Keith Urban is nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year, an award he has won three times (2004-2006). Since winning the CMA Horizon Award (now New Artist of the Year) in 2001, he has collected 25 CMA Awards nominations. He won Entertainer of the Year in 2005 and Musical Event of the Year in 2009 for “Start a Band” with Brad Paisley. The new American Idol judge is ready to hit the stage at the CMA Awards on Thursday.

The 46th annual CMA Awards will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Thursday (November 1st) at 8pm ET on ABC.

AUDIO: Keith Urban talks about performing on awards shows.

Keith Urban (on perf on awards shows) OC: …know about. :10
“I look forward to being able to play on awards shows. That is the absolute moment that matters most to me, is getting to play. ‘Cause the other stuff is, I don’t know about the other stuff. I know about playing, that’s the only thing I know about.