ENCINO, Calif., March 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Academy of Country Music and dick clark productions announced today that Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum and Little Big Town are scheduled to perform as part of the 48^th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS.  This is the second round of artists announced as performers on this year's broadcast. The ceremony, which will be co-hosted by Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, honors country music's top talent, as well as the industry's hottest emerging artists.  It is produced for television by dick clark productions and will be broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.

These artists join previously announced performers Luke Bryan, Kelly Clarkson, Hunter Hayes, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, George Strait and The Band Perry, as well as the 3^rd Annual ACM Fan Jam, headlined by Brad Paisley along with special guests Dierks Bentley, Hunter Hayes, and New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's nominees Brantley Gilbert, Jana Kramer and Florida Georgia Line.  LL Cool J has also been tapped to make a special appearance during this year's ACM Fan Jam, emcee'd by Storme Warren.

Performers:

Jason Aldean is nominated this year for three Academy of Country Music awards, including his third consecutive nod for Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year, as well as Vocal Event of the Year for "The Only Way I Know" with Luke Bryan and Eric Church.  Aldean recently played his first-ever Madison Square Garden show, which sold out in just seven minutes, when his "2013 NIGHT TRAIN TOUR" rolled into New York City for one of its many sold-out stops.  Aldean has solidified his stadium headliner status with upcoming sold-out shows at the University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium, two nights at Boston's Fenway Park and Chicago's Wrigley Field. 

Kenny Chesney has won eleven Academy of Country Music Awards, including four Entertainer of the Year Awards and the Crystal Milestone Award, an award that has only been given to five acts in the Academy's history. He is nominated this year for Vocal Event of the Year for "Feel Like a Rock Star" with Tim McGraw. Chesney's current single, "Pirate Flag" is burning up country radio - becoming his 8th Top 25 debut and being named USA Today's Song of the Week. The song is the first single off of his upcoming Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville Records album Life on a Rock, set to be released on April 30. He has just kicked off his "No Shoes Nation Tour" on March 16 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL.

Eric Church leads with seven ACM award nominations, including Male Vocalist of the Year and his second consecutive nod for Album of the Year and Video of the Year.  He is twice nominated for Song of the Year for "Springsteen," as both artist and composer.  Church also earned nominations for Single of the Year for "Springsteen" and for Vocal Event of the Year for "The Only Way I Know" with Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan.  His third album, "CHIEF," reached Platinum and received several end-of-the-year "top album" accolades from NPR, Rolling Stone, SPIN, iTunes and the Los Angeles Times.  Church is a three-time GRAMMY nominee including a nod for Best Country Album, and his second and third single releases, "Drink In My Hand" and "Springsteen," reached #1 on the country radio charts.  Church's forthcoming live album release, "Caught In the Act: Live," is currently available for pre-sale and will be released on April 9.

In his record-shattering career, Tim McGraw is a fifteen-time ACM award winner, and has sold more than 40 million albums as well as dominated the charts with 33 #1 singles. Since the release of his debut album in 1993, he has also won three GRAMMYs, twelve Country Music Association Awards, and ten American Music Awards, while simultaneously maintaining a parallel career as a successful actor in such films as "The Blind Side," "Country Strong," and "Friday Night Lights"—as well as hosting "Saturday Night Live," a rare honor for a singer in any genre. McGraw is also spotlighting the hottest music of the summer and calling on his friends to help kick off the 2013 touring season for ACM PRESENTS: TIM McGRAW's SUPERSTAR SUMMER NIGHT.  The CBS-broadcasted special will feature high-octane performances and musical collaborations from Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Ne-Yo, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and more to be announced, for a two-hour, star-studded concert event benefitting ACM Lifting Lives, the philanthropic arm of the Academy of Country Music dedicated to improving lives through the power of music.

Reigning Entertainer of the Year, and seven-time GRAMMY winner, Taylor Swift, received five ACM nominations, including her fourth consecutive nod for Entertainer of the Year.  If Swift wins Entertainer of the Year, this will be her third consecutive win in that category. Swift is nominated for the sixth time for Female Vocalist of the Year and for the fourth time for Video of the Year for "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together." She also received a double nomination for Album of the Year for Red as artist and producer.  Swift is the first artist since the Beatles (and the only female artist in history) to log six or more weeks at #1 with three consecutive studio albums, and she is the only female artist in music history (and the fourth artist ever) to twice have an album hit the one million first-week sales figure. Swift recently scored her fourth consecutive #1 single from her RED album, and just kicked off her highly-anticipated "The RED Tour," playing to capacity crowds at 66 stops (including 13 stadiums) through North America until September 21.  

Carrie Underwood is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, marking her eighth consecutive nomination for this category – she has won three times.  She is also nominated for Album of the Year for Blown Away.  Having won a total of ten ACM Awards, Underwood is also a two-time Entertainer of the Year winner.  In 2010, she was honored with the ACM Triple Crown, an award presented to an elite group of country music artists who boast wins for New Artist, Male/Female Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year. Underwood is currently on her critically-acclaimed international "Blown Away Tour," which began at London's historic Royal Albert Hall and is now making its way through North America.

Lady Antebellum is an ACM award-winning trio comprised of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. The band recently received their fifth ACM Award nomination for Vocal Group of the Year, an award they have won for three consecutive years.   The seven-time GRAMMY-winning trio's current single, "Downtown" is the lead single off of their upcoming fourth Capitol Nashville release Golden, scheduled to come out May 7. The track hit big out of the gate, becoming the trio's highest-charting debut on the Country radio charts.

Little Big Town leads ACM award group nominations with four nods, including their seventh nomination for Vocal Group of the Year. They are also nominated for Album of the Year, Single Record of the Year for "Pontoon" and Video of the Year for "Tornado."  The Grammy-winning country group, consisting of members Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman, and Jimi Westbrook, first entered the music scene over thirteen years ago, and their fifth studio album, Tornado, debuted at the top of the Billboard Country Chart where it stayed in the #1 position for five consecutive weeks. The album produced by Jay Joyce, includes two-time platinum-selling #1 hit single "Pontoon," and follow-up single and title-track "Tornado," which also peaked at the #1 position.   The foursome has played in front of over 4 million people to-date and is currently headlining their Tornado Tour across the US and Canada. They will join Keith Urban on tour later this summer.

About the Academy of Country Music Awards
The 48^th Academy of Country Music Awards is dedicated to honoring and showcasing the biggest names and emerging talent in the country music industry.  The show is produced for television by dick clark productions and will be broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.  Allen Shapiro, Orly Adelson and R.A. Clark are executive producers.  Barry Adelman is producer, and Bob Bardo is the executive in charge of production. Bob Romeo is executive producer for the Academy of Country Music. 

SOURCE Academy of Country Music