Women are making their voices heard in country music and that's more evident than ever with the announcement of this year's Country Music Association Awards performers, which include leading ladies Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, Maddie & Tae and Kacey Musgraves.
Male performers include Thomas Rhett, notable non-country act Fall Out Boy, and openers Eric Church and Hank Williams Jr. performing the debut of a new song, "Are You Ready For The Country."
But the more exciting performances are sure to come from the women, who boast a combined total of 12 nominations between them this year.
Rolling Stone Country points out that Lambert is the most awarded female artist in CMA Awards history with 11 wins and 38 nominations. This year, she'll be looking to continue her streak, after five consecutive wins as the CMA Female Vocalist of the Year. She was also nominated for Entertainer of the Year, Musical Event of the Year and Music Video of the Year for her song "Little Red Wagon."
Musgraves set the country music world on fire with her 2013 debut album Same Trailer Different Park, and was expected to do the same with 2015's Pageant Material. Even if expectations for her sophomore album were set impossibly high, Musgraves comes into the night with a slew of nominations including Female Vocalist of the Year, Music Video of the Year and Album of the Year.
Ballerini's breakout single "Love Me Like You Mean It," will be competing in the highly competitive category of Best New Artist alongside fellow performers Maddie & Tae and Thomas Rhett, as well as Chris Stapleton and Sam Hunt.
This year has the potential to bring us a number of surprises from up-and-coming acts that fall out of the norm of pop county, but only time will tell if the establishment will be welcoming of these new outsider acts.
Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will host the awards held in Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. ET live on ABC.
Watch Lambert's CMA-nominated video for "Little Red Wagon" below.
