Brad Paisley Shares the Story of Revealing Carrie Underwood’s Baby’s Gender at the 2014 CMA Awards

In what was perhaps the most memorable moment of the 2014 CMA Awards, Brad Paisley revealed during the live broadcast that his pregnant co-host, Carrie Underwood, was expecting a boy. But while the reveal itself was scripted, it turns out that Paisley didn't find out the most important detail until the last minute.

Dropping the big news during the ceremony was an idea that started during one of Paisley and Underwood's brainstorming sessions with CMA showrunners, after they all found out that Underwood wasn't planning on keeping the baby's gender a secret, Paisley tells Country Countdown USA.

"Somehow it came up, it was like, 'We could reveal it on the show, if you're gonna reveal it anyway,'" he says. "And she said OK."

Underwood knew she was having a boy a couple weeks before the awards, and Paisley asked her to not tell anyone -- not even him -- until that night.

"So, we were standing in our places. They were about to say, ‘Please welcome your hosts,’ and [she] looks at me and goes, 'Come here,' and she goes, ‘It’s a boy!’" Paisley recalls. "And I said to her, 'I know.'"

The 'Perfect Storm' singer says he really did know, because of the way Underwood had been acting.

"I could tell when my kids came over, like in the last couple of meetings we had, here at the house," Paisley explains. "My kids walked in, and just the way she acted and things she was saying."

And so, Paisley used his comedic charm to share the good news with millions of viewers. After Underwood whispered the gender in his ear on stage, he pretended that he wasn't going to spill it, then dead-panned a few minutes later, while discussing Garth Brooks, “You could name him Garth!”

"I was gonna say, 'We could name her Garthette!' if it was a girl," he says.

"Then the funny part was, people didn't know if we were serious!" Paisley adds. "They were texting her publicist if it was true, and they didn't know either!  It was a great way to do it."

The pair, who celebrated their seventh year as co-hosts last year, have one goal in mind when they take the stage: "Did we tear the room apart?” Paisley says.

“I know that we really want that to be something that, at the end of the year, you point to as something that was something done right," he explains. "It’s good for country music. I love it when somebody says, ‘You guys did as well as anyone on TV as far as that kind of role.’”

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