Terry Wyatt/FilmMagicTonight's 49th annual CMA Awards is hosted for the eighth year in a row by country music superstars and fan favorites Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. Aside from wise-cracking monologues and entertaining musical duets, we're gearing up for what's expected to be "Country Music's Biggest Night."
In live performance news, the show will include on-stage performances, featuring not only the genre's most familiar faces like Keith Urban and Sam Hunt, but also guest appearances from other non-country musicians like Justin Timberlake, Fall Out Boy and others.
Here's what we're most looking forward to at this year's CMA Awards.
New Artist Face-Off: At an awards show like this, few things are more exciting than fresh, talented faces in the audience, and this year presents some pretty stiff competition on the new artist front. The spirited twosome of Maddie & Tae are going head-to-head with "Love Me Like You Mean It" singer Kelsea Ballerini. Also in the mix is traditionalist and singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton, as well as Southern gentlemen Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett. All make for formidable contenders, but our money's on Hunt, who is quite possibly one of country music's fastest-rising stars (even appearing as a special guest on stage with Taylor Swift at one of her recent concerts).
In the Running for Album of the Year: The Katy Perry of country music Kacey Musgraves hits all the right kitschy, upbeat notes with Pageant Material, while Chris Stapleton's Traveller marks the longtime songwriter's first album on his own. In true Jason Aldean fashion, Old Boots, New Dirt is the every man's anthem, and country music mainstay Kenny Chesney's comeback album The Big Revival measures up with four number one hits. Little Big Town's hit single "Girl Crush" stands out off of their Pain Killer album, but with a list of talent this good, your guess is as good as ours.
The Blake and Miranda Factor: It's news to no one that this year's CMA Awards will be recently divorced Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert's first public appearance at the same location. No, they won't be arriving together but have both taken home the trophies for male and female Vocalist of the Year in past years. Luckily, they aren't up against each other in any categories, but Lambert is in the running against "Something Bad" duet partner Carrie Underwood, while Shelton faces off against Eric Church, Luke Bryan and other crooners on the male front.
These Crossover Duets Will Be Huge: You might recognize the name Chris Stapleton for penning hits like "Drink a Beer" for Luke Bryan and "Crash and Burn" for Thomas Rhett, but it's his debut album Traveller that is getting his talent some much-deserved attention at this year's show. While we're excited to hear what Stapleton's just-announced crossover duet with his buddy Justin Timberlake will sound like, we're equally as curious about Thomas Rhett's duet with Fall Out Boy, not to mention Keith Urban joining forces with John Mellencamp to perform Urban's heartfelt single "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16."
The Evening's Highest Honor: Perhaps the most hotly-contested categories of the night is Entertainer of the Year. This honor is so much more than producing good music or nailing a single performance; it's about the entertainer as a full package. Reigning titleholder Luke Bryan is unsurprisingly in the race again this year but has to beat out the single female contender Miranda Lambert, not to mention Eric Church, comeback kid Garth Brooks and Kenny Chesney—who've all had chart-topping years.
Catch the CMA Awards, November 4 at 8 p.m., on ABC!