Country music star Carrie Underwood is set to host The 53rd Annual CMA Awards with special guest hosts Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, celebrating legendary women in country music throughout the ceremony.
“I was very pleased and happy and excited to hear the news that the CMA wanted to have this year’s show be focused on women in country music – past, present, future, all of us together standing united,” Carrie shares. “And of course, my special guest hosts are Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton. It does not get bigger than that or better than that. I feel like the three of us love what we do so much, and we love country music and it means something I feel like to have us up there on that stage kind of driving the bus for the evening and setting the tone. We just want to be respectful of our genre and of this awards show, because it’s so important to us, and shine a lot on what I think is the backbone of country music and that’s the females that have come before all of us and will come in the future.”
Combined, the three hosts hold 124 CMA Awards nominations and 22 total wins, 11 of which are for Female Vocalist of the Year. In addition, the three superstars hold a combined 14 nominations in the Entertainer of the Year category, with Parton receiving the award in 1978 and McEntire winning in 1986.
Carrie, who is poised to top the country charts with “Southbound,” has won seven CMA Awards, has sold 64 million records worldwide and recorded 26 No. 1 singles, 13 of which she co-wrote. Underwood has co-hosted the CMA Awards since 2008, creating an unforgettable legacy, from celebrating the 50th anniversary of the CMA Awards in 2016 to countless other highlights across the legendary broadcast’s history.
Carrie has three nods this year. She picks up her second nomination for Entertainer of the Year, and she notched her 14th consecutive nomination for Female Vocalist, a title she’s won five times, including last year. This marks her fifth nomination for Album of the Year with Cry Pretty.
