BRAD PAISLEY AND CARRIE UNDERWOOD RETURN TO HOST "THE 48TH ANNUAL CMA AWARDS" LIVE FROM NASHVILLE ON THE ABC TELEVISION NETWORK NOVEMBER 5

NASHVILLE - Country superstars Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will be returning to host "Country Music's Biggest Night(TM) for the seventh consecutive time in 2014. "The 48th Annual CMA Awards" airs live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 (8:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

The popular pair used "CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock" to make the announcement when the concert special aired last night on ABC. In the segment, Paisley and Underwood answered CMA Awards trivia questions posed by Little Big Town (spoiler alert: Underwood wins). See the segment here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y_x_QNzsOg&list=UUYBnMuQlKOVhpJkLPhzJD0A

"Carrie and Brad are unmatched as a hosting team," said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. "They have impeccable comic timing, industry credibility, critical acclaim, and a natural rapport that makes them popular with our live audience and the viewers at home. We are delighted to have them presiding over "Country Music's Biggest Night.'"

"Brad and Carrie are more than hosts, they are an important part of the CMA Awards brand," said CMA Awards Executive Producer Robert Deaton. "They bring so much to the table beyond what you see on stage during the broadcast. They are gifted creative collaborators, who routinely raise the bar and set the standard for live television hosting."

"Over time, there's been an evolution of who we are as hosts of the show - what fits, what's comfortable, what's real," added Underwood, "and we love being a part of the creative team. We feel the responsibility of what this night means to our music community, to our fellow artists and to the viewers at home."

"Shoot, we've written a bunch of the jokes every year. This'll just be the first time we have to pay union dues," said Paisley.

Paisley has won 14 CMA Awards since receiving the Horizon Award (now the New Artist Award) in 2000, including Entertainer of the Year (2010), Male Vocalist (2007, 2008, 2009) and Album (2006 for Time Well Wasted). He won Musical Event of the Year three times, first in 2004 with Alison Krauss for "Whiskey Lullaby," second in 2006 for "When I Get Where I'm Going" with Dolly Parton, and a third time in 2009 for "Start a Band" with Keith Urban. He claimed the Vocal Event of the Year trophy in 2001 for "Too Country" with Bill Anderson, George Jones, and Buck Owens; and won Music Video of the Year four times, including "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)" (2002), "Whiskey Lullaby" (with Krauss, 2004), "Online" (2007) and "Waitin' on a Woman" (featuring Andy Griffith, 2008). He is No. 5 on the list of top CMA Awards winners of all time.

Paisley is a critically-acclaimed singer, songwriter, guitarist, and entertainer whose talents have earned him numerous accolades including three Grammys. A proud member of the Grand Ole Opry since 2001, Paisley earned the first of his 22 No. 1 singles in 1999, writing or co-writing 19 of them. His latest single, "River Bank," is from his upcoming album, "Moonshine in the Trunk," to be released Aug. 25. Paisley is currently an expert on ABC's new hit singing competition "Rising Star," airing Sunday nights (9:00 p.m., ET), through Aug. 24. Paisley also made multiple contributions to the new Disney animated film "Planes: Fire & Rescue," with a voice cameo as a pick-up truck named Bubba, as well as recording two songs for the soundtrack: "Runway Romance" and "All In," which Paisley wrote and serves as the final song in the movie. Paisley is currently headlining his "Country Nation World Tour presented by KRAFT Cheese" through the fall. Visit www.bradpaisley.com for more information.

Underwood has received five CMA Awards in her career - three consecutive Female Vocalist of the Year trophies (2006-2008), as well as Single of the Year (2007 for "Before He Cheats"), and the Horizon Award (2006). Her 18 career CMA Awards nominations include three for Album of the Year for Carnival Ride (2008), Play On (2010), and Blown Away (2013); three nominations for Music Video of the Year for "Jesus Take the Wheel" (2006), "Before He Cheats" (2007), and "Blown Away" (2013); and Musical Event of the Year for "I Told You So" featuring Randy Travis (2009). She has been nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year every year since first being nominated in 2006 (2006-2013).

Underwood emerged from the promise of her 2005 "American Idol" win to become a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, and film, where the six-time Grammy Award winner has amassed more than 95 major honors, sold more than 64 million records worldwide, and recorded 18 No. 1 singles, nine of which she co-wrote. Underwood was recognized as Pollstar's Top Female Country Touring Artist for each of her headlining tours in 2008, 2010, and 2012. Her four albums, Some Hearts, Carnival Ride, Play On, and Blown Away - each certified multi-Platinum or Platinum - tallied 38 weeks at No 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with songs that have now been streamed more than 800 million times worldwide. A proud member of the Grand Ole Opry since 2008, Underwood last year became the musical voice of primetime television's No 1 program, "Sunday Night Football" and starred as Maria von Trapp in the three-hour, holiday blockbuster and Emmy-nominated, "The Sound of Music Live!," whose airings attracted 44 million viewers.

The CMA Awards nominees and winners are determined by more than 7,000 professional members of CMA, which was the first trade organization formed to promote an individual genre of music in 1958. Winners of "The 48th Annual CMA Awards" will be determined in a final round of voting by eligible members of CMA. CMA Awards balloting is officiated by the international accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche LLP. The eligibility period for the 2013 CMA Awards is July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014.

The second ballot will be emailed to CMA members on Tuesday, Aug. 12. Voting for the second ballot closes Friday, Aug. 22 (5:00 PM/CT).

The final nominees in each of the 12 categories will be announced in early September. The third and final ballot will be emailed to CMA members on Thursday, Oct. 9. Voting for the CMA Awards final ballot ends Monday, Oct. 27 (5:00 PM/CT).

"The 47th Annual CMA Awards" on ABC (Nov. 6, 2013) dominated the night in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 (16.8 million and 4.7/13), winning each half-hour and out delivering runner-up CBS by 7.4 million viewers and by 114 percent in Adults 18-49. In fact, with the broad-appealing Awards special the Network swept the evening, finishing No. 1 in Viewers, all key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54) and Teens 12-17 - and was the top broadcaster with Kids 2-11.

The 2013 CMA Awards was up by double digits from the previous year's telecast (Nov. 1, 2012), gaining 23 percent in Total Viewers and 24 percent in Adults 18-49. The CMA Awards drew its biggest audience in four years, representing its second-most-watched broadcast in eight years (since 2009 and 2005, respectively). In addition, the CMA Awards shot up 41 percent year-to-year with Men 18-34 (3.1/11 vs. 2.2/8) to a nine-year high - since 2004. (Source: Nielsen Media Research.)

Ticket information for the CMA Awards will be announced later this summer with information available at CMAawards.com. Or follow the conversation on Twitter at #CMAawards.

"The 48th Annual CMA Awards" is a production of the Country Music Association. Robert Deaton is the Executive Producer and Paul Miller is the Director. The CMA Awards will be shot in high definition and broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1 channel surround sound.

The first "CMA Awards Banquet and Show" was held in 1967. The following year, the CMA Awards was broadcast on television for the first time - making it the longest running, annual music awards program on network TV. The CMA Awards have aired on ABC since 2006. ABC will be the network home of the CMA Awards and CMA's other two television properties, "CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock" and "CMA Country Christmas," through 2021.