Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Dan + Shay, HARDY, Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town, Toby Keith, and Wynonna have all been announced to take the iconic Grand Ole Opry House stage to perform at the first-ever People’s Choice Country Awards, which will air Thursday, September 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
As previously announced, NBC and Peacock will honor country legend Toby Keith with the Country Icon Award and performer Wynonna with the Country Champion Award this year.
As the first Country Champion Award recipient at the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards, Wynonna will be celebrated for her decades-long career and heroic efforts around philanthropy and activism. According to the show, “She has consistently used her public platform to create meaningful change and advocate for children, military veterans and their families, disaster relief, and more through her work with numerous organizations, including the Wounded Warrior Project and Habitat for Humanity.”
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Shelton will present his fellow Oklahoman Toby Keith with the “Country Icon Award.”
The award will honor Keith for “his decades-long career as a groundbreaking musician, humanitarian, and entrepreneur.” The honor will also recognize his career as a musician, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. Toby has scored 32 No.1 singles and has sold 40 million albums.
Early in his career, almost 20 years ago (2004), Blake toured and opened shows for Toby Keith nationwide. At the time, he told me, “Toby is one of those guys that is so famous and so big, and he is one of those artists that’s just worldwide. You don’t have to be a country music fan to be a Toby Keith fan. It’s just way bigger than that. I step on stage with over 20 thousand people per night, and 15,000 of them may or may not have ever heard of me. Touring with Toby has probably been the biggest break I’ve had since I started doing this.”
Little Big Town is set to host the People’s Choice Country Awards; Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild, and Phillip Sweet will also perform a medley of their greatest hits as part of the two-hour celebration.
The group said in a statement, “We are honored to host the inaugural ‘People’s Choice Country Awards,’ especially on one of our most beloved stages in the entire world. We look forward to welcoming so many of our talented peers to take the Opry stage for this magical night of music.”