In the 51-year history of the ACM Awards, Reba McEntire has hosted or co-hosted the show a record 17 times. That’s an astonishing one-third of all the ACM Awards shows.
While she won’t be at the helm during this year’s show—that honor goes to Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley—Reba will be performing during the telecast.
In a Music Choice video exclusive, Reba says that Dick Clark, who had a longstanding relationship with the ACM Awards, was the one who taught her how to be both a host and a performer.
“When you say ‘ACM Awards,’ I think [of] Dick Clark,” says Reba. “He taught me so much as I was not only performing . . . but also he taught me how to get out there and be a host. He gave me lots of chances. I’ve hosted by myself. I’ve co-hosted with other folks, co-hosted with two other co-hosts, so it was a lot of fun, and when you say ‘ACMs’ . . . you think Hollywood and Nashville come together, because he always added movie stars or TV stars to come in and to be a part of it. So to us in the country music business, it was like ‘Oh my gosh, I wonder who he’s gonna get this year?’ and we were all very excited about it too. I miss him so much.”
Watch the Music Choice video below, and tune in to the 52 annual ACM Awards on CBS on Sunday, April 2, 7 p.m. CT.
