NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) – Country Music Television (CMT) is pushing beyond the boundaries with its new televised music event, “CMT SMASHING GLASS: A Celebration of the Groundbreaking Women of Music.”
The network announced the show Wednesday (October 25), stating that the CMT Smashing Glass television special, honoring Patti LaBelle and Tanya Tucker, is an all-new, genre-defying musical salute to the incomparable women who smashed stereotypes, broke records and defiantly blazed trails for future generations of female artists. The TV special is set to premiere Wednesday (November 15) at 9 pm ET – exclusively on CMT.
“We’re beyond excited to bring this electrifying and empowering new franchise to life by honoring iconic women who’ve fearlessly ‘smashed glass ceilings’ and kicked in doors, holding them wide open for past, present and future generations,” shared Margaret Comeaux, CMT’s Senior Vice President of Production, Music, Events and Executive Producer. “Both Patti and Tanya deserve to be celebrated for continuing to set the industry gold standard with boundary-breaking crossover success, bold, uncompromising lives and careers, and creating timeless music and impact that remains as powerful and relevant as ever.”
The Smashing Glass series will fuse unforgettable performances with documentary storytelling. Artists inspired by Tucker and LaBelle will pay tribute to the women before the honorees take the stage for their own performances.
The CMT music special will also pay tribute to the late Aretha Franklin, Sinead O’Connor and Tina Turner with memorial medleys.
Additional performers and special guests will be announced in the coming weeks.
“CMT Smashing Glass is a grand finale to a landmark 2023, which we dedicated as our ‘Year of the Woman,’ said Leslie Fram, CMT’s SVP of Music and Talent and Executive in Charge of Talent. “Kicking off in January with a milestone 10th anniversary of the Next Women of Country (NWOC) franchise, we celebrated female voices across all programming and events – from our women-led headliners at the CMT Music Awards and ‘Equal Play’ honoree Shania Twain, to bi-monthly NWOC artist showcases and the greenlight of our CMT ‘Defining’ series, we remain dedicated to ‘Equal Play’ and advocating for the trailblazers of the past, superstars of the present and the future voices in our format.”
An all-female production team leads CMT Smashing Glass. CMT’s Margaret Comeaux and 21st Floor Productions’ Patrizia DiMaria, Michelle Mahoney and Lauren Quinn are executive producers; Quinn also serves as director. Jackie Barba and Heather D. Graffagnino are executives in charge of production; Fram is the executive in charge of talent; and Suzanne Bender is a talent producer.
