Mark Seliger/ABCIf you’re wondering who came up with the idea to use this year’s CMA Awards to honor country’s most-loved female voices, you probably don’t have to look much farther than twelve-time host, Carrie Underwood.
“When we started talking about the CMAs this year, thinking about what theme we might have… I definitely was kind of pushing for a tribute to females in country music,” she tells ABC Audio.
While the lack of female voices on country radio has been a hot topic for some time, Carrie sees 2019 as the time quite a few people finally decided to do something about it.
“I feel like right now, this year in country music, a lot of us have decided to put our money where our mouth is, so to speak,” she says candidly. “I feel like we’ve been talking about needing more of a presence of women in country music.”
“I’m not the only female headlining tour with all-female acts,” she adds. “I feel like we all decided, ‘Well, we[‘re] just gonna have to do it ourselves!'” she laughs.
This year, both Carrie and Miranda Lambert both hit the road on all-girl tours.
On Country Music’s Biggest Night, Carrie enlists Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire to continue the cause.
“It’s all about just lifting each other up, supporting each other with Dolly and Reba,” Carrie explains. “I feel like we all get to be ourselves. We’re all adding our own lines to to the script, and wanting to be ourselves, but also just wanting to lift each other up, support each other.”
We’ll find out exactly what Carrie, Reba, and Dolly have come up with Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET, as the 53rd Annual CMA Awards air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on ABC.
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