ACM Announces ‘Our Country’ Television Special

With its annual awards delayed due to COVID-19, organization plans intimate two-hour TV event in its place

March 19, 2020

Delayed this year due to public health concerns, the ACM Awards have announced the intimate television special 'Our Country' for April 5th. Larry Busacca/ACM2016

Update (3/26): Performers have been announced for ACM Presents: Our Country. Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown and John Legend, Luke Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw, Old Dominion, Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood, and Keith Urban. Bryan, Paisley, and Rucker will honor Kenny Rogers, who died last week at 81.

With its annual awards show delayed due to the spread of COVID-19, the Academy of Country Music has announced plans for ACM Presents: Our Country in its place. The two-hour television special is set to air Sunday, April 5th, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS — the day the ACM Awards were originally scheduled to take place.

Eschewing the big-budget, Las Vegas-style production of the awards, Our Country will feature intimate conversations and acoustic performances by many of country’s top stars from their own homes, along with classic clips from ACM Awards history. Performers will be announced at a later date.

“Although the highly anticipated 55th ACM Awards show is unable to take place on April 5th due to the health crisis, we still wanted to deliver to fans an entertaining ACM country-music special as planned,” Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside said in a press release.

On March 15th, the ACM Awards made the call to postpone this year’s event, citing public-health concerns. At present, the organization plans to hold the awards in September, at a date and time yet to be determined. Nominations for the 55th annual ACM Awards were announced in February, with Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett, Old Dominion, and producer-musician Dann Huff among the leading nominees.

This news from the ACM follows similar pivots to the internet and home concerts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, including Luck Reunion’s annual festival turning to the web as Til Further Notice and individual livestreams from Keith Urban and Luke Combs.