhett and Dierks Bentley are up for male vocalist of the year.

Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road,” which set a record for the most weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot country songs chart with 34, is nominated for single of the year and song of the year, a songwriter’s award. In the latter category, Hunt will compete with Taylor Swift, who wrote Little Big Town’s No. 1 hit “Better Man.”

Little Big Town is among the country stars set to perform during the three-hour show. Others include Brooks, Stapleton, Bryan, Lambert, Thomas Rhett and pop singer Pink.

The night will feature a number of collaborat­ive performanc­es, including Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Ballerini and McEntire, Maren Morris and Niall Horan of One Direction, Paisley and Kane Brown, and Bentley and Rascal Flatts.

Underwood said she’s most excited to see Alan Jackson, the artist she first saw live.

“I love it when legendary artists like him perform on the CMAs. I think in our world today and even in country music, it’s kind of like ... ‘Who’s new? Who’s hot? Who can we get for the show?’ And it’s nice when you can have somebody that can go up there and show us how it’s all done,” she said.

But Paisley said Underwood will have the night’s brightest performanc­e.

“I’m telling you if that’s not the No. 1 most-talked about thing the next day then I will be as wrong as I’ve ever been,” he said.

 ?? PHOTO BY WADE PAYNE — INVISION — AP, FILE ?? In this file photo, hosts Brad Paisley, left, and Carrie Underwood appear at the 48th annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn. Paisley and Underwood are celebratin­g their 10year anniversar­y as hosts of the Country Music Associatio­n Awards.
PHOTO BY WADE PAYNE — INVISION — AP, FILE In this file photo, hosts Brad Paisley, left, and Carrie Underwood appear at the 48th annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn. Paisley and Underwood are celebratin­g their 10year anniversar­y as hosts of the Country Music Associatio­n Awards.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States