Reba McEntire is going solo for the ACM Awards this year as host. However, if she had her choice, she has the perfect co-host in mind. McEntire revealed she would love to host the awards show with her boyfriend Rex Linn.
Videos by Wide Open Country
In the past, McEntire has hosted the show with Blake Shelton, Alan Jackson, George Strait, and John Schneider. She thinks she would have a blast with Linn by her side. In an interview with Billboard, McEntire hyped up Rex's credentials.
"I'd love to co-host with Rex. Rex is the biggest fan of music," she said. "He and Melissa Peterman are two people who love music more than anybody. Boy, that would be fun. Melissa, Rex and me — the three of us hosting it? That would be a hoot. I would just sit back and have an iced tea and let them do all the work," she quipped.
McEntire also talked about the pressures of hosting. For instance, if anything happens, McEntire says that she won't be the one to try to fill time. "If anything does happen, they don't have to depend on me to fill the space," she said, "I'm going to have everybody mapped out in the audience that I will take a microphone down to, and they will be the ones to bridge the gap. There's a lot of interesting characters in a country music industry party, so I will be making my rounds down into the audience."
Reba McEntire Talks ACM Awards
Such an incident happened in 2004. McEntire revealed that Keith Urban lost his guitar, so McEntire leaned on Dick Clark to help her fill time while he found it.
"Dick was like, 'Get out there and stall,'" she said. "I panicked. I mean, I got booed offstage in 1978 for telling jokes because I only had three songs to sing, so I think I have flashbacks of that when somebody says, 'Get out there and wing it.' I'm not [actor/comedian] Melissa Peterman — I cannot do that. So, Dick had to come out and help with it, and we got through it."
However, ultimately, McEntire has a lot of fun hosting the ACM Awards. Otherwise, she wouldn't keep coming back. She said, "You get to go have fun with all your friends and buddies that you've gotten to know over the last 45, 50 years in the business and meet new people," she said. "It's the best place to get to meet the new artists, and that's what I really enjoy getting to do. The last time I was at an awards show, it was Lainey Wilson. I got to hang out with her a bit, and Jelly Roll. Meeting new people and making new friends is what I love about the business."
