The annual awards show aired live from the Moody Center in Austin, Texas Sunday.
Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini celebrated the women of country music at the 2023 CMT Music Awards!
In their opening monologue, the co-hosts took the time to highlight the biggest female stars in the room. "Shania Twain is in the building," Brown said.
"My queen!" Ballerini said. "Honestly it really is my dream lineup. It's a bunch of amazing, powerful women -- Lainey Wilson, Carly Pierce, Carrie Underwood. And ya'll, it's not just the lineup, the music, it's all about empowerment and strength, now and always, right?"
Brown added, "Don't forget, Alanis Morissette. And Gwen Stefani's in the house! That's right, tonight is country's night to rock."
The duo went on to shout out some of country's greatest stars, likening them to their rock contemporaries.
"Country has Darius Rucker," Ballerini said. "And rock has... Darius Rucker."
The hosts also highlighted Jelly Roll, comparing him to Post Malone.
"Jelly roll has so many nominations tonight," Brown said. "Real breakout year for him, come on now. Come on. We're so happy for you, buddy."
Ballerini and Brown are more than just hosts, however. In addition to MCing the evening, they are doing triple duty, as they are both nominated for awards at Sunday night's show and are each performing.
ET spoke to Brown in February about returning to the stage with Ballerini, where he praised the "Penthouse" singer as a "natural sweetheart" who is the perfect hosting partner.
"It's cool to be doing it with somebody I'm familiar with," Brown said. "I'm very shy. So if I was doing it with a stranger, I don't know how it'd go."
While he's had experience hosting the show before, this year's CMT Music Awards feature an exciting first for Brown: performing alongside his wife, Katelyn.
The pair's duet, "Thank God," reached number one on the Country Airplay chart in February 2023, making it the second duet by a married couple to top the chart -- following Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's "It's Your Love" in 1997. They'll take the stage at the CMT Music Awards for the first televised performance of the song, and Katelyn admitted to ET that she's a bit nervous about the moment.
"I think the difference is, at Kane's shows, I know that they're there for him. They love us. They love our family. And so it's just like a whole different audience," she shared. "[At the CMTs], I know he's out there in front of his peers and other artists and stuff like that. So it definitely adds a little bit more nerves to it."
The 2023 CMT Music Awards airs live on CBS and is streaming on Paramount+. For more coverage of the big event, including all of the night's winners, keep checking back with ETonline.
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