Trisha Yearwood Premieres "Put It In A Song," Is Honored With June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award at 2024 CMT Music Awards

AUSTIN, TEXAS - APRIL 07: Trisha Yearwood performs onstage during the 2024 CMT Music Awards at Moody Center on April 07, 2024 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for CMT)

CMT honored Trisha Yearwood with the inaugural June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award on Sunday night at the 2024 CMT Music Awards. Trisha said she hoped to continue to live by Carter Cash’s example.

“I only hope with this to be as big a part of my community and as good of a friend to fellow artists as she was,” Trisha said. “It can be really hard to stand up for what is right and what you believe in – June just did it. She walked the walk. She didn’t just say what she believed – she lived it. And she was strong in a very human way. My mantra is ‘Love one another.’ So my challenge to all of us is to not just say it … but let’s actually go out there and do it.”

Those who want to watch Trisha accept the award and perform her new song “Put It In A Song” on the 2024 CMT Music Awards – can tune into CMT’s encore showing of the ceremony 7 p.m. ET Thursday on CMT.

On the red carpet before the show, Trisha said she’s performed on award shows numerous times over the years, but she got emotional thinking about this performance because writing every song on her album is a new and personal venture for her.

“It’s a real vulnerable place to be, and this is a song about that,” Trisha said. “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.”

When she took the stage, Trisha's performance reminded viewers of the elegance of meaningful lyrics and her timeless voice.

She sang: “There’s comfort in a melody…and my heart keeps telling me…I’m not the only one who’s felt this way.”

Trisha co-wrote “Put It In a Song” with Erin Enderlin and Jim “Moose” Brown, whom she invited to perform with her on the CMT Awards.

She accepted her June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award from Seymour ahead of her performance. Trisha joked it was nice to know she was winning something before she arrived. But then her speech adopted a more serious tone.

“I’ve never gotten an award like this,” she said from the stage. “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.”

Trisha 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.”