On Tuesday morning, the Canadian Country Music Association announced this year’s hosts for the 2019 CCMA Awards.
Co-hosting this year’s highly anticipated event at Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome will be reigning CCMA Male Artist of the Year Dallas Smith and Billboard’s latest record-smasher, the Old Town Road rocker himself, Billy Ray Cyrus.
The CCMAs take place on Sunday, Sept. 8 and will be broadcast by Global starting at 9 p.m. ET.
Ahead of the 2019 CCMA Awards, Smith, 41, and Cyrus, 57, took the time to visit Corus Entertainment in Toronto and sit down with Global News’s Adam Wallis for a chat.
The country icons shared details about their love for making music, their latest projects, what it was like meeting each other for the first time and how they feel about the current direction of Canadian music.
READ MORE: Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ becomes longest-running No. 1 song on Billboard Hot 100
When asked how the opportunity came about to host the annual awards show, Cyrus joked, “It must have been fate,” to which Smith added, “It is fate.”
“I never ever in a million years thought I’d be standing here with Billy Ray Cyrus, getting ready to host an award show,” Smith said. “But I’m glad I’m here.”
Smith is a multi-Juno and CCMA Award-winning country singer. He was born and raised in Langley, B.C.
Before kicking off his solo career in 2012, Smith was the frontman for the popular Canadian rock band Default, who reunited for an exclusive tour with the Stone Temple Pilots last year.
In the span of just seven years, Smith has released some of Canada’s most popular country hits, including Tippin’ Point, Lifted, Autograph and Side Effects. Earlier this year, he released the critically acclaimed EP, The Fall.
Now he’s managing up-and-coming country artists through his own label, SteelHead music. Smith hits the road this fall with Dean Brody for the co-headlining Don’t Let Your Friends Tour Alone tour.
READ MORE: Billy Ray Cyrus releases new song, ‘Chevys and Fords’
Cyrus, on the other hand, made the comeback of a lifetime this year after not only dropping his 16th studio album, The SnakeDoctor Circus, but also helping make up-and-coming Georgia rapper Lil Nas X a household name with the viral sensation Old Town Road (Remix).
The Achy Breaky Heart star has been dominating the country charts since the early 1990s and despite not being Canadian, he won a CCMA Award in 1993 for Top Selling Album with his debut solo record, Some Gave All.
WATCH: ‘Old Town Road’ makes music history with Billboard Hot 100 reign
Along with Lil Nas X, 20, Cyrus has just spent his 17th week on top of the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the previous record that had been held by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men since 1995.
Cyrus’s latest single, Chevys and Fords, is a collaboration with former Walker McGuire singer Johnny McGuire and has earned the two a great deal of recognition in the country music industry over the last month.
On being asked if he ever thought his career would go so far, Cyrus told Global News: “I just love making music to be honest. I’m trying to think of a fancy answer, but straight up, I just love making music. To this day, I’m still the same.”
READ MORE: Popular ‘Old Town Road’ song leading to theft of road sign in Sicamous, B.C.
Tickets for the 2019 CCMA Awards ceremony can be purchased through Ticketmaster.
One dollar from each ticket sold will be donated to music education charity MusiCounts in support of its continued musical initiatives. Additional information on the CCMAs can be found through the official website.
The 2019 CCMAs will air on Global TV, Sunday, Sept. 8 at 9 p.m. ET.
— Global News is an affiliate of the Corus Entertainment Network.
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