KANE BROWN was the big winner at last night’s “CMT Music Awards”. He won the Male Video of the Year trophy for “Worship You” . . . and, along with CHRIS YOUNG, won Collaborative Video of the Year for “Famous Friends”.
CARRIE UNDERWOOD and JOHN LEGEND took home Video of the Year for “Hallelujah”. It’s Carrie’s 23rd award, and counting. She has the most in CMT history.
As for the actual show . . . it was all over the place. Literally. They still did social distancing, so artists performed at so many different locations it was hard to keep track. Nothing bad about that. Just pointing it out.
The ladies kicked things off. And by ladies, I mean LADY A performing their song “Like A Lady” with a little help from CARLY PEARCE, LINDSAY ELL, and a female backing band.
Then came the hosts, KELSEA BALLERINI and KANE BROWN. Props to them for keeping it very brief. Just a couple of jokes to get things started, and then they’d show up here and there to help move things along.
One remote stage was Tennessee’s Bonnaroo festival location. CHRIS STAPLETON did “Arkansas” there. Killed it. Later, BROTHERS OSBORNE and DIERKS BENTLEY performed “Lighten Up“. They also killed it. And now I’m aching for an actual festival.
We learned some history last night. MICKEY GUYTON introduced an eye-opening video tribute to LINDA MARTELL, who was given the CMT Equal Play Award. Linda was the first black woman to crack the Top 20 Country Airplay chart back in 1969, and she faced terrible discrimination.
Speaking of locations: INGRID ANDRESS sat at a piano on a rooftop bar to sing “Lady Like” . . . and then helped JP SAXE perform “Like That”. We also had LAUREN ALAINA and JON PARDI perform “Getting Over Him” on a farm.
Interested in a show stopper? MICKEY GUYTON and BRELAND performed “Cross Country”. Then the legendary GLADYS KNIGHT joined them for the ’70s classic “Friendship Train”. Guess who got a standing ovation?
Wait, can you have two show-stoppers in one show? Yes, if it’s H.E.R. and CHRIS STAPLETON doing “Hold On”. I got some serious “Timberlake-Stapleton 2015 CMA” vibes from that one. CHRIS YOUNG and KANE BROWN shot off a few fireworks while closing out the show with “Famous Friends” . . . and that wrapped it up.
Here’s your complete list of last night’s winners . . .
• Video of the Year: “Hallelujah”, Carrie Underwood with John Legend
• Female Video of the Year: “The Good Ones”, Gabby Barrett
• Male Video of the Year: “Worship You”, Kane Brown
• Duo / Group Video of the Year: “Wine, Beer, Whiskey”, Little Big Town
• CMT Performance of the Year: “The Other Girl”, Kelsea Ballerini and Halsey . . . from “2020 CMT Music Awards”
• Collaborative Video of the Year: “Famous Friends”, Chris Young and Kane Brown
• Breakthrough Video of the Year: “Nobody”, Dylan Scott
• Best Family Feature: “The Best Day (Taylor’s Version)”, Taylor Swift
(CMT.com and People.com have your red carpet pics. They include Luke Combs in a no-nonsense ballcap and button-down shirt. Carly Pearce brought the cutest date of the night . . . her dog June. And Karen Fairchild wore fancy hip waders. Or something like that. “People” also kept track of Kelsea Ballerini’s outfit changes .)
(You might also be interested in CMT’s list of their “Top Five Memorable Moments” . . . including Lindsay Ell and her broken foot, which happened while chasing her dog. True.)