Ceremony host Reba McEntire recently made it clear she was disappointed that there are no women nominated for the night’s Entertainer of the Year prize, and now Bryan, who is up for the top award alongside Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban, has voiced his concerns.
“It doesn’t make me very happy, because we’ve got some very talented women out there who are working their butts off,” he tells CBS This Morning.
He also applauded Reba for making her thoughts public, telling Buzzfeed News, “It’s something on everybody’s radar, and it’s so good that it’s on everybody’s radar, and I think Reba has earned the right to voice her opinion on matters like that. Somebody like Reba has to stand up and say (this) to the Academy of Country Music and all forms of country music awards shows.
“It does get a little bit tricky when it is a naturally male-heavy format, but there’s so many women out there that should feel the right to speak up.”
Meanwhile, Keith Urban has made it a point to highlight upcoming female artists, featuring Kassi Ashton as a guest vocalist on Drop Top and joining Jillian Jacqueline in the studio for her If I Were You single, and Dierks Bentley shared his support for wanting more women on country radio during the recent Nashville, Tennessee stop on his Burning Man Tour.
The ACM Awards will be held in Las Vegas on 7 April (19).