Lionel Richie to Debut Songs from Country Duets Album on ‘The 45th Annual CMA Awards’

International icon Lionel Richie will release Tuskegee, his much-anticipated Country duets album, in March on Mercury Nashville, after debuting songs on the national broadcast of “The 45th Annual CMA Awards,” airing live Wednesday, Nov. 9 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on ABC.

During the broadcast Richie will perform select duets of his runaway hits with Little Big Town, Darius Rucker, and Rascal Flatts. Richie is no stranger to the CMA Awards stage. In 1984, Richie performed “Lady” with Kenny Rogers and in 1986, he performed “Deep River Woman” with Alabama.

“Twenty-five years is too long to wait and we are thrilled to have Lionel back on the CMA Awards stage performing alongside our superstar acts,” said CMA Chief Executive Officer Steve Moore. “This is what the CMA Awards are known for. Those one-of-a-kind collaborations you don’t want to miss because everyone will be talking about it the next day.”

“The 45th Annual CMA Awards” is hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and features performances by Jason Aldean, The Band Perry, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Sara Evans, Faith Hill, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Scotty McCreery, Blake Shelton, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Thompson Square, Keith Urban, Chris Young, Zac Brown Band plus Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter singing their hit collaboration “You and Tequila,” Rascal Flatts and Natasha Bedingfield singing their current hit duet “Easy,” and co-hosts Paisley and Underwood in their first live televised-performance of their No. 1 song “Remind Me.”