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Little Big Town will host the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on Sept. 28. The quartet, whose members were inducted into the Opry in 2014, will also perform a medley of their greatest hits during the show. The two-hour ceremony will air live on Thursday, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and will stream on Peacock.
“We are honored to host the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards, especially on one of our most beloved stages in the entire world,” Little Big Town said in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming so many of our talented peers to take the Opry stage for this magical night of music.”
The group – consisting of Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman and Jimi Westbrook – hosted the CMT Music Awards in 2018 and 2019 from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
They have also won many awards, including three Grammys for best country duo/group performance for “Pontoon,” “Girl Crush” and “Better Man.” They won vocal group of the year six years running (2012-17) at the CMA Awards and came out on top in that category four times at the ACM Awards.
The Grand Ole Opry House has hosted many awards shows through the years, including the CMA Awards (1974-2004) and the (TNN) Music City News Awards, forerunners to the CMT Music Awards, (1980-99). In 2020-21, the ACM Awards were staged at three landmark Nashville venues – the Grand Ole Opry House, the Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Café).
Little Big Town have had three No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart – “Pontoon,” “Girl Crush” and Taylor Swift‘s “Better Man” (the same songs that brought them their three Grammy Awards). They have amassed four No. 1 albums on Top Country Albums – The Reason Why, Tornado, The Breaker and Nightfall.
“Little Big Town is a force in country music and a beloved staple on Music Row,” Cassandra Tryon, senior vice president, entertainment live events, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, said in a statement. “As Opry members, they’ve delighted fans for years on the world-famous stage and we’re honored to have them host, perform and bring this inaugural ceremony to life.”
The People’s Choice Country Awards is an outgrowth of the People’s Choice Awards, which originated on CBS in 1975 and remained on that network through 2017. (Little Big Town was the 2017 winner for favorite country group.) That show moved to E! in 2018 and has aired on both NBC and E! since 2021. It bills itself as “the only award show for the people and by the people,” a slogan that also applies to this spin-off.
The People’s Choice Country Awards is produced by Den of Thieves with Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager and Barb Bialkowski serving as executive producers, along with RAC Clark as executive producer and showrunner.
The show will extend to social platforms with Backstage Live, bringing fans at home behind the scenes as well as interactively connecting country’s most popular stars with their biggest fans.
This project is seen as an example of collaboration resulting from NBCUniversal’s equity investment in Opry Entertainment Group alongside Atairos, which was finalized last year.
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XG talk about their first time performing in America, meeting their U.S. Alphaz, their docuseries, their unique group concept as a Japanese girl group performing in English, and more! XG:Hi we’re XG and you’re watching Billboard News. Maya:It was such an incredible moment being able to meet our U.S. Alphaz for the very first time […]
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New Olivia Rodrigo music is coming soon! The singer announced her sophomore album and its release date in a post that surprised fans to kick off the week. Austin Mahone talks his latest single “Kuntry,” why he wanted to step into the country music genre, and his new album ‘Lone Star Story.’ The cast of […]
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Big Freedia talks to Billboard about her new album Central City, her new Fuse reality show Big Freedia Means Business, working with legends such as Lil Wayne and Beyoncé, and more!
Big Freedia:They were trying to stop me from gyrating and called all these police.
Tetris Kelly:They called the police?
Big Freedia:Yeah, and I was like, ‘I’m the queen of bounce, honey. You’re all gonna get ready to take me to jail.”
Tetris Kelly:Twerk all the way to the jail, how about that?
Big Freedia:Hey, this is Big Freedia, the queen diva, and this is Billboard News — girl down!
Tetris Kelly:It’s Tetris of Billboard News hanging out with Big Freedia. You looking good! Happy Pride!
Big Freedia:Thank you, happy Pride to you as well.
Tetris Kelly:I have been loving the energy. Have you been celebrating Pride?
Big Freedia:I’ve just been performing everywhere, bringing good energy, you know, going out living in my true being loud and proud.
Tetris Kelly:And I feel like the energy is different this year because of course, we always celebrate Pride. But then there’s so many social issues happening right now. So have you noticed, like, a difference in Pride this year when we’re under attack for so many reasons?
Big Freedia:Yeah, I definitely think that we are being fearfulness. And we are going out there and just showing our true colors, and letting them know that all of these laws that they’re trying to put in place, it’s not really stopping anything. We are going to still stand strong, and we’re gonna come together as a community and keep on fighting for our rights.
Watch Big Freedia’s full interview with Billboard News above!
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