Shadow and Act Unscripted can exclusively report that country singer Mickey Guyton and psychedelic soul duo Black Pumas will be the next CMT Crossroads pairing. The announcement comes as the CMT Music Awards prepare to air Monday night. Exclusive images of them rehearsing for Monday night, where they’ll also perform, are below:

At their scheduled CMT Crossroads event, Guyton and Black Pumas will perform “Colors.” The performance will film later in April and will air on CMT at a date to be announced.

Black Pumas member Eric Burton told CMT that performing with Guyton makes sense despite the differences in their respective genres. He said that he and his Black Pumas partner Adrian Quesada weren’t thinking of genre when finding their sound, they just wanted to mix what they liked–vintage soul, hip hop and retro. He also said that his music before creating Black Pumas was “quite folk,” showcasing the range of musical interests the group has.

“I loved Bob Dylan and Neil Young and the Beatles. I think that at the bare bones of the music, the songs started with just me and the guitar,” he said to CMT. “To my knowledge, that’s how a lot of country music and grassroots like blues and folk music got started. It’s the same stuff; it’s just dressed in a different external aesthetic.”

The CMT Music Awards airs on CBS at 8/7c, hosted by Anthony Mackie and Kane Brown, with the latter replacing Kelsea Ballerini, who tested positive for COVID-19.

In a previous statement, Mackie talked how he feels hosting the awards, saying he’s excited to host with Ballerini.

“I had the pleasure of presenting at last year’s CMT Music Awards and received the warmest welcome from the country music community and the city of Nashville,” he said. “I can’t wait to get back to Music City to co-host this year’s awards with the amazing Kelsea Ballerini.”

Black Pumas

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