AUSTIN, Texas — Country music's biggest stars were in Austin Sunday night for the 2023 CMT Music Awards at the Moody Center.
This was the first time the award show moved out of its home base in Nashville, Tennessee. With a show of this size being hosted in Central Texas, CMT made a strong effort to highlight both Texans and Austinites.
One of those Texans included country artist Cody Johnson, who had three nominations: Video of the Year, Male Video of the Year and CMT Performance of the Year. Johnson ended the night by taking home the Performance of the Year Award for his performance of "Til You Can't" at last year's CMT Awards.
The band Midland, from Dripping Springs, Texas, was up for Collaborative Video of the Year for their music video "Longneck Way To Go," featuring Jon Pardi. The band said it was an incredible honor to have the CMT Awards hosted in Austin, and they explained what brought them to Central Texas to begin with.
"There was two choices or a fork in the road it was Nashville or Austin, and we're a band. We came to Austin because this is where bands go up against other bands and you see what you're made of. I'm glad we made that decision because it really did inform everything that we do and everything that we're going to do anything cool we need to know," said Jess Carson, a member of Midland.
Another local performances of the night included four-time Grammy winning Austinite and legendary songwriter, singer, guitarist and producer Gary Clark Jr. The Austinite performed a tribute to the late Texas blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Another Texas household name on the stage was Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who presenting the Equal Play Award to Shania Twain.
Country singer Blake Shelton opened the show and included a line from his famous song "Austin." During the performance, he said in part, "Hey Austin, I still love you."
There has been no word yet on if the CMT Music Awards will return back to the Moody Center for 2024.