Dolly Parton to headline Allegiant Stadium — as ACM Awards co-host
The Academy of Country Music Awards is playing a big room in March. The show needed a personality to match.
So welcome to fabulous Las Vegas, Dolly Parton.
Parton is one of multiple stars to co-host the 57th annual ACM Awards show, being performed for the first time at Allegiant Stadium on March 7. Her co-hosts and the list of this year’s nominees is to be announced.
Parton’s participation was announced Thursday by co-producers the Academy of Country Music, Prime Video and MRC. The two-hour event will stream live without commercials on Prime Video at 5 p.m. Pacific time. The event is the first awards show to be live-streamed exclusively.
Parton will be joined by co-hosts to be announced at a later date. (Vegas headliners and former hosts Luke Bryan at the Theatre at Resorts World and Keith Urban at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace are headlining around the time of the awards show).
In its time in Las Vegas, the ACM Awards have previously been staged at Mandalay Bay Events Center (now Michelob Ultra Arena), MGM Grand Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena. The event honors the top performers and new artists in country music.
In a statement, Parton said she was excited to be hosting the show from Vegas.
“Watch for us because we’re going to have some fun,” Parton said. She releases her album “Run, Rose, Run,” on March 4. The novel of the same name, co-written by James Patterson, is due out March 7. Parton is also among the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2022, joined by fellow first-time noms Beck, A Tribe Called Quest and Eminem.
The country-music icon and film actress has won 13 ACM Awards. She also hosted the show from the Universal Amphitheatre in L.A. in 2000.
“Dolly is the most iconic and multi-talented artist of all time, and we are proud that she is a friend and supporter of the Academy,” Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside said in a statement. “There is no one better than Dolly to represent the ACM Awards brand and country music on a global scale.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
