Lainey Wilson, who won the coveted Entertainer of the Year award at the climax of last year’s CMA Awards telecast, will be seen much earlier in this year’s show. She’ll be one of three co-hosts of the 2024 CMAs, joining Luke Bryan and football great Peyton Manning, who handled the duties as the duo the previous two years.
Wilson may well have other reasons to be on stage besides her hosting duties (and besides the certainty of a performance slot). She’s nominated for four honors again this year from the Country Music Association, including a shot at defending her Entertainer of the Year title. Wilson’s other nods are for female vocalist of the year, single of the year (for “Watermelon Moonshine”) and music video of the year (“Wildflowers and Wild Horses”).
“I could not be more excited to host the CMA Awards this year with Luke and Peyton,” Wilson said in a statement. “It’s such an incredible honor and something I’ve always dreamed of doing.” Added Manning, “The past two years have been a lot of fun, and I know Lainey is going to bring a special flare” — a reference to Wilson’s trademark bellbottoms. “Hopefully she can help me keep Luke in line.”
Although Manning and Bryan co-hosted in 2022 and 2023, the latter star did it solo one year before that, and said “it’s crazy when I realize this is my fourth year back. Peyton and I have really worked to build off each other and now adding Lainey to the mix will just bring another fun element to the night.” Bryan is also a past Entertainer of the Year winner himself, having picked that up in 2014-15.
The CMAs have a history of keeping the show’s hosts around for a while. Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley co-hosted for an 11-year run, from 2008-2019 (and Underwood did it an additional year beyond Paisley, to make it 12). Vince Gill also did it a dozen consecutive times, from 1992-2003.
Wilson is on the chart right now with her recent album release “Whirlwind,” which came out past the eligibility period for this year’s CMAs. (Read Variety‘s interview with Wilson about the new album here.)
Wilson’s competitors for Entertainer of the Year this time are Luke Combs (who picked the award up twice, in 2021-22), Jelly Roll (who’s nominated for the prize for the first time), Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen (both repeat nominees who’ve never won it).
Wallen leads all nominees for the 2024 CMAs with seven, followed by Stapleton and Cody Johnson tied with five, and Wilson and Post Malone with four. See the full list of nominees here.
The 58th annual telecast will air from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, becoming available for viewing the following day on Hulu.
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