Trace Adkins is set to host Monday night's American Country Awards, but it won't be all work for the country star. Trace says the best part of awards shows is socializing.

"Speaking from the artist's perspective, it's like a family reunion," Trace tells The Boot. "That's what we look forward to. A lot of people think that we all hang together and run together, and we really don't. We're all so busy trying to keep this career thing going that we don't have a lot of time to visit with each other. That's what those award shows give us the opportunity to do is catch up with one another and just hang out. From that aspect, they're a lot of fun."

When the Louisiana native first heard about the new ACAs, he did not understand why there was a need for another country awards show, but he quickly began to see the reasoning behind it. "Really? Another awards show? But we do need this, because we need another major network awards show that the fans get to vote, and that's what that show is," explains Trace. "Their opinions are really the ones that ultimately matter the most. They're the ones that pay our bills, they're the ones that buy our tickets, the downloads, the CDs. So, there should be a [major network] awards show where they get to voice their opinions."

Trace is looking forward to his first hosting gig. "Obviously, not a lot of thought went into it on their part choosing me," he jokes. "But I think it'll be something that will be fun to do and we all need that right now. Just something, hopefully, with a little levity and let's not take everything so seriously for a couple of hours and just have some fun and listen to some good music. Give some people a pat on the back and have a good time.

"I'm just glad that I've been around long enough to be in this position, to get tapped to do something like this," he continues. "I never would have dreamed I would ever been hosting an award show on a major network, I mean, come on. Twenty years ago, I would have laughed if somebody would even suggested that."

The host is going to try to bring the two-hour show in on time for the producers. "I'm going to run a tight ship too," he states. "I'm not going to let people give big, long, drawn-out acceptance speeches. I'm just going to walk out there and say, 'That's enough,' and we'll just move on."

With performances by such artists as Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts, Luke Bryan, Toby Keith and his pal Blake Shelton, is there any particular one Trace is looking forward to watching? "As far as performances go, I know all those people. I'm not really looking forward to any of those performances," Trace jokes. "Most of them aren't very good, so I don't know why anybody would even want to watch this show."

Oh, we will be watching, if not for the awards and performances, we will tune in just to see what Trace might say!

The American Country Awards will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Monday, December 6 from 8:00 - 10:00 PM (ET/tape-delayed PT) on FOX.

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