NASHVILLE, TENN. —
Chris Stapleton and Eric Church are the highest nominees, Luke Combs might be in for a giant night time, and all three will take the stage to carry out Wednesday on the CMA Awards.
Stapleton and Church will likely be going toe-to-toe all night time on the ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee, with nominations in the identical 5 classes, together with entertainer of the 12 months, male vocalist of the 12 months, and album of the 12 months.
Combs might be named male vocalist of the 12 months for the third straight time, might take track of the 12 months for “Ceaselessly after All,” and will win entertainer of the 12 months for the primary time.
The fifty fifth annual CMA Awards, telecast on ABC and hosted by Luke Bryan, will symbolize a return to regular for the present. It is again in entrance of an viewers at its regular house, Nashville’s Bridgestone Enviornment, after final 12 months’s ceremony was held at a crowd-free Music Metropolis Heart due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, essentially the most nominated feminine artist in CMAs historical past, are additionally each up for entertainer of the 12 months. Both can be the primary lady to win the award since Taylor Swift in 2011.
In a 12 months when the key classes are dominated by male nominees, Gabby Barrett is the night time’s most nominated lady with 4 nods, together with feminine artist of the 12 months, new artist and single and track of the 12 months for her hit “The Good Ones.”
Underwood and Jason Aldean will headline a sequence of all-star collaborations as they carry out their present hit “If I Did not Love You.” Kane Brown and Chris Younger will sing their duet “Well-known Pals,” which is nominated in three classes.
Different performers embrace the Brothers Osborne, Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde, and Mickey Guyton with Brittney Spencer and Madeline Edwards.
Morgan Wallen, who was caught earlier this 12 months yelling a racial slur, is disqualified from many main awards and will not be in attendance, however might nonetheless find yourself with one of many night time’s greatest prizes after an album-of-the-year nomination for “Harmful: The Double Album,” which was among the many 12 months’s greatest promoting data.
The CMA Board of Administrators mentioned that Wallen, who in 2020 received new artist of the 12 months, wouldn’t be eligible for awards that honor the person, solely people who honor the work.
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Dalton reported from Los Angeles.
