In her acceptance speech, Underwood told the women gathered in the room that they were the backbone of the industry. Sissy Spacek, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Lynn in “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” said Lynn was a trailblazer whose honest lyrics made her unlike any other songwriter in the genre. Lynn, who is 86 and just released a new album, “Wouldn’t It Be Great,” last month, was unable to attend the show and Spacek accepted the honor on her behalf. Spacek called her “my sister, my best friend” and teared up a bit on stage. “She’s just direct and authentic,” Spacek told The Associated Press on the red carpet before the show. “She tells it like it is. She can say things that you and I couldn’t say, or would be afraid to say.” Throughout the night, the country artists showed off their influences outside the genre with collaborations with artists from soul, gospel, Americana and more. Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town sung “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” with soul icon Gladys Knight. During the show, Fairchild pulled out her iPhone to list off about two dozen women in country music that deserved to get radio play. Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum, who performed with Tori Kelly and Kirk Franklin, brought her 5-year-old daughter to the show, hoping to show her that women can be anything they want to be. “She can dream as big and as far and wide as she can possibly can,” Scott said prior to the show. Maren Morris was joined by acclaimed singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile in a duet tribute to Aretha Franklin. Morris and her husband and singer Ryan Hurd both dismissed an oft-repeated claim that female country music fans don’t want to listen to many women on country radio, which has often been used as an excuse to limit women on playlists and on radio. “I don’t think it’s real,” Morris said. “I don’t think any woman has said out loud, at least to me, ‘I don’t like to listen to women.’ I think that’s so ridiculous.”<doc-sep>CMT's artist awards turn into a battle cry for women as performances show there's no shortage of talent, despite the lack of their presence on the radio For its annual Artists of the Year awards, Country Music Television shined its spotlight solely on women this year, and the performances Wednesday night of the seven recipients — including Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini — left no one questioning the level of talent today among women in country music. In fact, after an evening packed with so many astonishing performances, only one question remained: Why aren’t more women on country radio? Get push notifications with news, features and more. No doubt there’s a “woman problem” on radio’s airwaves, and CMT chose to boldly showcase the antidote in its live network broadcast from Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center. As Underwood said when she accepted her award at the end of the evening, “I definitely want to say to all of the incredible, amazing, talented women that have been on this stage tonight, you are not here because you are women. You are here because you are dang good.” 2018 CMT Artists Of The Year - Inside Carrie Underwood. But as stirring as the performances were, the show turned out to be as much a protest and an impatient plea for parity as it was a celebration of talent. “I just want to say to CMT, thank you for being the one to change the conversation into an action tonight,” Ballerini said in her acceptance. When Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, a recipient along with bandmate Kimberly Schlapman, accepted her award, she whipped out her cell phone. “It looks rude,” she told the audience, “but it’s not gonna be.” She then read off the names of more than 30 young female recording artists, most of whom have yet to crack country’s charts. Many were there, sitting in silent testimony on either side of the stage. Some were wiping away tears as Fairchild and Schlapman stopped to shake a few of their hands when the two exited the stage. 2018 CMT Artists Of The Year - Inside Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town. | Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Image Videotaped statements by the recipients, featured at one interlude during the evening, took direct aim at radio broadcasters. “I don’t know why they’re not playing women on country radio,” Lambert said. “They’re saying women don’t want to hear women,” Morris added. “I will have to call BS on that one, because I grew up listening to women. That’s why I’m here today.” “It’s time,” Ballerini chimed in, waving an imaginary wand. “Trend change.” Even the performances proved subversive at times. In her medley of hits by some of country’s female greats, Underwood put an unmistakably sly spin on Tammy Wynette’s tradition-bound “Stand By Your Man,” emphasizing the word “just” in the lyric: “After all, he’s just a man.” Morris and folk-rocker Brandi Carlile torched their way through “Natural Woman” in tribute to the late Aretha Franklin, but by singing it to each other, they turned Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s sensual lyrics into a testimony to the power of sisterhood. 2018 CMT Artists Of The Year - Inside Brandi Carlile and Maren Morris. | Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Image Don’t think the message of the evening didn’t hit home, particularly to the men who graced the stage. All were there to support the women in either spoken praise or song. Lady A’s Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood were left to stand in wonder as their bandmate Hillary Scott soared with pop artist Tori Kelly, showcasing the Lady A hit “American Honey” and Kelly’s blockbuster “Never Alone.” Kelly’s co-writer, gospel artist Kirk Franklin, joined the two women at the end to segue into a euphoric “Oh Happy Day.” “I really hope Hillary doesn’t start a group called Lady and Lady because that was phenomenal,” Charles Kelley said before he and Haywood presented Scott with her award. “We’re so blessed to be in this band with you. We love you so much. I mean, that was just proof right there. You’re a bad ass.” 2018 CMT Artists of the Year - Show, Nashville, USA - 17 Oct 2018 Tori Kelly and Hillary Scott. | Credit: Al Wagner/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock Little Big Town’s Jimi Westbrook and Philip Sweet expressed similar awe after Fairchild and Schlapman multiplied their vocal might with Motown powerhouse Gladys Knight. Together, the three women found the resilience in two classic songs of desperation, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” “Thanks to these two incredible women, Kimberly and Jimi’s wife, Karen, we’ve been able to make our living together making music,” Sweet said in his introduction, acknowledging the fact that Schlapman and Fairchild were the founders of the group. “I count it a blessing that we get to share the stage every night and make music with these two intelligent, strong, beautiful women,” Westbrook added. Ballerini and her duet partner, 27-time Grammy winner Alison Krauss, exerted their own power over Krauss’ classic “Ghost in This House,” their voices blending in haunting harmony. RELATED VIDEO: Kelsea Ballerini Opens Up About Her “Sassy” New Single “Miss Me More” In her award acceptance, Ballerini acknowledged the support she’s received from other women as she’s launched her career, from Shania Twain and Taylor Swift to Reba McEntire and “Alison-freaking-Krauss.” “I think what I’ve learned from that is how important it is to lift each other up, to support each other, and to share our stage, no matter how big or how small it is,” Ballerini said. 2018 CMT Artists of the Year - Show, Nashville, USA - 17 Oct 2018 Kelsea Ballerini. | Credit: Al Wagner/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock Sadly, the only disappointment of the evening was the absence of country legend Loretta Lynn, who received the CMT Artist of a Lifetime award. The 86-year-old icon remains in fragile health after suffering a stroke and fracturing a hip over the last 18 months, but the strength of her career still towered over the evening.<doc-sep>They won’t hit the road together until 2019, but Carrie Underwood, Runaway June and Maddie & Tae gave us a taste of what we can expect with an epic collaboration at CMT Artists of the Year on Oct. 17! Carrie Underwood took the stage to perform while being honored at the 2018 CMT Artists of the Year ceremony, and she was joined by some very special guests — the ladies from Runaway June and Maddie & Tae! The rising country acts will open for Carrie on her Cry Pretty Tour 360, which kicks off next spring, so it was only fitting that they were her special guests at the show. For their performance, the ladies brought new and old country together, with a setlist that spanned generations of females in the genre — Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Naomi and Wynonna Judd, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain, and of course, Carrie herself! This year’s Artists of the Year is ALL about girl power. In fact, all seven honorees are female! In addition to Carrie, the other women being honored are: Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, and Hillary Scott. While all of these women have had groundbreaking moments in their careers this year, Carrie has arguably had the most exciting few months of all. 2018 got off to a rough start for the American Idol winner — she suffered a miscarriage while recovering from a fall that left her with a broken wrist and busted up face — but once she returned to the spotlight at the end of March, it’s seemingly been ALL positive. Not only did Carrie release her first album in three years, Cry Pretty, back in September, but she also confirmed that she and Mike Fisher are expecting their second child together! With the baby’s due date just months away, Carrie was obviously very pregnant during her Artists of the Year performance — but that didn’t stop her from SLAYING onstage. Next month, Carrie will return to host the 2018 CMA Awards with Brad Paisley. It will be their 11th time hosting the show, and we can’t wait to see what they bring this time!<doc-sep>On Tuesday Carrie Underwood took the stage at the 2018 American Music Awards at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater, her growing baby bump on full display, to perform “Spinning Bottles,” off her new album Cry Pretty. The performance came shortly after Underwood took home her sixth Best Country Female Artist trophy. During her emotional performance, Underwood stood on a small round stage that turned slowly and was lined with tall candles stuck in colored glass bottles—in other words, her performance of “Spinning Bottles” was surrounded by actual spinning bottles. Accompanied only by a piano and some strings, the country star wore a simple, floaty burgundy gown with cold-shoulder long sleeves and an Empire waist. Watch below: Underwood gave fans a sneak peek at her AMA plans on Sunday, when she shared a photo on Instagram from her rehearsals for the performance. In the accompanying caption, she revealed via hashtag that she’d be performing “Spinning Bottles”—her first live performance of the song since her Cry Pretty album dropped in September. Kevin Winter/AMA2018/Getty Images The 35-year-old, who’s already mom to three-year-old son Isaiah with husband Mike Fisher, announced in August that she was expecting their second child. “Mike, Isaiah, and I are absolutely over the moon and excited to be adding another fish to our pond,” Underwood said in a social media post at the time. “This has been a dream come true with the album and baby news. We’re just so excited and glad you guys can share this with us and be a part of this with us. Love you guys. We will see you on the road in 2019!” Now all that’s left to do is prep Isaiah on becoming a big brother. “He’ll be really sweet and talk to my belly and kiss my belly. He’s the sweetest little boy,” she said. “But no kid can really know that their life is going to change. He’ll have to share Mommy!” Related: 10 Times Carrie Underwood's Generosity Inspired Us<doc-sep>
Carrie Underwood took the American Music Awards stage Tuesday night to perform a poignant rendition of “Spinning Bottles.” After arriving to L.A.’s Microsoft Theater in a floor-length, bump-hugging black gown, the expectant singer changed into a flowing maroon dress to take the stage. Onstage, Underwood stood atop a rotating circle surrounded by lit candlesticks and a backing string group for her emotional performance, which garnered a standing ovation from the star-studded crowd, including Camila Cabello. On the red carpet pre-show, opened up about the substance abuse-inspired song. 775232721TM00397_2018_Ameri Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty “I feel like when we wrote this song ‘Spinning Bottles’ we kind of each had people in our heads go through this,” she said of the track. “It’s hard to write, it’s hard to get it out, it’s hard to say it’s gonna go on the album … It’s difficult to sing it to the world, but its life; that’s a part of life. It’s hard to just put yourself out there like that.” 775232724CC00207_2018_Ameri Underwood added: “Your’e just going into a writing session letting your feelings out and just hope people get it.” In addition to her performance, the Nashville star, 35, won for favorite female country artist award, for which she was nominated alongside Kelsea Ballerini and Maren Morris. “Such a wonderful night! I am honored and humbled by the love I received from you all tonight. I made absolutely no sense in my speech and didn’t say half of what I should’ve, but I want you all to know that your support means everything to me!” she wrote on Instagram following the show. “Also, I am beyond honored to be in the company of such talented ladies like @marenmorris and @kelseaballerini to represent the women of Country Music tonight. That said, I’m off to peel this dress off and cuddle up to my little man! I shall go to bed with a full and happy heart! ❤️💖❤️💖❤️ And, of course, thank you #AMAs for having me and for letting the fans call the shots!” 775232717TM00274_2018_Ameri Credit: John Shearer/Getty Carrie Underwood The AMAs are Underwood’s first awards show appearance since revealing in August she’s expecting her second child with husband Mike Fisher, with whom she already shares 3-year-old son Isaiah Michael. Check out PEOPLE’s full AMAs coverage to get the latest news on one of music’s biggest nights. It’s also only the second awards show Underwood has attended since her November 2017 fall in which she broke her wrist and received 40-50 stitches following an injury to her face. After nearly five months out of the spotlight, she emerged at the Academy of Country Music Awards in April, when she delivered an emotional, tear-stained performance of new single “Cry Pretty.” RELATED: Pregnant Carrie Underwood Reveals She Suffered 3 Miscarriages in Last 2 Years: ‘I Got Mad’ The news she’s expecting follows years of heartbreak and disappointment: In September, the country singer revealed in an emotional interview with CBS Sunday Morning that before this pregnancy, she suffered three miscarriages in the past two years. Since announcing her pregnancy, Underwood — who will hit the road for her next tour in May 2019 — has been making the rounds promoting her latest album, Cry Pretty, from appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, to receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.