When Carrie Underwood was pregnant with her now 3-year-old Isaiah, Brad Paisley told the world during their hosting gig on the CMA Awards that she was having a boy.
The pair will co-host Country music’s biggest night for the 11th time on Wednesday. Though Underwood is pregnant with her second child, Paisley told the USA TODAY NETWORK that fans should expect no such revelations this year. He joked that he wasn’t even certain she was having another baby.
“I’ve been sitting here this whole time dying to ask but thinking, ‘You can’t be sure,’” Paisley said.
“Beer belly,” Underwood explained.
“I think she learned her lesson last time when I blew it,” Paisley said. “I bet I’m the last person she trusts with that this time.”
With more than a decade of co-hosting the show to their credit, Paisley and Underwood have created countless memorable moments. Their country parodies directed at current events have a life far beyond the show. Paisley and Underwood’s 2013 “Obamacare by Morning,” a riff on George Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning,” took a playful aim at an ill-working Affordable Care Act website.
And last year’s “Total Eclipse of the Garth,” an affable spin on Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” was inspired by2017’s total solar eclipse. Nashville was the largest city in its path and hosted thousands who flocked to town to get a glimpse of the natural phenomenon.
“I felt like that was us at our best, because it was a great microcosm of Nashville in 2017,” Paisley said. “All you have to say is 'the eclipse year,' and that’s it. It sums up 2017 for us in Nashville.”
The team’s opening dialogue is heavily influenced by current events. Coupling that with the need to be lighthearted, some years are a more complicated balance than others. This year, with headlines of wildfires, mass shootings and political unrest, Underwood and Paisley have a single goal: to entertain.
“If there’s anything that we’ve made our mantra, it’s that this year should be fun,” Paisley said. “We should be having a good time up there with our monologue. This is an escape, and that’s what people need right now. You’re not up there to do anything too biting. This is about having a good time and setting a light tone.”
The pair is just pleased the Country Music Association continues to invite them to host the show.
“We take pride in what we do, for sure,” Underwood said. “I think I speak for both of us. We just want to represent country music well.”
“Speak for yourself,” Paisley jokingly grumbled.
“OK, I speak for myself,” she replied with a grin. “I just want to represent country music well. It’s a serious job, and we do take our role seriously.”
Hosted by Paisley and Underwood, the 52nd CMA Awards will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (8 p.m. EST/PST) on ABC.
Five things to watch for at the 2018 CMA Awards:
Very early winners
CMA Award winners for musical event of the year and music video of the year will be announced Wednesday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” which will be broadcast live from Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row in downtown Nashville. Bentley, who is nominated for male vocalist of the year, album of the year and musical event of the year, will perform two songs live.
Performances
Watch for performances from most of the evening’s nominees and more. Country music celebrities on the lineup include Lauren Alaina, Jason Aldean with Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley with Brothers Osborne, Garth Brooks, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line with Bebe Rexha, Midland, Kacey Musgraves, Old Dominion, Brad Paisley, Pistol Annies, Thomas Rhett, Ricky Skaggs, Chris Stapleton with Maren Morris and Mavis Staples, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Brett Young, Lindsay Ell, Vince Gill, Sierra Hull, Chris Janson, Ashley McBryde, David Lee Murphy, Jon Pardi, Carson Peters, Marty Stuart and Cole Swindell.
Collaborations
The Country Music Association has been tight-lipped about what songs artists will perform, but a glance at the performers indicates viewers can look forward to Bentley and Brothers Osborne singing “Burning Man,” a duet from Florida Georgia Line and Rexha on their record-breaking “Meant to Be,” and Aldean and Lambert on the much-celebrated “Drowns the Whiskey.”
Stapleton is set to perform with fellow powerhouse vocalists Morris and R&B gospel queen Staples. Though it hasn’t been announced, CMA Awards producers often like to launch the show with all-star performances.
Song debuts
Brooks and Paisley will both unveil new songs on the CMA Awards. Brooks’ song is a top-secret tune he wrote for his wife, Trisha Yearwood. He hasn’t told anyone the title, and even she hasn’t heard it.
Paisley’s “Bucked Off” is a lighthearted relationship-gone-wrong rodeo song he wrote with frequent collaborators Kelley Lovelace and Chris DuBois and marks his first release of material produced by multiple CMA nominee Dan Huff. “Bucked Off” is from a new project Paisley hopes will be available in 2019. Huff will even join Paisley and his band onstage to perform the song.
“It’s more of a return to me of what I started out doing, which is I wanted to be George Strait,” Paisley said. “I realized as I was writing for this record, I’ve never done a rodeo song, and I’ve sung them my whole life doing covers of Garth Brooks and George. I like the metaphor of it. I like fun breakup songs.”
Country music fans will notice heavy nods in the song to Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning.”
“Looking at what’s released right now, it’s just a great time to do something … that’s honky-tonk and kind of feels like you stepped back in time with one foot in the future, too,” Paisley said.
The Country Music Association is known for its memorable tributes, and this year Skaggs will be on the receiving end of what is sure to be one of the night’s most compelling performances. Information has been tight surrounding the multi-artist event, but Skaggs and Paisley will participate.
“That’s going to be some mighty fine picking and a grinning right there,” Paisley promised.
First-time nominees
Each year there’s typically a handful of first-time nominees. But with five first-time artist nominees and five songwriters with first-time mentions, in 2018 there’s enough to pit them against one another in a basketball game.
The first-timers include singers Bebe Rexha, Chris Janson, David Lee Murphy, LANCO and Midland and songwriters Dan Smyers (first individual nomination outside of Dan + Shay), Jeff Middleton, Josh Thompson, Mike Henderson and Scooter Carusoe.