Once again, the Country Music Association Awards are back this year to celebrate country music's hottest stars. This time around, Luke Bryan is set to host the program solo... making history as the award show's only host.

"You never take these things for granted. You just don't. We're just so excited as entertainers and country music artists to be back in front of our fans," Bryan said.

Of the thirteen nominations, Bryan has won Entertainer of the Year not once but twice. This year, the Entertainer of the Year nominees include Eric Church, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton and Carrie Underwood.

Other nominees include Dan + Shay for the Vocal Duo of the Year category. They will also be performing their hit song "I Should Probably Go To Bed" from their fourth studio album Good Things.

"We're very thankful and this time has reminded us of how important it is that we tell each other that we love them," Shay Mooney said.

"At the core of all of this we're just fans of country music so to be invited to the party, to hear our name called in the list of nominees is an honor. Everybody deserves to win it, you know, especially in our category they're all friends of ours and, you know, we root for each other, but we're grateful," Dan Smyers said.

Check out the above clip to hear nominees Chris Stapleton, Carly Pearce and Old Dominion chat about their epic returns to the live stage.

Tune in to ABC for the 55th Annual CMA Awards on Wednesday night at 8:00pm ET. You won't want miss these performances.