As it was the 50th anniversary of the awards, the Country Music Association ran an extensive promotional campaign and CMA Executive Produced Robert Deaton stated that the aim of the ceremony was to include a lot of "heritage artists" and honor the history of country music, stressing that there would be less of a focus on artists promoting their current singles as is usually the case so that greater time could be spent including "exciting throwbacks".

[2] Nominations for the 50th CMA Awards were revealed on October 5, 2016 during Good Morning America by Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban and Cam live from the Grand Ole Opry.

Those featured were: Minnie Pearl, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire, Deana Carter, Carrie Underwood, Vince Gill, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Ricky Skaggs, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Loretta Lynn, Little Big Town, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Lee Ann Womack and Merle Haggard.

During Jackson and Strait's performance, pictures of many deceased country artists were shown on the screen behind and archive footage was played of past CMA Awards speeches in-between the two songs.

[12] Immediately following the performance, Dixie Chick's lead singer Natalie Maines had enthusiastically shared a photograph of the quartet, declaring it as "one of the best weeks of [her] life", thanking Beyoncé and humorously mentioning how she had once swore she would never play on the CMA stage again.

[17] Rhiannon Giddens (who performed earlier in the night alongside Eric Church) stated via a Facebook post that "there were two other people of color at the CMA Awards who were singing country music, Charley Pride and myself.

[18] Giddens would later collaborate with Beyoncé as an instrumentalist on the song "Texas Hold 'Em", which appears on the latter's eighth studio album Cowboy Carter.

In order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the awards, the CMA tasked Shane McAnally to produce and compose a special single featuring country stars from the past and present.

Artists Featured: Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Randy Travis, Blake Shelton, George Strait, Kacey Musgraves, Charley Pride, Ronnie Milsap, Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Trisha Yearwood, Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts, Willie Nelson, Brooks & Dunn, Alabama, Brett Eldredge, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride and Dolly Parton.