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Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Cody Johnson, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini and Lainey Wilson are all set to perform at the highly-anticipated 2023 CMT Music Awards, officials announced on Tuesday (March 14). The latest group marks the first round of artists added to the lineup, which also includes award-winning superstar Carrie Underwood and the TV debut of “Thank God,” by Kane Brown and his wife, Katelyn Brown.
Some song selections have been confirmed as of publication time, including Shelton’s “No Body,” Johnson’s “Human” and Wilson’s “Heart Like A Truck,” CMT revealed in its announcement on Tuesday. Though Pearce didn’t confirm what she’s singing at the CMT Music Awards, she seemingly dropped a hint as she captioned on her social media channels, “I think it’s time for something new…”
Wilson is the most-nominated artist this year, receiving a nod in four categories (Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, Collaborative Video of the Year and CMT Performance of the Year). Other standout nominees include Johnson, Brown, Underwood, Jelly Roll, 21 first-time nominees (including Wynonna Judd, Jackson Dean, Bailey Zimmerman and Megan Moroney, to name a few), out-of-genre artists and more. See the full list of 2023 CMT Music Awards nominees here.
Brown is set to co-host the fan-voted awards show with Ballerini. The 2023 CMT Music Awards will air live from Moody Center in Austin, Texas, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, per CMT. The show is set for April 2 on CBS.