The Host With The Most

Few things are certain in life. You know, the ones you can truly count on? Death and taxes top the list, unfortunately. Change is a close second, and – as we've all learned – that can go either way. Thoughts and prayers are the latest shiny new, albeit sometimes unappreciated objects when it comes to certitude, but we still have several, long term, go-tos that have been and will always be a cinch. A Maytag washing machine, for example. The Honda Accord. And, dogs. All are reliable, trustworthy, and loyal AF.

Oh, and one more: Reba McEntire.

Yep, Reba. This week, she once again proved her total indispensability when she appeared on CBS-TV, not merely to announce nominees for the upcoming “53rd Academy Of Country Music Awards,” but to tell us, reassuringly, that she'll be hosting the show on Sunday, April 15th for the 16th time in her career. And, for good measure, she's an ACM nominee again in 2018. See what I mean? Reliable.

Hearing this news was almost as comforting as a binky, a blankey, and mommy.

In the Country music landscape alone, Reba McEntire has been an important part of our world since the late 70s. That's not age-shaming, people – it's effin' awesome! Reba's first-ever ACM nomination came in 1980 when she received a nod for Best New Female Vocalist. She lost to Terri Gibbs, by the way.

Of her previous 53 ACM nominations, Reba has won 16 awards. She has 17 all-time ACMs, the most recent being the 2016 Mae Boren Axton Award.

In 2018, Reba has nabbed her 54th career ACM nod, joining fellow Female Vocalist nominees Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, and Maren Morris – none of whom were born in 1980. In 1984, when Reba picked up her first-ever ACM – in this category – Carrie and Miranda were each one year old, and, presumably, not yet singing. Kelsea and Maren? Still not yet a twinkle in their daddies’ eyes.

Reba has been an ACM mainstay – both as a nominee and host of the show – for four decades now. She was nominated in at least one category every year from 1983 through 1997, winning consecutive Female Vocalist trophies from 1984 through 1987. That was a huge deal at the time, although now with this year's nomination, Miranda Lambert has a shot to take home her ninth straight ACM Female Vocalist crown. Even after a two-year layoff in '88 and '89 – when K.T. Oslin and Kathy Mattea, respectively, took the crown – Reba came back to re-establish her dominance by winning Female Vocalist three of the next five years in '90, '91, and '94. Again, only to add context here, Maren Morris was born in 1990; Kelsea Ballerini joined us here on planet Earth in '93.

Even though Reba didn't take home any ACMs in 1988, she was still a major presence on the show. She was a four-time nominee, including in the coveted Entertainer Of The Year category (She won that prize 10 years later in '94). She also co-hosted the show with Hank Williams Jr., which, looking back now, was the definition of “from the sublime to the ridiculous.” Actually, if one thinks back on the list of ACM hosts in the 80s, it's a potpourri of TV stars and Country artists ranging from John Schneider to Claude Akins to Patrick Duffy teaming with The Judds, George Strait, K.T. Oslin, and Loretta Lynn.

It wasn't until years later – in 2001 – that the ACM decided on naming a consistent host, which turned out to be – guess who? Reba McEntire. Hello?!? She perfectly helmed the ACM broadcast for 10 straight years with no co-host, something she'd first done in 1999 after co-hosting with Randy Owen and George Strait in 1993 and Alan Jackson in 1994.

We've seen how cohesive the CMA Awards have been in the last nine years with Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. And, quick sidebar, a radio friend of mine asked if I thought Reba would have as many costume changes on the ACMs as Carrie Underwood usually does on the CMAs. And, to that query, I said, “Child, please. Costume change? Sheesh!” All due respect to Carrie, but Reba McEntire invented the costume change for gawd's sake. It started on her tour and continued during her early days of hosting the ACMs. If the Country Music Hall Of Fame And Museum wanted to, they could create an entire months-long exhibit of all the gowns from all the years at all of the awards shows that Reba once wore.

Reba's last ACM hosting stint was 2012 with Blake Shelton, already a major star in our format, but one year into his now-superstar status as a coach on NBC-TV’s “The Voice.” They were first teamed in 2011, and the pairing worked extremely well. Reba, by then a seasoned multi-media vet having appeared in movies, on Broadway, and as the star of a TV sitcom – all successful, by the way – was the veteran host bringing along Shelton, the hip-shooting, loose-cannon, Twitter-verse smartass and fellow Okie.

For some inexplicable reason, Reba was forced out of that equation in favor of a more “Bro-Country” approach, which – hold on – now that I think of it, makes sense given the musical identity of the format at the time. Rising star Luke Bryan was paired with Shelton from 2013-2015. After Blake opted out, Dierks Bentley was recruited for the 2016 and 2017 ACM Awards, teaming with Bryan to mostly mixed reviews.

During a one-on-one interview at CRS last month, Bentley accidentally revealed that he and Bryan were fired from the ACM jobs. Personally, I didn’t think they were horrible, but for a couple of guys who really do get along fine and are friends, the chemistry could never match that of Blake and Luke or Blake and Reba. And, to be honest, none of those configurations ever came close to the genuine funny brought to the CMAs by Paisley and Underwood. They'll host their 10th CMAs in 2018 and hopefully more beyond that. And, I believe whenever somebody decides to change the CMA hosts, we'll look back and appreciate the job these two superstars have done with as much fondness as some of us who remember Vince Gill's performance during his 12-year CMA hosting stint that spanned 1992 through 2003.

How long will Reba hang on to the ACM hosting gig? Is it place-holder strategy until we find the next two Country stars with natural chemistry? There are so many combinations one can think of, but here's my choice: Thomas Rhett and Brett Eldredge. They teamed up for a Zaxby's restaurant campaign a few years ago, and it was fantastic. They also hosted “Country's Biggest Night” CMA Fest show. They've toured together; they're hilarious. I think it would be a great look for the ACMs.

Obviously, I have no idea what the ACMs will do after this year, and they haven't called me to ask (they never do), although I believe they have my cell. But, I think it's brilliant of the ACM brain trust to bring Reba in this year. It's a stabilizing, mass-appeal move. You know it's going to be – at the very least – solid, and probably damned good. Because: Reba.

She's the kind of person who fits into this category: If you have a problem with Reba McEntire, that, my friend, is a YOU problem. Get to work on that, won't you? Reba hosting the ACMs is comfort food. It's chicken soup for the soul; warm, fuzzy slippers; a comfy wool blanket; or the sound of the ocean. It feels right. And, Reba is a helluva lot more fun than death and taxes, right?