Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, gatherings and events of all kinds have been cancelled or postponed. In the country music world, one of the genre’s biggest awards ceremonies had to be moved to the fall.
On April 5, country music’s brightest stars were supposed to gather in Las Vegas for the annual ACM Awards. Originally, the ACM was committed to hosting its awards show as scheduled.
However, as the situation worsened, the ACM made the call to postpone the ACM Awards to a later date.
“The health and safety of our artists, fans, industry staff and partners is our number one priority,” read a March 15 statement from the ACM. The statement indicated the ceremony would be rescheduled for September.
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Eventually, the ACM announced a date for the rescheduled ceremony…September 16. Keith Urban will still host as originally planned, but it’s unsure if the awards will be held in Las Vegas, as a location is still to be determined.
Rather than just wait until September to provide fans with entertainment from their favorite country artists, the ACM put together a special event to take the place of its original broadcast slot. The ACM announced it would host a special called ACM Presents: Our Country, in which artists would deliver performances from their homes to create a massive virtual concert.
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Some of the performers who participated in ACM Presents: Our Country included Miranda Lambert, Shania Twain, and Luke Bryan. There were also two tribute performances during the show. Chris Young honored the late Joe Diffie and Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, and Bryan united to remember Kenny Rogers.
Another collaboration fans got the chance to witness was a duet between Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani. The two lovebirds are currently self-quarantining at Shelton’s ranch in Oklahoma, where he has been working on growing out his old mullet as “a symbol of hope.”
Quarantine mullet update 3/26/2020… @gwenstefani has decided to take it to the next level.. Stripes. pic.twitter.com/XZJzWOoAd5
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) March 26, 2020
Shelton covered his growing mullet with a hat when he and Stefani came together to sing their latest duet, “Nobody But You,” for ACM Presents: Our Country.
With nothing but Shelton’s acoustic guitar to back them up, Shelton and Stefani delivered a stripped down rendition of their romantic song. It’s the first time we’ve ever heard them issue a performance this intimate.
Tune in to the video below to watch Shelton and Stefani’s “Nobody But You” duet from ACM Presents: Our Country. It’s such a sweet thing to witness.