Country Chatter

53rd ACM Awards Adds Flashbacks and more Collaborations

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The Academy of Country Music announced more details on the collaborations and performances that will be taking place at the 53rd Annual ACM Awards this Sunday night (April 15).

Masking it’s debut at the awards show is “ACM Flashbacks,” to honor classic country music hits and artists. The new feature will celebrate hits from a specific year, or honor an individual artist and their accomplishments through unique collaborations and one-of-a-kind renditions of their iconic songs.

This year, the awards telecast will honor three of country music’s hit songs from 1993 with Toby Keith and Blake Shelton performing Keith’s celebrated No.1 debut single “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” Alan Jackson and Jon Pardi performing Jackson’s ACM Award-winning hit “Chattahoochee,” and Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson performing Reba’s Grammy Award-winning hit “Does He Love You.”

Additional collaborations include Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina performing the multi-platinum, No. 1 hit “What Ifs,” Keith Urban and Julia Michaels performing Urban’s new single “Coming Home,” plus previously announced Bebe Rexha with Florida Georgia Line performing the chart-topping hit “Meant to Be.”

Dan + Shay, Darius Rucker and Chris Young will join the lineup of previously announced solo performances by Lauren Alaina, Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Midland, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton, Brett Young and Carrie Underwood, who will be performing her latest single, “Cry Pretty.”.

Previously announced presenters include David Boreanaz, Drew Brees, AJ Buckley, Cam, Sam Elliot, Eve, Ashton Kutcher, Dustin Lynch, Nancy O’Dell, Rebecca Romijn, Max Thieriot and Lindsey Vonn.

The awards show is the first in Las Vegas since the mass shootings took place at the Rt. 91 Harvest Festival last year. Reba McEntire, who is the host of this year’s show, says there will be moments paying tribute to those who were lost in the attack.

“That is a very critical and important thing to do,” Reba says. “We do pay tribute, we pay honor to those who were victims of that shooting and then we remind everybody that we are Americans and we do not let that shut us down. We will go on, we will have a great time that night and we’re going to have fun for them and remember them.”

She adds, “We’ve got to be strong. Americans are strong. We’ve been through a lot of stuff where people have tried to tear us down and make us weaker, but we are not. We will gather up and huddle up. We will hug, we’ll remember, we’ll cry and we’ll move forward, but never will we ever forget what happened.”

The 53rd Annual ACM Awards will broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 15, at 8pm (ET) on CBS.

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