Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Helping cement his status as country music’s newest superstar, Jelly Roll swept all three categories in which he was nominated Sunday night at the CMT Music Awards, including music video of the year for his gospel-flavored “Need a Favor.” Likely having seen it coming, but also knowing Jelly Roll is a tough act to follow, the show’s producers saved his performance of his current country radio single “Halfway to Heaven” until the last five minutes of the telecast, coming right after his climactic win.
Other winners in the all-fan-voted results included fellow frontrunner Lainey Wilson for female video of the year for “Watermelon Moonshine” and Dan + Shay for duo/group video for “Save Me the Trouble.” Warren Zeiders picked up breakthrough male video for “Pretty Little Poison,” while Ashley Cooke won equivalent honors for breakthrough female video for “Your Place.
The pairing of Carly Pearce and Chris Stapleton for collaborative video for “We Don’t Fight Anymore.” Beyond video of the year, Jelly Roll’s other two wins came for male video of the year, also for “Need a Favor,” and for CMT performance, an award given for a rendering exclusive to the network, for his live version of that breakout song on the 2023 CMT Awards. “Billy Bob Thornton just gave me my third award tonight, y’all!” Jelly Roll exulted upon getting his climactic honor from the actor, who was representing Austin, the home of the CMT Music Awards for the second year running.
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