As Luke Bryan gears up to host the 2024 CMA Awards with Lainey Wilson and Peyton Manning, Taste of Country Nights caught up with him and asked which category, if any, he would add to the CMA Awards, if the host got to add one each year.
Not one to side-step any question, he had a pretty intricate answer.
“I think you should allow singers that are in groups to be up for Vocalist of the Year,” he says.
“When you look at a Ronnie Dunn and a Randy Owen … some of the great singers of our time that never had the chance to win Male Vocalist [as members of groups].”
The “Kick the Dust Up” singer wasn’t done spitting ideas.
“Maybe like a Touring Artist of the Year, which is kind of like Entertainer of the Year,” Bryan adds.
“I think adding a few more categories would be beneficial. I feel like the categories were made many, many, many years ago. And I think things have changed.”
This will be the 58th showing of the CMA Awards, and it is set to be a big one. But Bryan is right — the only real change to the categories was when they renamed the Horizon Award to New Artist of the Year in 2007.
There have been other categories, like Musical Event of the Year, which was split off from Vocal Duo of the Year, and similar name changes, but never a straight addition of a category. Perhaps they’ll take their host’s advice?
The 2024 CMA Awards will air live on ABC on Wednesday (Nov. 20) at 8PM ET. Be sure you check back to TasteofCountry.com for minute-by-minute updates.
Luke Bryan has been a force in country music pretty much since he arrived in Nashville in 2005. “All My Friends Say” started the fire for him as a solo artist — and the rest is history. Let’s take a walk through time with 34 pictures of Luke Bryan young.
Gallery Credit: Evan Paul
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes