People's Choice Country Awards: How to watch, what to expect

Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Country music fans can watch the first-ever People's Choice Country Awards on Thursday.

The inaugural ceremony will take place at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and air at 8 p.m. EDT on NBC. The show will also be available to stream on Peacock.

The People's Choice Country Awards is an offshoot of the People's Choice Awards that honors country music's most popular artists. Winners are chosen by fan vote.

Little Big Town will host the show, with Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Jelly Roll and other artists to perform.

Morgan Wallen leads the nominees with 11 nominations, including People's Artist of 2023 and Male Artist of 2023.

How to watch

The inaugural People's Choice Country Awards will air Thursday at 8 p.m. EDT on NBC and also stream on Peacock.

Participants

Country music group Little Big Town will host the ceremony.

Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Dan + Shay, Hardy, Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Toby Keith, Wynonna Judd and other artists will perform.

Nominations

Morgan Wallen leads the nominees with 11 nominations, including People's Artist of 2023. The singer will compete in the category with Blake Shelton, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, Old Dominion and Zach Bryan.

Luke Combs and Hardy follow with nine nominations each, while Jelly Roll is up for eight awards. Lainey Wilson has seven nominations, while Zach Bryan and Kane Brown have six nominations each.

Toby Keith will receive the Country Icon Award, while Wynonna Judd will be honored with the Country Champion Award.