KANE BROWNwas the big winner at last night's"CMT Music Awards". He won the Male Video of the Year trophy for"Worship You". . . and, along withCHRIS YOUNG, won Collaborative Video of the Year for"Famous Friends".
CARRIE UNDERWOOD andJOHN 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 BALLERINIandKANE 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 OSBORNEand 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.