New York, NY (Top40 Charts) In a rare television performance, country legend Hank Williams, Jr. and country trio Lady Antebellum, will join previously announced performers Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church,
Kelly Clarkson,
Brett Eldredge, Florida Georgia Line,
Miranda Lambert and
Carrie Underwood on the inaugural AMERICAN COUNTRY COUNTDOWN AWARDS, airing LIVE from Nashville's
Music City Center on Monday, Dec.15 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX.
Hosted by Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, AMERICAN COUNTRY COUNTDOWN AWARDS is based on country music's longest-running radio countdown show, "American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks," and will honor country music's biggest stars based on album sales and radio airplay. Presenters for the inaugural show include country artists Kix Brooks, Sara Evans, Hunter Hayes, Maddie & Tae,
Scotty McCreery, Kip Moore,
Thomas Rhett, Chase Rice,
Cole Swindell and Chris Young. NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher and 2014
National League MVP Clayton Kershaw, actors Emily Kinney ("The Walking Dead") and Melissa Fumero (BROOKLYN NINE-NINE) and Miss
America 2015 Kira Kazantsev will also present.
The two-hour show will also honor
Kenny Chesney with The Groundbreaker Award, which recognizes an artist who has consistently pushed the boundaries and is a trailblazer in the realm of concerts, musical accomplishment, creative innovation and connecting with fans across the United States. Chesney will be on hand to accept his award. Multimedia entertainer Reba will receive the first-ever NASH Icon Award, presented by Kix Brooks, which celebrates an iconic artist whose extraordinary talent has influenced generations of musicians and who has made a profound and lasting impact on country music.
Kelly Clarkson and
Miranda Lambert will join together to honor Reba with a special tribute performance.
Though he began his career in the shadow of his legendary father,
Hank Williams Jr. emerged as a formidable Country singer-songwriter in his own right with 1960s hits such as "It's All Over But The Crying" and "Cajun Baby." But things changed with the 1979 release of "Family Tradition," where he broke the Nashville mainstream by adopting a rebel image and writing/recording in a style incorporating his Blues and Southern Rock influences. The results were staggering as 42 Top-10 hits followed, two CMA Entertainer of the Year honors, three ACM Entertainer of the Year honors, multiple Grammy nominations and a Grammy award for "There's a Tear in My Beer," a duet with his father using electronic merging technology. As groundbreaking as
Hank Williams Jr. became, it wasn't just his performance that people took note about, but rather his songwriting that became so notable. The driven musician penned hits songs year after year scoring 20 BMI Awards. One of the arguably most-heard Country song of modern times, the four-time Emmy award-winning "Are You Ready For Some Football?," which was heard nationally as the theme song of ABC and ESPN's Monday Night Football telecasts, was aired for 21 years. As the accolades kept coming, Williams sold over 55 million albums, achieving gold, platinum, and multi-platinum status along with 13 of those albums hitting the no. 1 spot on the Billboard chart. In 2008, Williams was honored with the BMI Icon Award at the 56th Annual BMI Country Awards, joining the elite group of past honorees including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton.
Lady Antebellum recently released their fifth studio album, 747. The 11-song disc has already spawned the platinum certified, multi-week chart-topping smash hit "Bartender," and its new single "
Freestyle" is quickly climbing the charts. They have sold over 11 million albums worldwide, and have made nine trips to number one on the country radio charts. They've earned six Platinum singles and "Vocal Group of the Year" honors from both the CMAs and ACMs three years in a row.
Lady A just wrapped their headlining TAKE ME DOWNTOWN tour, which hit 80 cities in the US and Canada over the course of the year. They delighted both fans and critics, with the Dallas Morning News declaring "Lady Antebellum shows off its warranted leap to superstardom."
The AMERICAN COUNTRY COUNTDOWN AWARDS is produced by dick clark productions. Allen Shapiro (CEO, dick clark productions), Mike Mahan (President, dick clark productions), Mark Bracco (Executive Vice President, Programing and Development, dick clark productions), John Dickey (Executive Vice President of Content and Programming, Cumulus), Richard Godfrey ("MTV
Europe Music Awards") and Tom Forrest ("CMT Crossroads") are executive producers. Baz Halpin is co-executive producer.
AMERICAN COUNTRY COUNTDOWN AWARDS finalists and winners, other than Breakthrough Artist of the Year, are determined based on statistics and radio airplay charts from Nov. 1, 2013-Oct. 31, 2014. The finalists for Album of the Year were based on album sales from SoundScan and the finalists for Artist of the Year were based on a combination of Mediabase airplay, digital data provided by Big Champagne and tour information from Pollstar. All other award categories were made up of those with the largest audience reach, according to Mediabase and Top40-Charts.com.
Tickets to the event are on sale at TheACCAwards.com/tickets.
