Ed Sheeran is set to make his Academy of Country Music Awards debut on Thursday night (May 11).
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“Who said the Brits don’t have a little bit of country in them?” Sheeran said in a video announcing his place in the line-up. “I’m really excited to be at the Academy of Country Music Awards this week. This is the first time that I’ll be performing on it, and I am super pumped about it. And I hope to see you there.”
Some might be shocked to see Sheeran’s name amongst a country award show, given that he is, in fact, not a country artist, but that might not be the case for much longer.
During ACM Awards rehearsals, Sheeran told Billboard that transitioning into country music would be a dream for him.
“I talk about this to my wife all the time. I would love to transition into country,” he told the outlet. “I love the culture of it, I just love the songwriting. It’s just like brilliant songs.”
The leap from Sheeran’s current musicality to country wouldn’t be a large one. Sheeran already has mastery over acoustic-driven songs and expert lyricism.
“There’s not really a place in Europe where you could point and say, ‘That’s the home of songwriting,'” Sheeran continued. “It’s not just for country music. Nashville is just a hub of incredible songwriters and incredible performers.”
Later on, Sheeran credits his frequent collaborator Taylor Swift for turning him on to country music.
“I’d never really listened to country music as a kid growing up,” he said. “It was only being on Taylor’s Red Tour and living in Nashville and her basically introducing me to that side of it.”
Sheeran is slated to appear at the ACMs alongside Jason Aldean, Lainey Wilson, Kane Brown, Cody Johnson, The War and Treaty, Jelly Roll, Bailey Zimmerman, Miranda Lambert, HARDY, and more.
The ACM Awards will be broadcast live from the Dallas Cowboys practice stadium. The show will be available on Prime Video for free and on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
The ceremony will be rebroadcast on Amazon Freevee and on the Amazon Music App the following day.
(Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
