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The collaboration comes on the heels of Tennessee passing a bill last month to restrict public drag show performances.

Anthony Allen Ramos, vice president of communications and talent at GLAAD, called the performance \"bold allyship\" from Ballerini in a statement, adding, \"Kelsea's performance at the CMT Music Awards reinforced that drag is not a threat, it's an art.\"

Other performers of the night included Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Lainey Wilson -- who won female video of the year for \"Heart Like a Truck\" -- and Shania Twain.

Kane and Katelyn Brown also performed their song \"Thank God,\" which won video of the year.

Twain was honored with the CMT Equal Play Award, which recognizes an artist who is an advocate for elevating diverse and underrepresented voices in country music, and began her acceptance speech by harkening back to her hit song \"Man! I Feel Like a Woman,\" saying she had \"no idea at the time that it would become an undercurrent of a decades-long career.\"

\"PHOTO:
Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for CMT
PHOTO: Shania Twain speaks onstage during the 2023 CMT Music Awards at Moody Center, April 02, 2023 in Austin, Texas.
>

\"It's amazing how just one statement can empower so many,\" she continued, saying it brings her \"so much joy\" that the song has \"been adopted by an array of fantastic communities all around the world and become a genuine path of power and progress\" for women in country music.

Twain promised to \"continue to champion the many outstanding country artists who are not currently played -- they're not streamed, toured, signed or awarded at the level they deserve.\"

\"I believe in an all-inclusive country music. We're a family. This is a genre of music with a rich history that raised and nurtured my own songwriting and performance and recording career from childhood. Currently, the industry standard does a real disservice to this,\" Twain added, calling on the industry to \"close the gap and provide equal workspace for all talent.\"

Elsewhere, Wynonna Judd and Ashley McBryde delivered a soulful cover of \"I Want to Know What Love Is,\" Gary Clark Jr. performed a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pearce teamed up with Gwen Stefani to sing No Doubt's \"Just a Girl\" and a slew of singers performed an all-star tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd.

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