REIGNING CMA VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR LITTLE BIG TOWN JOINS DARIUS RUCKER TO ANNOUNCE FINAL NOMINEES FOR "THE 48th ANNUAL CMA AWARDS" WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 LIVE ON ABC'S "GOOD MORNING AMERICA"

Hosted for the Seventh Time by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, "The 48th Annual CMA Awards" Airs Live Wednesday, November 5 on the ABC Television Network

Reigning CMA Vocal Group of the Year Little Big Town will join CMA Award winner Darius Rucker WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 in New York City for the announcement of the final nominees for "The 48th Annual CMA Awards."

"We are thrilled to be a part of the CMA Awards announcements on GMA next week," exclaimed Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town. "The CMA and 'GMA' have always been huge supporters of this band so anything we can do to be involved is always fun for us. We are looking forward to unveiling all of the nominees with our buddy Darius."

"The combination of Little Big Town and Darius Rucker announcing the final nominees for the 2014 CMA Awards is something you don't want to miss," said CMA Chief Executive Officer Sarah Trahern. "I can't imagine a better reason to set your alarm on Sept. 3!"

Country Music will take over New York City on Wednesday, September 3. The day begins with Rucker performing "Homegrown Honey," the debut single from his upcoming new album to be released in early 2015. Following his performance, he will be joined by Little Big Town for the announcement the final nominees in five CMA Awards categories live from the "Good Morning America" studios in the heart of Times Square on the ABC Television Network. The announcement will air in the 8:30 a.m., ET half-hour segment of the top-rated, morning news program.

Following "Good Morning America," Little Big Town and Rucker will be at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square to announce the finalists in the remaining seven categories along with the announcement of the CMA Broadcast Awards for Personality and Radio Station of the Year. There will be an additional presentation by the CMA Foundation's Keep the Music Playing music education campaign. This event will be streamed live via CMAawards.com beginning at 10:00 a.m., ET.

Nightfall brings the 10th anniversary celebration of the CMA Songwriters Series at the Best Buy Theater with Rucker and hit tunesmiths Rivers Rutherford and series host Bob DiPiero for an in-the-round presentation of the songs that have touched the lives of millions of music fans. Luke Laird, who received three CMA Awards nominations in 2013, including Song of the Year for "Pontoon," has been added to the show, which will be streamed live via CMASongwritersSeries.com.

Tickets for the Sept. 3 (8:00 PM/ET) CMA Songwriters Series at the Best Buy Theater are $55 plus tax and applicable fees. Tickets are General Admission. Attendees must be 21 and over unless accompanied by an adult. Tickets are on sale now at the Best Buy Box Office, AXS.com, or by calling (888) 9-AXS-TIX or (888) 929-7849, for more information please visit CMASongwritersSeries.com.

Collectively, Little Big Town has earned more than 25 award nominations, including 15 CMA Awards nods and they have taken home trophies for CMA Single of the Year (2012, "Pontoon") and CMA Vocal Group of the Year (2012, 2013).

Critically-acclaimed, the group consists of members Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet, Schlapman, and Jimi Westbrook. They first entered the music scene more than 15 years ago with hits such as "Boondocks," "Bring It On Home," "Good As Gone," and the Grammy-nominated single "Little White Church." The quartet's fifth studio album, Tornado, was released in September 2012 and debuted at the top of the Billboard Country Chart where it stayed in the No. 1 position for five consecutive weeks. The album has been certified Platinum with sales of more than 1 million copies and features the No. 1 hits "Pontoon" and "Tornado."

Little Big Town recently completed their sixth studio album working again with producer Jay Joyce. The first single off of the new album entitled "Day Drinking" is quickly climbing the Country radio charts. The album, entitled Pain Killer, is set for release on Oct. 21. For more information on Little Big Town please visit www.littlebigtown.com.

The CMA Awards nominees and winners are determined by more than 7,400 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.

Tickets for "The 48th Annual CMA Awards" go on sale to the public Saturday, Sept. 6 (10:00 AM/CT). Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com; by calling (800) 745-3000; or in person at the Bridgestone Arena Box Office, located at 501 Broadway (corner of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, Nashville). CMA Awards information is 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.

About "Good Morning America": Emmy-award winning "Good Morning America" is a two-hour, live program anchored by Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, and Lara Spencer. Amy Robach is the news anchor and Ginger Zee is the weather anchor. The morning news program airs Monday-Friday (7:00-9:00 a.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

About the CMA Awards: The first "CMA Awards Banquet and Show" was held in 1967. The following year, the CMA Awards was broadcast for the first time -making it the longest running, annual music awards program on network television. The 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.