Nashville Prepares For CMAs

Country’s biggest stars are in Nashville now preparing for this Thursday’s CMA Awards.  Rehearsals are taking place at the Bridgestone Arena, site of the TV show.  Co-Host Carrie Underwood told Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton: “The week before the CMAs, we’re living at the arena, coming in every day, working on the script and the opening.” 

With Election Day just five days away, it’s likely viewers will see some references to this year’s campaign in the opening monologue, according to Carrie: “We’ve had a pretty good year as far as things we can bring up and pick on a little bit.  There’s election stuff of course.  We don’t want it to be all about that, but definitely acknowledging certain things is important, you can’t just pretend it’s not happening.  But our monologue to be honest is created and recreated and edited and added to and all that stuff until we’re walking on stage to do it.”

The national media is in full force, with ABC-TV set up in front of the arena, broadcasting Good Morning America.  On Thursday morning, they announced the first two winners: Kenny Chesney & Tim McGraw won Vocal Event for their duet “Feel Like a Rock Star,” and Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup” picked up Music Video of the Year.

We will be reporting from backstage the night of the awards show, with photos and video of the winners.

Tags: cma

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