CMT and country music fans couldn’t get enough of Trisha Yearwood during the 2024 CMT Music Awards as she captured hearts with both appearances in the spotlight.

In her first CMT Music Awards presence since 2019, Yearwood received the inaugural June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award and premiered a new song she co-wrote “Put It In a Song” from her upcoming album, which is packed with tracks she penned.

“I’ve performed on awards shows a bunch of times, but yesterday in rehearsal, I got real emotional because this is a real new venture for me,” Yearwood said, meaning that she doesn’t typically co-write so much of her albums. “It’s a real vulnerable place to be, and this is a song about that. It’s about how if you can’t say it out loud, if it’s too much, just write it down. It’s like therapy.”

Exuding glamour and grace, Yearwood sounded timeless as she sang: There’s comfort in a melody, and my heart keeps on telling me, I’m not the only one who has ever felt this way.

She was equally eloquent while accepting the June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award. The honor recognizes an artist, duo/group or industry veteran who demonstrates an exceptional dedication to the community and their fellow artists as Carter Cash did.

“I’ve never gotten an award like this,” Yearwood said from the stage. “I will say it’s nice to know you won before you got here. I don’t think anyone who has ever won a humanitarian award thought they deserved it. I knew her just a little bit, but it didn’t take long to realize she embodied everything this award is about.”

Yearwood called Carter Cash “a force” and said she was “married to a force.”

“I know a little about a life like that,” Yearwood said. “I only hope I can be as big a part of my community as she was. My hope is that we can all learn a little from June Carter Cash’s legacy, be a little more real, a little more vulnerable, a little less about me, and a little more about us. I look at this as a challenge and a calling. Garth and I believe that to whom much is given, much is expected.”