Chris Stapleton, Thomas Rhett, Carly Pearce Among ACM Awards Performers

Chris Stapleton and Thomas Rhett are among the initial list of performers announced for the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards, to take place on March 7.

They will be joined in the performing line-up by Kelsea Ballerini, Walker Hayes, Maren Morris, Parmalee, Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde, Blanco Brown featuring Brooke Eden, and Breland. In total, the ACM Awards will host more than 20 performances, with details of other artists to be announced over the coming weeks.

The ACM Awards will be livestreamed exclusively on Amazon Prime, with no commercial interruption, aired live from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas from 7pm CT. Dolly Parton has already been announced as the host of the two-hour show, alongside co-hosts Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrrett. The latter stars are the ACM‘s current New Male and Female Artists of the Year, and nominated this year in the overall Best Male and Female categories.

Allen’s duet with Brad Paisley, “Freedom Was A Highway,” climbs to No.1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated February 19. That’s more than a year after it started its chast history, which now extends to 55 weeks. Barrett’s “Pick Me Up” enters that listing at No.55 and climbs 37-29 in its ninth week on Hot Country Songs. She will receive the Rising Star Award at Billboard’s 2022 Women in Music event on March 2.

In their ACM Awards debuts, Parmalee and Blanco Brown will be accompanied by Brooke Eden on their platinum-selling No.1 hit “Just the Way.” McBryde and Pearce will reprise their duet “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” from the latter’s ACM Album of the Year-nominated 29: Written In Stone. Breland, who features on Dierks Bentley’s current “Beers On Me” hit with ACM New Male Artist of the Year nominee Hardy, will deliver the new song “Praise The Lord.”

Pre-order Thomas Rhett’s Where We Started album, which is released on April 1.