Mickey Guyton Becomes 1st Black Woman to Ever Host Academy of Country Music Awards

Nationwide — Country music artist Mickey Guyton made history last night as the first African American woman to ever host the Academy of Country Music Awards in 56 years.

The “Black Like Me” singer says she was overjoyed when she found out about the record-breaking news. Along with being the first-ever Black female ACM host, she is also its second Black host since the late Charlie Pride became the first Black host of the awards show 35 years ago.

Guyton hosted the show with Keith Urban, who specifically chose her following their remarkable duet performance at the last year’s show. Guyton also holds the record as the first Black female artist to perform at the ACM awards.

Aside from hosting the 56th annual ACM awards, Guyton also performed at the show her song Hold On, which she wrote herself. She was also nominated for female artist of the year but lost to Gabby Barrett.

More than that, Guyton also received a Grammy nomination in the country music category earlier this year, making her the first Black female soloist to achieve that peat.

Guyton shared that pursuing her career as a Black woman in a white male-dominated industry has been challenging but she is glad that it had been more diverse and inclusive in recent times.

“As the world moves forward, I’m seeing so many people from all nationalities wanting to sing country music. Me standing on that stage with Keith Urban is going to show all of these other people that they can do it, too. And it’s just so cool,” she told The Tennessean.