Jelly Roll & Shaboozey Collab, 12-Minute ‘Songs of the Decades’ Show Opener Set for 2025 ACM Awards

The show will also feature collab performances by Backstreet Boys & Rascal Flatts; and Brooks & Dunn with Cody Johnson.

May 1, 2025 - 16:14

Jelly Roll & Shaboozey Collab, 12-Minute ‘Songs of the Decades’ Show Opener Set for 2025 ACM Awards

The 2025 ACM Awards will open with 12 straight minutes of music highlighting ACM Award-winning Songs of the Year from across six decades. The segment will feature Clint Black, Dan + Shay, Wynonna Judd, Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes and Sugarland.

Four of those artists popularized songs that won ACM Awards for song of the year, so you’re very likely to hear these songs in that medley – Dan + Shay’s “Tequila,” The Judds’ “Why Not Me,” Rimes’ “Blue” and Sugarland’s “Stay.”

The show will also feature collaborative performances by Jelly Roll & Shaboozey; Backstreet Boys & Rascal Flatts; and Brooks & Dunn with Cody Johnson. Jelly and Shaboozey performed together at last weekend’s Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif. Backstreet Boys were also on the bill for the three-day festival.

Megan Moroney, the ACM’s 2024 winner for new female artist of the year, will also join this year’s star-packed show.

Hosted by 16-time ACM Award-winner McEntire, the 60th ACM Awards will stream live for a global audience on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch on Thursday, May 8 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. PT from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The show will be expanded from two to two-and-a-half hours.

This will be the 18th time McEntire has hosted or co-hosted the ACM Awards. She first co-hosted the show in 1986 with John Schneider and the late Mac Davis. McEntire is fast closing in on Bob Hope’s record as the most frequent host of any major awards show. Hope hosted or co-hosted the Oscars 19 times between 1940 and 1978.

Previously announced performers are Alan Jackson, Chris Stapleton, Blake Shelton, Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson and Miranda Lambert, as well as Ella Langley and Zach Top, who were announced last week as the winners of new female and male artist of the year.

The ACM have not yet announced whether The Red Clay Strays, the winner of the ACM Award for new duo/group of the year, will perform, but it would be a good bet.

Raj Kapoor is executive producer and showrunner of the 2025 ACM Awards, with Patrick Menton as co-executive producer. Damon Whiteside serves as executive producer for the Academy of Country Music, and Jay Penske and Barry Adelman serve as executive producers for Dick Clark Productions. John Saade will also continue to serve as consulting producer for Amazon MGM Studios.

Kapoor is among the most successful executive producers in TV. He has served in that capacity on the last four Grammy telecasts (alongside Ben Winston and Jesse Collins) and the last two Oscar telecasts (alongside Katy Mullan).

This year’s show is presented by Carnival Cruise Line. A limited number of tickets to the show are available for purchase on SeatGeek.

Established in 1966, the Academy of Country Music Awards is the longest-running country music awards show. The ACMs made history in 2022 as the first major awards ceremony to exclusively livestream, in collaboration with Prime Video.

The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.