‘CMT Music Awards’ on CBS April 2

Shania Twain will get an award at the CMT Music Awards
Shania Twain will get an award at the CMT Music Awards (Image credit: Louie Banks/CBS)

Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini host the 2023 CMT Music Awards, which happens in Austin, Texas, Sunday, April 2 on CBS and Paramount Plus. The event takes place at the Moody Center. 

Brown and wife Katelyn will perform their song “Thank God.”

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the CMT Next Women of Country (NWOC) franchise, Alanis Morissette will make her CMT Music Awards debut alongside NWOC alumni Ingrid Andress, Lainey Wilson, Madeline Edwards and Morgan Wade, as they play the Morissette hit “You Oughta Know.”

Gwen Stefani will make her CMT Awards debut as a performer as she sings with Carly Pearce. Shania Twain will pick up the CMT Equal Play Award, which recognizes an artist who is a visible and vocal advocate for elevating diverse and underrepresented voices in country music. 

Also playing the CMT Music Awards are Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Cody Johnson, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, The Black Crowes + Darius Rucker, and Tyler Hubbard and Wynonna + Ashley McBryde. 

Lainey Wilson has four nominations. Cody Johnson, Kane Brown and Jelly Roll have three. 

Margaret Comeaux (CMT), John Hamlin (Switched On Entertainment), Leslie Fram (CMT) and Jason Owen (Sandbox Entertainment) are executive producers.

CBS aired the event for the first time last year. CMT began airing the gala in 2005. CBS and CMT are part of Paramount Global. 

Brown and Ballerini hosted the 2021 CMT Music Awards. Brown, Ballerini and Anthony Mackie hosted last year’s awards. ■

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.