Singer-songwriter Jelly Roll was the big winner at Sunday night’s CMT Music Awards, a ceremony that featured an assortment of duets, Kane Brown & Katelyn Brown winning Video of the Year, a salute to Shania Twain and a lot of tributes to rock acts.
Jelly Roll took home three trophies—Male Video of the Year, Breakthrough Male Video of the Year, and Digital-First Performance—while Lainey Wilson nabbed two trophies, Female Video of the Year for “Heart Like A Truck,” and Collaborative Video of the Year with HARDY.
The evening at the Moody Center in Austin opened with Blake Shelton delivering his first-ever TV performance of “No Body.” Married couple Kane and Katelyn Brown also delivered a TV world premiere, performing “Thank God.”
The evening’s duets included Gwen Stefani and Carly Pearce performing the No Doubt hit “Just A Girl”; Wynonna Judd and Ashley McBryde joining forces on Foreigner’s “I Wanna Know What Love Is”; and Darius Rucker joining The Black Crowes on their “She Talks to Angels.”
Billy Gibbons, Chuck Leavell, Cody Johnson, Paul Rodgers, Slash, Warren Haynes, LeAnn Rimes and Wynonna waved the flag for Lynyrd Skynyrd with a performance of “Simple Man” and “Sweet Home Alabama” that closed the night. Since they were in Texas, Gary Clark Jr. delivered a tip of the Plateau hat to Stevie Ray Vaughan with “The House Is Rockin’.”
