Coed twosomes are all the rage when it comes to hosting award shows. James Franco and Anne Hathaway are hosting this year”s Oscars, Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley have very playfully and successfully hosted the Country Music Assn. Awards for the the past three years and now Reba McEntire will be joined by Blake Shelton as her co-host for the Academy of Country Music Awards. It’s like Noah’s Ark: all hosts must now come in pairs.
McEntire has hosted the award show solo for the last several years. McEntire and Shelton are managed by McEntire”s husband, Narvel Blackstock.
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Ten years after his Warner Bros. album debut, Shelton is on a career surge, winning both his first ACM and CMA awards last year. He”s also a loose cannon, so there”s no telling what may come out of his mouth. The move is a smart one: McEntire is a witty and nimble host, but adding Shelton could help bring in a younger audience. This year’s ACMs will be broadcast live April 3 from Las Vegas’s MGM Grand Garden Arena.