The ACM Awards have been moved from April 5 to September 16 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
However, on April 5, CBS will air a taped special called "ACM Presents: Our Country" featuring at-home acoustic performances with top Country artists along with clips of their favorite ACM Awards moments. Will Shania take part in this special? We should find out who will be performing soon.
NEW AIR DATE ANNOUNCED FOR THE 55TH ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS™, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16 ON CBS
LOS ANGELES, CA (March 23, 2020) – The Academy of Country Music® and dick clark productions announced today that the 55TH ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS™ has set a new air date, Wednesday, Sept. 16 (live 8:00-11:00 PM ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network, and will stream live and on demand on CBS All Access. As previously announced, the 55th ACM Awards® that honors the biggest names and emerging talent in the Country Music industry, will be hosted by reigning ACM® Entertainer of the Year and 15-time ACM Award® winner Keith Urban for the first time.
As announced last week, the new special ACM PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY will be broadcast Sunday, April 5 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, the time period originally slated for the 55TH ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS. The new special will feature at-home acoustic performances with top Country artists along with clips of their favorite ACM Awards moments. It will be a night filled with entertainment, hope and reflection, bringing the healing power of music to Americans at a time when they need it most.
Additional details surrounding the 55th ACM Awards will be available soon, including the venue, performers and more. For more information, visit ACMcountry.com. You can also like Academy of Country Music on Facebook or follow on Twitter at @ACMawards, follow on Instagram at @ACMawards and sign up for the FREE ACM A-List for more immediate updates.
STAR-STUDDED LINEUP ANNOUNCED FOR “ACM® PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY,” A NEW TWO-HOUR SPECIAL AIRING SUNDAY, APRIL 5 AT 8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM CT ON CBS
Special to feature At-Home Performances by Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown & John Legend, Luke Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw, Old Dominion, Brad Paisley & Darius Rucker, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani, Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood, and Keith Urban
Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley & Darius Rucker to Honor Kenny Rogers
LOS ANGELES, CA (March 26, 2020) – The Academy of Country Music® and dick clark productions announced today the all-star lineup of performers for ACM® PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY, a two-hour special featuring intimate conversations and at-home acoustic performances with Country Music’s biggest stars, along with clips from the Academy of Country Music Awards’™ 55-year history. Confirmed performers include Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown & John Legend, Luke Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw, Old Dominion, Brad Paisley & Darius Rucker, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani, Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. The special will be broadcast Sunday, April 5 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT and 7:00 PM CT) on the CBS Television Network and on CBS All Access.
ACM® PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY will also honor 10-time ACM Award® winner Kenny Rogers with performances by Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker. As previously announced, artists will appear from their homes to share heartfelt thoughts and perform acoustic versions of Country hits. Additionally, video clips from previous ACM Award broadcasts will highlight favorite ACM moments from the past. It will be a night filled with entertainment, hope and reflection, bringing the healing power of music to Americans at a time when they need it most.
The special will broadcast during the time slot previously scheduled for the 55th Academy of Country Music Awards, which will now be broadcast Wednesday, Sept. 16 (live 8:00-11:00 PM ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network and streaming live and on demand on CBS All Access. The 55TH ACM Awards, hosted for the first time by reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year and 15-time ACM Award winner Keith Urban, honors the biggest names and emerging talent in the Country Music industry.
For more information, visit ACMcountry.com. You can also like Academy of Country Music on Facebook or follow on Twitter at @ACMawards, follow on Instagram at @ACMawards and sign up for the FREE ACM A-List for more immediate updates.
About ACM® PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY
ACM® PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY invites fans to join their favorite superstars for a new kind of entertainment special featuring at-home acoustic performances with top Country artists along with clips of their favorite moments from the Academy of Country Music Awards’™ 55-year history. ACM PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY is produced for television by dick clark productions. R.A. Clark, Barry Adelman, Mark Bracco and Amy Thurlow are executive producers. Damon Whiteside is executive producer for the Academy of Country Music®.
From my home to yours, I'll be sharing a special performance during @ACMawards Presents: Our Country. Tune in on Sunday April 5 at 8/7c on CBS! 😘🐴 #ACMOurCountry
ACM's 'Our Country': How a star-studded music special was made during the pandemic
By Dave Paulson | Nashville Tennessean | April 2, 2020
While he's hunkered down at home in Charleston, South Carolina, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Darius Rucker has passed the time in old, familiar ways. He's making music in his home studio and hanging out with his kids, "laughing, talking and eating a lot."
But other experiences have been new. Rucker just taped a performance with his friend Brad Paisley for a new prime-time TV special airing Sunday. They were in different states.
"We did it over FaceTime," Rucker explains.
"We called each other up, taped it, and Brad edited it. You know, it definitely wasn't easy, but we had a lot of fun," he said with a laugh.
Rucker and Paisley are two of more than 20 country stars who will be seen performing from their homes during "ACM Presents: Our Country," a two-hour special airing at 8 p.m. ET Sunday on CBS.
The special has come together in just three weeks, after it was announced that the Academy of Country Music Awards — originally scheduled for Sunday — would be postponed until September due to coronavirus concerns.
Since then, artists including Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani have filmed themselves performing while in self-isolation.
The result is a "beautiful, emotional, intimate special," says executive producer R.A. (Rac) Clark.
"The approach when we reached out to all of these artists was, 'This is a collective experience across the world. We are all experiencing this. What are you doing as a fellow human being?' A lot of them said, 'I'm sitting down and making music, and I want to share that with everyone.' "
When Clark says "a lot of them," he means it. After they announced plans for the new special, even more artists offered to be a part of the show.
"We made a few jokes along the way that the show could definitely be three hours instead of two," says Amy Thurlow, Executive Producer and President of Dick Clark Productions.
So, the show's creative forces had an unexpected challenge.
"How do you fit 10 pounds of potato salad into a 1-pound container?" says Jack Sussman, CBS' executive vice president of specials, music and live events.
They decided to ask the artists to do slightly shorter versions of their songs and to spend a little time talking directly to their fans. In the end, they were able to include more than 20 acts.
On a technical level, it'd be hard for "Our Country" to be less sophisticated. There are no stage lights, no camera crews, no professional sound engineers. Artists were propping up their phones to record themselves or enlisted a family member to be their cinematographer. But Sussman says these limitations shed light on the musical talent on display.
"This is the beauty — and I mean this in a positive way — of an under-produced show. It shows you in no uncertain terms how amazingly talented these performers are, in a stripped-down, acoustic way. This music is not produced in a basement in Sweden. These guys get up on a stage, play real instruments and sing."
In fact, "Our Country" performers were encouraged to give viewers a look behind the curtain. While the members of Lady Antebellum sing "What I'm Leaving For" from separate homes, you'll see Charles Kelley's son sitting on his lap.
Shelton and Stefani belt out "Nobody But You" in front of a backyard bonfire. Underwood's "Drinking Alone" is aptly performed by the singer on a living room couch, with a glass of red wine at her side.
It's hard not to watch these performances — including Kane Brown and John Legend's FaceTime duet of their new single, "Last Time I Say Sorry" — and not imagine they were originally meant to happen on the ACM Awards stage. The show had announced only a handful of performers before the postponement.
On the ceremony side, the 2020 ACM Awards have been put "on pause," says ACM CEO Damon Whiteside. The voting results have been tabulated by Deloitte and will be kept "safely under lock and key until Sept. 16. ... Literally nobody has any visibility to them."
The show, on the other hand, is bound for big changes.
"It's going to morph, obviously," Whiteside says. "Not knowing where the country's gonna be at that point, and what the mood of the country is. Artists may be on different hits at that point. We know that what we had planned prior is certainly going to morph in some way. But once we get through this weekend, we're going to jump headfirst into the awards show and really start planning."
How to watch
"ACM Presents: Our Country" airs at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday on CBS.
Gayle King will host, and the show features performances from Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown & John Legend, Luke Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw, Old Dominion, Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban.
ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund
ACM Lifting Lives has created a COVID-19 Response Fund, "to assist individuals working in the country music industry who are suffering a financial crisis as a result of the pandemic," per a release. Radio/TV personality Bobby Bones will introduce the fund during the "Our Country" telecast.
The fund will begin with an initial endowment of $250,000, and a matching fund against ACM partners, sponsors and third-party donors of up to $250,000. That group includes The Bobby Bones Show, FirstNet, Built with AT&T, and Amazon Music.
Shania will be performing "Honey, I’m Home" & "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!".
SONGS REVEALED FOR “ACM® PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY,” A NEW TWO-HOUR SPECIAL AIRING SUNDAY, APRIL 5 AT 8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM CT ON CBS
OFFICIAL PRE-SHOW TO FEATURE PERFORMANCES BY LAUREN ALAINA, INGRID ANDRESS, GABBY BARRETT, LEE BRICE, BLANCO BROWN, LINDSAY ELL, RILEY GREEN, MICKEY GUYTON, CAYLEE HAMMACK, ASHLEY McBRYDE, JAKE OWEN, CARLY PEARCE, TENILLE TOWNES & MORE + A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO JOE DIFFIE BY CHRIS YOUNG
PRE-SHOW TO STREAM ON SUNDAY, APRIL 5 AT 7:00 PM ET/6:00 PM CT ON ACM FACEBOOK PAGE & AMAZON MUSIC ON TWITCH
LOS ANGELES, CA (April 3, 2020) – The Academy of Country Music® and dick clark productions revealed today the complete list of chart-topping hits and fan-favorite songs that will be performed during ACM® PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY, a new two-hour special hosted by CBS THIS MORNING’s Gayle King, to be broadcast Sunday, April 5 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT and 7:00-9:00 PM CT) on the CBS Television Network and on CBS All Access. The special will feature intimate conversations and at-home acoustic performances with Country Music’s biggest stars, along with clips from past ACM Awards® moments. It will be a night filled with entertainment, hope and reflection, bringing the healing power of music to Americans at a time when they need it most.
Fans are invited to enjoy more performances by favorite Country Music artists on the official ACM PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY Pre-Show on the Academy of Country Music’s Facebook page as well as the Amazon Music Twitch channel on Sunday, April 5 at 7:00 PM ET / 6:00PM CT. Lauren Alaina, Ingrid Andress, Gabby Barrett, Lee Brice, Blanco Brown, Lindsay Ell, Riley Green, Mickey Guyton, Caylee Hammack, Ashley McBryde, Jake Owen, Carly Pearce, Tenille Townes and more will appear from their homes to share heartfelt messages with their fans and perform acoustic versions of their hits. The Pre-Show will also pay tribute to 6-time ACM Award nominee Joe Diffie with a special performance by Chris Young. Fans can gear up for the main event with the ACM Presents: Our Country Playlist on Amazon Music. Starting Monday, fans will be able to re-watch the full Pre-Show and the individual performances via the ACM Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, as well as on the newly launched ACMOurCountry.com website.
Beginning today, the Academy invites Country Music artists and fans alike to share a musical moment by posting their own performances to social media, tagging an official Academy social media handle, and using #ACMOurCountry to participate in a celebratory curated feed of performances featured on ACMOurCountry.com! This campaign will continue throughout the weekend leading up to ACM Presents: Our Country special on Sunday.
“The Country Music community came together in an incredible way – and very quickly – for “Our Country,” and that outpouring of immediate artist support led us to develop a digital pre-show so that we could include even more artists in the Country Music celebration Sunday night,” said Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “This allows more artists to share the positive messages of support and togetherness with the fans.”
ACM PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY performances will include:
Kelsea Ballerini - “homecoming queen?”
Dierks Bentley - “I Hold On”
Kane Brown & John Legend - “Last Time I Say Sorry”
Luke Bryan - “Most People Are Good”
Brandi Carlile - “The Joke”
Eric Church - “Never Break Heart”
Luke Combs - “Beautiful Crazy”
Sheryl Crow - “I Shall Believe”
Florida Georgia Line - “Blessings”
Lady Antebellum - “What I’m Leaving For”
Miranda Lambert - “Bluebird”
Little Big Town - “Next To You”
Tim McGraw - “Humble And Kind”
Old Dominion (Matthew Ramsey and Trevor Rosen) - “Some People Do”
Brad Paisley & Darius Rucker - “Mud On The Tires” & “Wagon Wheel”
Thomas Rhett - “Be A Light”
Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani - “Nobody But You”
Shania Twain - “Honey, I’m Home” & “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”
Carrie Underwood - “Drinking Alone”
Keith Urban - “Wasted Time”
Kenny Rogers Tribute - featuring Brad Paisley & Darius Rucker performing “Lucille” & “The Gambler” and Luke Bryan performing “Coward Of The County”
As previously announced, iHeartMedia’s leading country radio host and ACM Radio Award National On-Air Personality of the Year Bobby Bones, a long-time ACM Lifting Lives® supporter, will introduce the ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund during the telecast. ACM Lifting Lives, the philanthropic arm of the Academy of Country Music, created this fund to assist individuals working in the Country Music industry who are suffering a financial crisis as a result of the pandemic. Those in need can apply for funds at ACMLiftingLives.org.
For more information on ACM PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY, visit ACMcountry.com. You can also like Academy of Country Music on Facebook or follow on Twitter at @ACMawards, follow on Instagram at @ACMawards and sign up for the FREE ACM A-List for more immediate updates.
About ACM® PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY
ACM® PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY invites fans to join their favorite superstars for a new kind of entertainment special featuring at-home acoustic performances with top Country artists along with clips of their favorite moments from the Academy of Country Music Awards’™ 55-year history. ACM PRESENTS: OUR COUNTRY is produced for television by dick clark productions. R.A. Clark, Barry Adelman, Mark Bracco and Amy Thurlow are executive producers. Damon Whiteside is executive producer for the Academy of Country Music®.
***Shania will be performing "Honey, I'm Home" and "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" tonight on "ACM Presents: Our Country" which airs at 8:00pm ET/PT on CBS. Click link below to watch the show online via a CBS livestream.
Twain Brings Hits, Furry Friends to ACM's 'Our Country'
Taste of Country | April 5, 2020
Shania Twain performed from her stable -- with a furry "audience" -- for the ACM Presents: Our Country TV special. The country star's horse and dog sat nearby as she performed two of her '90s country hits.
Twain's Our Country performance featured "Honey, I'm Home" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman," both big hits for Twain from her mega-successful 1997 album Come on Over. That record is the best-selling country album of all time and the best-selling studio album by a female artist of any genre of all time.
"These are crazy times, but we're gonna do what we always do and pull together to get through it," Twain told those watching from home before her performance. "Because, let's face it, we're all in this together."
The ACM Presents: Our Country TV special aired Sunday night (April 5) in place of the 2020 ACM Awards. The annual event, which usually takes place in early April in Las Vegas, Nev., was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Officially, the 2020 ACM Awards have been rescheduled for Sept. 16 at 8PM ET (to air on CBS), but no city or venue has been named. Voting for the awards has ended, but the results will remain confidential until the new date. Keith Urban will remain the host of the 2020 ACMs. He was first revealed as this year's host in late February, just as the nominees were announced. Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and Carrie Underwood are up for Entertainer of the Year this year.
Shania Twain Duets With a Horse for Stable-Side Performance at ACM Presents: Our Country
By Stephen Daw | Billboard | April 5, 2020
For many of the artists who appeared on Sunday night's ACM Presents: Our Country concert, couches, living rooms and bedrooms served as the backdrops for their at-home performances. But then Shania Twain appeared.
Decked out in a red sweater and some ripped blue jeans, Twain sat outside of her stable, with her dog and a large blonde horse watching her closely. The star reassured her fans that, eventually, everything was going to be OK.
"These are crazy times, but we're gonna do what we always do and pull together to get through it," Twain told those watching from home before her performance. "Because, let's face it, we're all in this together."
The country star then launched into an acoustic verse of the appropriately titled "Honey, I'm Home," giving fans the relatable lyrics they were craving about just having a hard day, singing, "Honey, I'm back, my head's killing me/ I need to relax and watch TV/ Get off the phone, give the dog a bone/ Hey, hey, honey, I'm home."
For good measure, Twain also delighted her fans with a rendition of "Man! I Feel Like a Woman," as if letting fans know that, don't worry, soon we'll all be "going out tonight." Even the superstar's horse seemed to be into her songs, rubbing up against her face and even licking her strings at one point.
Stars like Tim McGraw, Kelsea Ballerini, Kane Brown & John Legend, Florida Georgia Line and many more country stars will be performing hits from their homes during Sunday night's special, airing on CBS.
Tommy, her voice sounds auto tuned in the performance, and the sudden change In sound quality from her talking to when she started singing sounded odd. What do you think?
Tommy, her voice sounds auto tuned in the performance, and the sudden change In sound quality from her talking to when she started singing sounded odd. What do you think?
I don't know. Maybe she pre-recorded it on her Pro Tools that she mentions a lot.
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Tommy's #1 SHANIA TWAIN SuperSite shaniasupersite.com Our eyes are closed, but we're not asleep, We're wide awake beneath the sheets
Um no. that was a totally live acoustic performance. You can hear her breathe and pronounce words clearly with her mouth and there is not one bit of indication that it is auto tuned at all. She is playing guitar and singing acoustically and it is all real. Every single artist recorded themself singing. I could make the same claim about every damn artist on the show.
Tommy, her voice sounds auto tuned in the performance, and the sudden change In sound quality from her talking to when she started singing sounded odd. What do you think?
I’m not going out tonight, but I’m feeling alright! 😘 You can watch my @acmawards #ACMOurCountry performance with my very special guests, Meme and Melo, on my YouTube now! 🤠🐴🐶
Tommy, her voice sounds auto tuned in the performance, and the sudden change In sound quality from her talking to when she started singing sounded odd. What do you think?
I don't know. Maybe she pre-recorded it on her Pro Tools that she mentions a lot.
Her lips and sounds match well (even her patting the quitar at the end) but there's really a difference between how she sounded while speaking and singing. And no sounds from the horse being so close to her. Maybe the sound of her speaking was taken from the camera that was filmimg her while her singing was taken from a mic somewhere closer to her. That could be the case. If even this is a pre-recorded track, why would she agree to do it at all? It'd be so fake (but I'm not contending here anything - I just don't know).
ACM Lifting Lives and the Academy of Country Music announced today (April 8) the ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund allocated $1 million in less than a week following the ACM Presents: Our Country special that aired Sunday, April 5 on CBS. The special was viewed by early 8 million music fans around the country, and featured at-home acoustic performances from country artists, along with clips from past ACM Awards moments and an introduction of the ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund.
Since the announcement, $1 million was raised thanks to ACM Lifting Lives sponsors FirstNet, Built with AT&T and Amazon Music, and donors, including The Bobby Bones Show, City National Bank, and other individuals. The ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund—which was created to assist individuals working in the country music industry who are suffering a financial crisis as a result of the pandemic—began with an initial endowment of $250,000, matched $250,000 in outside support, and is now contributing another $250,000 due to the need of applicants. To date, more than $500,000 has been distributed to country music industry professionals who demonstrate immediate financial needs due to COVID-19 and meet the outlined criteria.
“In less than 48 hours, ACM Lifting Lives was able to send financial support to hundreds of applicants with the ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund at an expedited pace,” said Lyndsay Cruz, Executive Director of ACM Lifting Lives. “A huge thank you to our generous private corporate donors, partners, and many individual industry leaders for their contributions. Because of them, ACM Lifting Lives matched donations to aid those in the county music community during these extraordinary times. We are hopeful to continue supporting future applicants with this fund and thank you to all for the support.
It was also announced that ACM Presents: Our Country will rebroadcast Saturday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m. ET on the CBS Television Network and on CBS All Access. The special features performances from Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown & John Legend, Luke Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw, Old Dominion, Brad Paisley & Darius Rucker, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani, Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. Additionally, the special will honor 10-time ACM Award winner Kenny Rogers with performances by Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker.
“The Academy thanks the artists that participated in the special as they brought comfort and music to nearly 8 million people in this time of uncertainty,” said Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “The show also spread the message about the good work of ACM Lifting Lives through the generosity of our artists and partners, and directed viewers to our ACMOurCountry.com website where they can apply or discover how to support this important cause.”
The ACM Presents: Our Country Pre-Show is available to watch via the ACM Facebook, YouTube and the newly launched ACMOurCountry.com website. Lauren Alaina, Ingrid Andress, Gabby Barrett, Lee Brice, Blanco Brown, Lindsay Ell, Riley Green, Mickey Guyton, Caylee Hammack, Ashley McBryde, Jake Owen, Carly Pearce, and Tenille Townes appear on the Our Country Pre-Show. The Pre-Show also pays tribute to 6-time ACM Award nominee Joe Diffie, who passed away due to complications with COVID-19, with a special performance by Chris Young.
For more information about the COVID-19 Response Fund including corporate partnerships, visit ACMLiftingLives.org.