Dan + Shay, which won vocal duo of the year for the second year in a row at last week’s CMA Awards, will be featured on CMA Country Christmas, which is set to air Nov. 30 on ABC. The show will be hosted by Thomas Rhett and his wife, Lauren Akins, who will be making their TV hosting debut together. Rhett will also perform on the show.
Darius Rucker, who co-hosted the CMA Awards with Reba McEntire, is also set to perform on the show, in tandem with violinist Lindsey Stirling.
Other performers set to appear on the show are Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Florida Georgia Line, Lady A, Little Big Town and Tim McGraw.
CMA Country Christmas is in its 11th year. “The idea for this year’s show was to do a throwback [to] the great Christmas specials of the 1960s and 1970s,” says Robert Deaton, the show’s executive producer and writer.
“Andy Williams, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra all had classic Christmas specials where the viewer was invited into the homes of the host to celebrate the holiday like a best friend coming to visit. That was what we wanted to create for this year’s show. Instead of a big flashy production, we took a page from those iconic specials to say, ‘Come relax, and let’s celebrate the holidays together.’”
Paul Miller directed the special, which was filmed in September—without a live audience for the first time. CMA Country Christmas is a production of the Country Music Association.
