Carrie Underwood Is Ready to Host a ‘Heartfelt’ 2019 CMA Awards

Carrie Underwood is a CMA Awards co-hosting pro by now -- she's helmed the show for more than a decade already. However, this time around, she'll be joined by Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire rather than her co-host of the last 11 years, Brad Paisley. While Underwood and Paisley were known for their jokes and quips, the 2019 CMA Awards will take on a bit of a different tone, according to Underwood.

"It’s definitely gonna be heartfelt," Underwood shared with The Boot and other media at a recent press event. "The whole tone this year is obviously taking a look at women in country music. I love the fact that there’s a theme happening. I hope that’s kind of something that maybe we adopt for future CMAs."

The 2019 CMA Awards will be sincere -- but not all serious. "I feel like Dolly and Reba both are so good at those one-liners that just kill. I can’t imagine there not being some of those in there," Underwood adds.

At the time of Underwood's press event in October, she had yet to directly communicate with McEntire or Parton, but noted, "We should be getting in a room at some point, when we’re all at the same place at the same time.

"We’ve already gotten into some of the script and some of the writings, and I think it’ll really come down to the three of us getting in a room together and kind of reading through things and being like, 'Yeah, I wouldn’t say it like that. Let’s change it this way. What about this?'" Underwood continued. "Everything comes together a lot closer to the CMAs."

Once the script is nailed down, then come performances, wardrobe decisions and all of the other details. On Thursday (Nov. 7), the Country Music Association revealed that the show will begin with a decade-spanning medley performed by the three hosts and several other female artists, including the Highwomen, Martina McBride, Tanya Tucker and more.

"I would imagine there’s gonna be a lot of chaos with the clothing backstage -- a lot of fringe, I’m predicting, a lot of rhinestones," Underwood shares. "We have our fittings and it’s like, 'I have to wear that one, or that one, or that one.' Then we start asking how many times we can fit it in, look at the schedule, and it’s like, I have five minutes there. That’s enough time to change clothes. I can do that.'"

The 2019 CMA Awards are set to air live from Bridgestone Arena on ABC at 8PM ET.

The Boot will be staying up late covering the most buzzed-about winners, fashion and moments at the 2019 CMA Awards. Readers can watch along with us by checking back to TheBoot.com for the latest CMAs headlines, liking The Boot on Facebook and following The Boot on Twitter.

Here's How We Hope the 2019 CMA Awards Will Celebrate Country's Women