2021 CMT Awards Play-by-Play

 Posted by at 8:06 pm on June 9, 2021
Jun 092021
 

The 2021 CMT Awards are airing tonight on CMT and various other platforms, hosted by Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini.  As we usually do, here is a play-by-play of what happened during the broadcast!

  • The show kicked off with Lady A performing their new single “Like a Lady.”  Carly Pearce then came out to join them for the 2nd verse!
  • After the announcer listed the night’s performers and guests, she kicked it to Chris Stapleton who performed his song “Arkansas” on a farm in the nearby town of Manchester.
  • The announcer then introduced Kane and Kelsea who took the stage for the first time as hosts.
  • They introduced Taylor Lewan and Trace Adkins who were out to present the first award of the night.  Taylor was actually pretty good with the bit they did!
  • Group Duo of the Year Award
  • Hailey Whitters performed her single “Fillin’ My Cup” as they went to commercial
  • Kane and Kelsea announced the Final Four finalists for Video of the Year:
  • Michael Strahan came out to introduce Luke Combs who was performing “Cold As You” in downtown Nashville at Assembly Hall
  • The announcer introduced Mickey Guyton who came out to introduce a clip about Linda Martell, the first black woman to ever land a top 2o single and to perform on the Grand Ole Opry.  It was then announced that Linda was presented with the Equal Play Award remotely.
  • The announcer introduced Busy Phillips who remotely introduced Jack Ingram, Jon Randall, and Miranda Lambert who were performed “Tequila Does” while sitting around a campfire.
  • The cast of a new CMT show, Campfire Sessions, came out to plug their new show and to present the next award
  • Performance of the Year
  • Dylan Scott performed a snippet of his single “Nobody” as the show went to a commercial break
  • Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne performed “Lighten Up” from the Bonnaroo Farm in Manchester
  • Carly Pearce came out to introduce the next performer, Thomas Rhett who performed “Country Again”
  • Kane Brown introduced Kelsea Ballerini and Paul Klein who performed “I Quit Drinking”
  • Tenille Arts performed her hit single “Somebody Like That” as the show went to commercial
  • Iliza Shlesinger came out to give a quick comedy bit before presenting the award for:
  • Collaborative Video of the Year
  • Kelsea introduced Ingrid Andress who performed her current single “Lady Like” from a rooftop in Nashville.  Ingrid then introduced JP Saxe who joined her for a duet on his song “Like That”
  • Kelsea introduced Breland and Mickey Guyton who performed Breland’s single “Cross Country” – hear it on our 2021’s Best New Country Music Spotify Playlist!
  • Gladys Knight then joined them on stage to perform “Friendship Train”
  • Brett Young was then introduce by the announcer to present the award for Breakthrough Video of the Year
  • Breakthrough Video of the Year
  • Kane Brown introduced Blanco Brown who performed a snippet of his new single “Country More Than Me”
  • Cody Allan, Katie Cook and Ashley ShahAhmadi introduced Lauren Alaina and Jon Pardi, who performed “Getting Over Him” from a park in Nashville
  • Little Big Town announced the Male Video of the Year
  • Male Video of the Year
  • The show went to commercial as Lainey Wilson performed her single “Things a Man Ougtha Know”
  • Kane and Kelsea introduced Chris Stapleton and H.E.R. who performed a duet on her song “Hold On”
  • Kane and Kelsea introduced Carrie Underwood and Needtobreathe who performed “I Wanna Remember” at the Bonnaroo Farm in Manchester
  • Niko Moon took the show to commercial with a performance of “Good Time”
  • Gladys Knight came out to present the next award
  • Female Video of the Year
  • Dylan Scott was next out to plug a Lipton spot, then introduced Luke Bryan performing at Assembly Hall in downtown Nashville who performed his new single “Down to One”
  • Anthony Mackie was introduced to present the award for Music Video of the Year
  • Music Video of the Year
  • The show ends with Kelsea introducing Chris Young and Kane Brown to perform “Famous Friends”