For the first time in 11 years, Carrie Underwood will host the CMA Awards without Brad Paisley by her side.
On Monday (August 19), the CMA announced that while Underwood would be returning to host its 2019 awards ceremony, Paisley would not. But Underwood won’t be left to host the whole show on her own.
The CMA also announced that Underwood will be joined by two legendary singers who will serve as guest co-hosts throughout the night. Those two singers are Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton.
We’re thrilled to announce that @CarrieUnderwood will host this year's #CMAawards with special guest hosts @Reba McEntire & @DollyParton, celebrating legendary women in Country Music! 😍 pic.twitter.com/HFnbHI5KFj
— CMA Country Music (@CountryMusic) August 19, 2019
Together, the three artists will help lead the charge as the CMA uses this year’s awards ceremony to celebrate the women of country music.
“So thankful to the @cma for wanting to honor the women of Country Music for this year’s #CMAAwards ! I couldn’t be more excited to get to stand up there with 2 of my personal heroes… @reba and @dollyparton are trailblazers, icons and legends. We’re gonna make Country Music proud on November 13th!” Underwood wrote in a post announcing the names of her two new co-hosts.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1W9EEHltLY/
Since the CMA wants to devote the night to female artists, that could explain why Paisley is not hosting the ceremony with Underwood this year. Who knows, maybe he’ll be back for 2020’s awards show?
Even though Paisley will not be standing next to Underwood at the CMA Awards this year, he is still going to be one of her greatest champions. In his first statement addressing the co-host change, Paisley said he “can’t wait” to watch Underwood, McEntire, and Parton host the awards, since he is a fan of all three of them.
As a fan of all 3 of these amazing women, I can’t wait to watch. https://t.co/IHuX1GnhQi
— Brad Paisley (@BradPaisley) August 19, 2019
No word yet whether Paisley will be watching Underwood co-host with McEntire and Parton from the CMA Awards audience or if he’ll be watching from home. It would be neat if he could make it to the awards, because then he could still be involved in some way!
While we’re excited to see McEntire and Parton co-host the awards with Underwood, we’re certainly going to miss Paisley. You can relive some of his most memorable CMA Awards moments with Underwood in the video below.