CMT will honor Gregg Allman and celebrate his everlasting impact on American music during the 2017 CMT Music Awards with a musical tribute from country superstars Jason Aldean, Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley live from Nashville on Wednesday, June 7th at 8 pm ET/PT. Additional artists to be announced soon.
“Gregg Allman and The Allman Brothers Band helped create the bedrock foundation of modern southern music,” says CMT President Brian Philips. “Over the weekend of his death, CMT’s most important artists reached out to see how we might honor Gregg at our Awards. This tribute will celebrate Gregg Allman’s soul, charisma and enduring artistry. ‘The Road Goes on Forever’, indeed.”
Continuing its unmatched reputation for monumental performances, CMT also revealed that its added heavy-hitters Kelsea Ballerini (who is tied for most CMT Music Awards nominations) and Little Big Town to the line-up. They join a growing list of performers including a first time television performance by The Chainsmokers and Florida Georgia Line, a duet from country legends Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood, a historic collaboration from Earth, Wind & Fire and Lady Antebellum, not to mention superstar performances from Blake Shelton, Brett Edredge, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert and Thomas Rhett. Presenters to be announced next week.
“Gregg Allman and The Allman Brothers Band helped create the bedrock foundation of modern southern music.”
Hosted by Nashville star Charles Esten, country music’s highly-anticipated night will see breakout stars Kelsea Ballerini and Thomas Rhett going head-to-head against country music veteran Keith Urban for most nominations at the “2017 CMT Music Awards”. Fans can vote for their favorites now via CMT.com until Monday, June 5th for categories including “Video of the Year”, “Male Video of the Year”, “Female Video of the Year”, “Duo Video of the Year”, “Group Video of the Year”, “Breakthrough Video of the Year”, “Collaborative Video of the Year”, “CMT Performance of the Year”, and “Social Superstar of the Year”.
The top seven finalists for the night’s biggest award, the highly-coveted “Video of the Year,” will be revealed the morning of June 7th.
Last year’s CMT Music Awards once again exceeded expectations, attracting nearly four million fans, its biggest to date, across a three network simulcast (CMT, TV Land and Nick@Nite) up +20% from the prior year. The awards also lit up social media with #CMTawards trending worldwide for five hours to rank as the #1 Series/Special on Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings for the day.
