“We’ve got big shoes to fill…”: Brooke McClymont on hosting the 2018 CMC Music Awards

The eighth annual CMC Music Awards will return to the Gold Coast next year, with Foxtel this morning revealing The McClymonts as hosts for the fan-voted ceremonies.

The 2018 CMC Music Awards will be broadcast live on Foxtel-owned CMC on Thursday, 15 March 2018 at The Star.

The McClymonts, who have long been one Australia’s most successful country music groups, take over hosting duties from rising star Morgan Evans. He’s hosted the awards for four consecutive years and is currently riding theTMN Hot 100 with ‘Kiss Somebody’ and is #2 on TMN’s Country airplay chart.

“It’s really exciting, I’m super proud of [Evans],” Brooke McClymont told TMN. “I think when any other fellow artist or musician is doing well, it’s a proud moment.”

“We’ve got big shoes to fill coming in after Morgan.”

Earlier this week, McClymont announced new album Adam & Brooke, a long-awaited collaboration with her husband and fellow country music artist, Adam Eckersley. The award-winning pair also released new single ‘Train Wreck’.

“We’ve always written at home, and we’ve been on the road together and done a few pieces together,” she tells TMN on the idea of mixing art and marriage.

“It was at the forefront of our minds to make sure that we respected each other.”

“We finally just got the opportunity and ran with it.”

The CMC Music Awards, and undeniably the country music genre, has grown in popularity thanks to crossover acts like Taylor Swift, Sam Hunt, Lady Antebellum and Keith Urban.

According to Foxtel, last year the televised awards experienced a 28% increase in metro viewers on CMC’s live broadcast and the encore screening on Network Ten’s digital channels Eleven and One. There was also a 113% rise in regional viewers watching live on CMC and a later FOX8 repeat.

The 8th Annual CMC Music Awards kick off a star-studded week for country music fans and the industry, with the sold-out CMC Rocks QLD 2018. As reported by TMN, the festival sold all 18,000 tickets in under an hour.

Next year’s lineup includes international chart-toppersLuke Bryan, Darius Rucker, Kelsea Ballerini and local duo,Busby Marou.

The festival, co-founded by the late Rob Potts’ Entertainment Edge in partnership with Chugg Entertainment, is now in its eleventh year.

Potts, who sent shockwaves through the music industry last week when news broke of his sudden passing, will be remembered as a visionary and true champion of country music.

“He had the vision of this huge country music festival,” McClymont tells TMN. “He was such an innovator.”

Tickets for the 8th annual CMC Music Awards go on sale this Thursday, November 9 viaticketek.com.au.