(Getty)The 46th Annual CMA Awards will air live Thursday evening from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, promising an evening of dazzling dresses, rousing performances, and triumphant wins for the biggest stars in country music. But a significant amount of airtime will be dedicated to championing relief efforts as well, as co-hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley plan to seek Red Cross donations during the broadcast. "Country fans are so amazing and so giving," Underwood stated Wednesday. "To make sure everybody can pitch in, that's going to be really important."
Here's the rundown on tonight's fancy shindig.
The Hosts
Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley will share hosting duties, which means Underwood is going to make lots of costume changes (our bet is at least 8) while Paisley cracks the occasional joke about how many sequins she sacrificed for the sake of the evening. The two have great chemistry, having collaborated last year on the smash hit "Remind Me." In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Paisley hinted, "We’re gonna be doing some things that I don’t think people would really expect us to do. We want to keep people on their toes, not just do your standard monologue. We feel like we’ve done so well in the past and felt so confident in our jobs as hosts, we just really want to take it to that next level."
The Performers
It seems like everyone who's touched the country airwaves in the past year has a performance planned for tonight, although many of the artists' appearances will likely be in the form of splashy collaborations. Expect fans to go nuts for Taylor Swift, who will perform her new single "Begin Again," and Kelly Clarkson, who will destroy everyone with her electrifying vocals. Country superstars Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, and The Band Perry are among the confirmed performers.
The Frontrunners
Though country music has traditionally had older fans and older performers than many other genres, the artists up for awards are a mostly young crop. The nominees for Entertainer of the Year, arguably the most important award of the night, are party boy Jason Aldean, Renee Zellweger's ex-husband Kenny Chesney, veteran performer Brad Paisley, The Voice's Blake Shelton, and country pop crossover Taylor Swift. In the Female Vocalist of the Year category, golden girl Swift is up against still competition from Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, while Lambert's husband Blake Shelton is up against Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban and Eric Church in the Male category. Eric Church is this year's most celebrated nominee with 5 nods, including Male Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year.
Though Snoop Dogg — ahem, Snoop Lion — was nominated for a CMA this year for his involvement in "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die," a collaboration with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Jamey Johnson, he won't be onstage to accept a statuette this evening as it has already been awarded to Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw for their duet "Feel Like a Rock Star."
Catch the 2012 Country Music Association Awards on ABC tonight at 8 p.m. ET.
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