Carrie Underwood, Cam to Perform on 51st ACM Awards

The first wave of performers for the 51st annual Academy of Country Music Awards has been announced and includes Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Cam and Florida Georgia Line. The ACMs will be co-hosted by Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley and broadcast live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 3rd, at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS.

Chesney will actually pull double duty on awards night, as he will be shuttled to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds to headline the final night of the fourth ACM Party for a Cause Festival. Additional Party for a Cause headliners include Underwood (April 1st) and Bentley (April 2nd), with performances also scheduled by Chris Stapleton, Sam Hunt, Kip Moore, Chris Janson and many others.

Presumably Stapleton will be also announced as an ACM show performer, as he and Eric Church are the most nominated artists this year with five each. Among Stapleton’s recognitions are Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year for Traveller, while Church scored his first Entertainer of the Year nomination as well an Album of the Year nod for Mr. Misunderstood. Stapleton and Church will face competition in the Album of the Year category from I’m Comin’ Over (Chris Young), Montevallo (Sam Hunt) and Tangled Up (Thomas Rhett).

This year also marks a return of sorts for the ACM Awards, which celebrated its 50th anniversary by hosting a blowout spectacle at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — otherwise known as the home of the Dallas Cowboys — that included a Brooks & Dunn reunion and an appearance by Taylor Swift.