Garth Brooks Said ‘No’ To Hosting ACM Awards At First

Garth Brooks will join Dolly Parton in hosting the 58th annual ACM Awards on Thursday, May 11, live from Texas. It will be the first time he's co-hosted an awards show.

In a recent interview, Garth said that he gave a hard "no" when first asked to host the show. He explained, "It's not what I do. But my partner is Amazon; they reached out and asked. I said there's no way I can do it. They said Dolly's hosting, and I said, 'I'm in!' Any chance to stand next to that woman is awesome."

When asked what fans can expect from the superstar duo hosting together, Brooks said, "My thing is we have Dolly Parton; she represents class, talent, timelessness. Let's follow those leads. Maybe less on the talk, less yak-yak jokes, and more about the artists." He added, "Wait til you see her entrance. It's fabulous. She's also got her big surprise during the show too."

Garth didn't give much, but he did hint a bit more about Parton's entrance. He said, "She won't be alone. I'll put it that way. I don't even know if it's someone. We had to take a joke out."

The show will stream for free on Amazon Prime, so anyone can watch. "It goes back to my Central Park concert," Brooks says. "I told HBO the only reason I'd do it was if they opened it up to everyone. To me, it makes sense. They'll increase eyeballs, and I hope it pays off for them."

One week after the ACM Awards, Garth will begin a two-year residency in Las Vegas, and he can't wait. He said in the same interview, "This theater is twice as big. It's a one-man show that I enjoy doing, but the band will be there for when we need the muscle. I love music, and I want to do other people's music. Every night will be different because the crowd leads. You get to experiment. Hopefully, the people will feel it's just for them."

Brooks also talked about the new music he was working on. He revealed, "We will have two deliveries. One will be in early fall, and one will be in late fall. So for people who want to hear Garth's stuff. We'll have more than you can possibly want because we haven't done anything in a while."

As the ACM Awards approaches on May 11, the excitement is building. There is a lot of talk about Miranda Lambert being the most awarded ACM artist in history, having won a whopping 37 ACM Awards through the years. She could actually up the ante with a few more wins this year.

Miranda isn't the only country music artist with shelves full of ACM Awards. We take a look at the top 11 artists with the most ACM award wins through the years.