An undisputed country music legend tops the bill at this year’s ACM Awards.
Country Music Hall of Fame singer-songwriter and beloved entertainer Dolly Parton hosts the annual awards program, the Academy of Country Music said Thursday. The show takes place March 7 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, airing commercial-free for two hours beginning at 7 p.m. CST via Amazon Prime Video.
Show producers plan to announce co-hosts joining Parton in the near future, according to a news release.
“Watch for us because we’re going to have some fun,” Parton said in a statement.
Parton last hosted a country music awards program in 2019, co-anchoring the 53rd annual CMA Awards alongside Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood in Nashville.
She takes the reigns from country stars Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton, who co-hosted a pandemic-impacted 2021 show from Nashville.
The ACMs bring in an A-list country host on what hopes to be a landmark night for the program. Amazon exclusively broadcasts the show from Las Vegas, making it the first major awards program to cut ties with cable or network television to air via streaming.
Award shows in recent years have simulcast on network television and streaming platforms, but a ceremony hasn’t before cut the cable entirely from broadcast plans.
The move comes as the ACMs parted with television network CBS last year. Instead, CBS graduated the CMT Music Awards to network television, hosting the Nashville-based fan-voted show on April 11.
And Parton confirms her latest hosting gig on the heels of earning a nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which announced a class of 17 artists eligible for induction later this year.
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She joins Eminem, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, A Tribe Called Quest, Judas Priest and more. If inducted, she would join a rare class of artists — including Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and the Everly Brothers — to become members of both the Rock and Roll and Country Music Hall of Fame.
Parton hosting the show on March 7 coincides with releasing “Run, Rose, Run,” a novel co-written by the artist with best-selling author James Patterson. Parton releases an accompanying album of the same name on March 4.
ACM Awards nominees and performers plan to be announced in the coming days.