ERIC CHURCH

Eric Church played a little too long and a little too loud during his brief time opening for Rascal Flatts.

Chris Stapleton won the most trophies, but Luke Combs won the biggest one at the Country Music Association Awards.

Eric Church played a little too long and a little too loud during his brief time opening for Rascal Flatts.

The CMA Awards will be a night of all-star collaborations between Carrie Underwood and Jason Aldean, Kane Brown and Chris Young, and Mickey Guyton with Brittney Spencer and Madeline Edwards.

Country stars Chris Stapleton and Eric Church will go toe-to-toe with each other at this year’s Country Music Association Awards, vying in the same top five categories.

Country music leaders say Nashville's year of introspection led to some encouraging progress and demoralizing realities.

Country singer Morgan Wallen will be eligible for multiple awards at this year's CMA Awards, but not the show's top prize.

This week’s new entertainment releases include the final two parts of Eric Church's three-album project, “Heart & Soul.”.

Carrie Underwood brought the Academy of Country Music Awards to church.

Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton will have a small audience at this year's Academy of Country Music Awards show on Sunday of vaccinated medical workers.

Morris and Stapleton lead the nominations for this year's Academy of Country Music Awards. The academy announced on Friday that Morris and Stapleton both had six nominations ahead of the April 18 awards show, which will air on CBS from Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo)NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Maren Morris and Chris Stapleton are the leading nominees for the Academy of Country Music Awards, but only Stapleton joined the all-male ballot for the top prize of entertainer of the year. The academy announced on Friday that Morris and Stapleton both had six nominations ahead of the April 18 awards show, which will air on CBS from Nashville, Tennessee. AdMiranda Lambert, who is already the most nominated artist in ACM history, stretched her streak with five nominations.

Gorman, the 22-year-old poet who stirred America at the inauguration of President Joseph Biden, again commanded the spotlight on one of the countrys biggest stages, the Super Bowl. That Gorman brought poetry to the Super Bowl was an almost unthinkable collision of grace and glitz. She seemed to grasp the unlikeliness of her pre-game reading, the first in Super Bowl history. “Poetry at the Super Bowl is a feat for art and our country, because it means we’re thinking imaginatively about human connection even when we feel siloed,” Gorman said Sunday on Twitter. Here’s to them, to poetry and to a Super Bowl like no other.”

This combination photo shows singer Jazmine Sullivan in Rydal, Pa., on Jan. 26, 2021, left, and singer Whitney Houston at the BET Honors in Washington on Jan. 17, 2009. Sullivan and Eric Church will perform the national anthem at Sunday's Super Bowl. Houston has arguably the best performance of The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Super Bowl game. One of Sullivan's idols, Whitney Houston, has arguably the best performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Super Bowl game. I was blown away, in my feelings, everything, at the fact that she even knew me and stood up and was giving me love in that way," Sullivan continued.

Sullivan and Church will join forces to sing the national anthem at the next months Super Bowl, where Grammy-winning singer H.E.R. will perform America the Beautiful. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)NEW YORK – R&B star Jazmine Sullivan and country singer Eric Church will join forces to sing the national anthem at the next month’s Super Bowl, where Grammy-winning singer H.E.R. will perform “America the Beautiful.”The performances will take place Feb. 7 at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa before the big game and halftime show starring The Weeknd. She’s won honors at the MTV Video Music Awards, BET Awards and Soul Train Music Awards and launched R&B hits such as “Focus,” “Best Part,” “Slide,” “Damage” and “B.S.” with Jhené Aiko.

FILE - Eric Church performs at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Ariz. on March 28, 2017. Church will perform at this year's CMA Awards in Nashville. The show will air on ABC on Nov. 11. (Photo by Rick Scuteri/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Eric Church performs at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Ariz. on March 28, 2017. Church will perform at this year's CMA Awards in Nashville. (Photo by Rick Scuteri/Invision/AP, File)NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Luke Combs and more are set to take the stage at the CMA Awards in November. The country music awards show promised that the genre’s biggest stars will be together in one room again for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak started. Lambert, the leading nominee with seven nods including entertainer of the year, will perform “Settling Down" from her album of the year nominated record ”Wildcard."

“Breland was a man after my own heart musically and I was just dying to get in the studio with him to see what happened,” Urban said. AP: In that vein, one song called “Tumbleweed” includes a sample of a didgeridoo, an instrument that originated in Australia. Urban: After the guitar solo, there was about four seconds of a breakdown, and I was like, "I need something here. Urban: If anyone wants to know what my beliefs are, my views are, listen to my music or look at my life. Urban: I’m learning.

Carrie Underwood accepts the entertainer of the year award in a tie with Thomas Rhett during the 55th annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry House on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Underwood and Rhett seemed equally taken aback after host Keith Urban announced the tie at the awards show held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday. “Keith, what is happening right now?” Rhett asked, astounded, before thanking his family. There was a lot of anticipation for the show, which featured Taylor Swift making her first appearance at the ACMs in seven years. In awards announced before the show aired, Rhett also won music video of the year, while Townes won new female artist of the year. Underwood sang a tribute to iconic female Opry members, including Patsy Cline, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Barbara Mandrell, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton.

This combination photo shows country singers, from left, Luke Bryan, Kane Brown and Mickey Guyton who will perform at this year's ACM Awards in Nashville. (AP Photo)NASHVILLE, Tenn. – At the Academy of Country Music Awards on Wednesday, there won’t be fake fans, canned applause or pre-taped acceptance speeches. After a five-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, the awards show wants to bring the live television experience back again. The 55th annual ACM Awards, normally held in April in Las Vegas, were delayed this year and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, for the first time. “I don’t know if it’s gonna look like an NFL Draft night when we hand out the awards,” Urban said laughing.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country-turned-pop star Taylor Swift is coming back to her roots with a performance at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards. The nine-time ACM award winner will perform from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, where the awards show will be broadcast Wednesday on CBS. Swift will perform “betty” from her new album “Folklore,” which has held the top spot on for six weeks on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. 6 on Billboard's Hot Country song chart. This marks the first time in seven years that the two-time ACM entertainer of the year has performed at this awards show and will be her world premiere performance for any song from her “Folklore” album.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Academy of Country Music Awards will feature performances by Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Mickey Guyton and Morgan Wallen, all from the Grand Ole Opry House. Riley Green won new male artist of the year and Tenille Townes won new female artist of the year. The Bluebird Cafe will host performances by Jimmie Allen, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert featuring songwriters Natalie Hemby and Luke Dick, and Tim McGraw. And Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Maren Morris, Old Dominion, and Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi will put on their shows from the Ryman. Keith Urban will host the show from the Grand Ole Opry House.

This combination photo shows, from left, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert, who were nominated for Entertainer of the Year for the 54th Annual CMA Awards on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020.

The CMAs announced Tuesday that Lambert earned seven nominations. She's followed by Luke Combs, who continues his streak of success as one of country music’s biggest streaming artists with six nominations, including his first for entertainer of the year. Combs earned his first all-genre No. Carrie Underwood joins Combs and Lambert in the entertainer of the year category, along with Keith Urban and Eric Church. Other top nominees include Maren Morris, who scored five nominations including song and single of the year for her love song, “The Bones."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country music’s biggest stars should have been on the carpet of the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday in Las Vegas, but like most of America, they were homebound because of the coronavirus. Still, the musicians played on, surrounded by spouses, kids and — in one case — a horse. “ACM Presents: Our Country,” a TV special aired on CBS in lieu of the delayed awards show, featured acoustic performances, special duets, clips from previous ACM Awards telecasts and a tribute to the late country icon Kenny Rogers. Brad Paisley’s wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, played the role of camera operator as Paisley and Darius Rucker played together via video conference. “Lean into your guitars and your pianos and your voices and let that heal you.”___Online:ACM Awards: https://www.acmcountry.com/___Follow Kristin M. Hall at http://twitter.com/kmhall

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Grammy-winning duo Dan + Shay lead the 2020 Academy of Country Music Awards with six nominations for Dan Smyers and five for Shay Mooney and helped pop star Justin Bieber earn his first-ever ACM noms. Each member is nominated twice for single of the year as artists and producers of “One Man Band.”Others earning five nominations include Thomas Rhett, producer Dan Huff and Grammy winner Maren Morris. 1 country song of 2019, Morgan Wallen's “Whiskey Glasses," eligible. Wallen did earn a nomination for new male artist, but his hit song isn’t competing for any prizes. __A previous version of this story had the incorrect number of nominations for the group Old Dominion and its individual band members.

(CNN) - The Country Music Association announced the nominees for "The 53rd Annual CMA Awards" on Wednesday, with Maren Morris topping the list with six. Those nods add to her previous 10 nominations and one win in years past. The following is a list of the nominees:ENTERTAINER OF THE YEARGarth BrooksEric ChurchChris StapletonCarrie UnderwoodKeith UrbanSINGLE OF THE YEAR*Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s), and Mix Engineer- "Burning Man" -- Dierks Bentley Feat. Brothers Osborne)Producers: Maren Morris, busbee- "Brand New Man" -- Brooks & Dunn (with Luke Combs)Producer: Dann Huff- "Dive Bar" -- Garth Brooks & Blake SheltonProducer: Garth Brooks- "Old Town Road (Remix)" -- Lil Nas X feat. The-CNN-Wire & 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company.

Preview: What it takes to pull off Eric Church's country tour The Grammy-nominated country star is on a nine-month concert tour, and Mark Strassmann joined Church and his production team on the road in California. Watch Thursday on "CBS This Morning" for this exclusive behind-the-scenes look.