Kelsea Ballerini, Jelly Roll & More to Perform on Inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards

Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Dan + Shay, HARDY, Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town, Toby Keith and Wynonna Judd are set to perform at the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards, which will air Thursday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.

That’s just four days before voting opens for the 2023 Country Music Association Awards, where several of these performers are nominees. Jelly Roll has five CMA nominations; HARDY has four. Pearce and Ballerini are competing for female vocalist of the year at the CMAs. Dan + Shay is up for vocal duo of the year. Little Big Town is up for vocal group of the year. Brown is vying for musical event of the year, where he is competing with three other PCCA performers – Jelly Roll, HARDY and Pearce. Can a strong performance on one awards show boost your chances of winning on another show? Let’s just say it can’t hurt.

Voting for the CMA Awards extends from Monday Oct. 2 through Friday Oct. 27.

Voting for the People’s Choice Country Awards is now closed. Morgan Wallen is the leading nominee with 11 nods, followed by Luke Combs and HARDY, with nine each.

Little Big Town is hosting the People’s Choice Country Awards, which will be taped at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. Keith will receive the Country Icon Award and Wynonna will take home the Country Champion Award.

A limited number of show tickets and VIP packages are available now at Opry.com.

The People’s Choice Country Awards are produced by Den of Thieves. Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager and Barb Bialkowski will executive produce, along with RAC Clark as executive producer and showrunner.

Backstage Live: People’s Choice Country Awards, a livestream featuring red-carpet arrivals, backstage chats and other behind-the-scenes coverage, will air on Peacock, PCA Twitter, NBC Twitter/Facebook/YouTube, Today All Day/Twitter, E! News Twitter/Facebook/YouTube/E! Online, Access Twitter/YouTube, and Circle social platforms.

These projects are touted as an example of collaboration resulting from NBCUniversal’s equity investment in Opry Entertainment Group alongside Atairos, which was finalized last year.  

Ballerini performed “Penthouse” on the MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday Sept. 12, where she was the only country performer on the bill.