Honoree Kelsea Ballerini performs during 2016 CMT Artists of the Year.
On Wednesday, October 19th, CMT held their annual Artists of the Year awards at the elegant Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville to honor this year’s winners: Shania Twain (Artist of a Lifetime), Carrie Underwood (Artist of the Year), Luke Bryan (Artist of the Year), Thomas Rhett (Artist of the Year), Florida Georgia Line (Artists of the Year), Chris Stapleton (Artist of the Year), and Kelsea Ballerina (Breakout Artist of the Year).
In the ornately and beautifully-decorated symphony hall, the elite of the Nashville music community came out to celebrate and honor each of the recipients on this balmy fall night.
#FloridaGeorgiaLine performing! @CMT #CMTAOTY #CMT
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The highlight of the night was a star-studded tribute to honoree Shania Twain by Meghan Trainor, Jill Scott, and Kelsea Ballerina for her Artist of a Lifetime award. Twain humbly accepted her award presented by Artist of the Year winner, Carrie Underwood, saying that she was “sorry” she was taking so long speaking and accepting her award, but she was “enjoying” it so much.
It was so great to see Shania again, and I even heard there is a new album from her in the works! Can’t wait for that!
All of the honorees performed tonight. Each adding something very special and memorable to the evening. I, especially, enjoyed Thomas Rhett’s performance with Zara Larsson. It was such a great mash-up of styles and sung beautifully by each. Chris Stapleton stood out as he scaled it back a bit with just him and a guitar on the stage for a powerful, intimate performance.
#ChrisStapleton performing! #CMT #CMTAOTY @CMT
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Look for special appearances by Arsenio Hall, Meghan Trainor, Jill Scott, Charles Esten, Zara Larson, The Love Junkies, Maggie Rose, Billy Ray Cyrus, and U.S. Olympic gymnastics team gold medalists: Madison Kocian and Aly Raisman during this very special event.
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Well, I don’t want to give it all away, so I’ll just encourage you to tune-in to CMT tonight (Thursday, October 20th) at 8pm/central for CMT’s Artists of the Year! You don’t want to miss this star-studded event and these very special performances!
***For lots more pictures from CMT’s Artists of the Year Red Carpet arrivals and the show, find us on Instagram at: Focus_on_the_615 and Twitter at: @FOCUSonthe615
Thanks CMT for including us on the Red Carpet and the chance to see this very special show in-person!
All photos and video are courtesy of CMT.
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