Kelsea Ballerini Honors Nashville School Shooting Victims With Personal Tribute and Call to Action

Music City is coming together for a benefit concert to honour the victims of the horrific school shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School, where six people — three children and three school employees — were killed last week.

slain at the Nashville Covenant School shooting last Monday and recounted her own experience of being in a school shooting in Knoxville, Tennessee.“The community of sorrow over this and the 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone stretches from coast to coast,” the 29-year-old singer said.“I wanted to personally stand up here and share this moment because on Aug.

Iconic!!

Chase Stokes was one proud boyfriend during Sunday night’s 2023 CMT Music Awards.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic During the opening monolog at Sunday night’s CMT Music Awards, broadcast from Austin on CBS, there was a comedic bit in which Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown exchanged anniversary presents to celebrate their cohosting of the show for the third consecutive time. Brown gave Ballerini a cowboy hat, and she reciprocated by giving him a pink hat to put on in return. At least a few audience members shared a joke about the exchange: By wearing pink, would Brown be breaking Tennessee’s recently passed law that some believe would ban most drag performances in the state, if they were back home? Viewers whose minds went there during that silly opening were just kidding — but Ballerini really went there later in the three-hour telecast, when she chose four “RuPaul’s Drag Race” queens to perform with her as she sang “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too).” That song, off her 2022 album “Subject to Change,” is Ballerini’s anthem of female friendship — and, with the way the CMT Awards routine played out, she very much seemed to be counting drag performers as among those friends. The performance was playful and ostensibly non-political, and in a different year might not have raised very many shaved or unshaved eyebrows. In spring 2023, it was hard to read it as anything other than a statement of: If drag queens are brought down, the rest of us will be dragged down with them.

Chase Stokes couldn't help but fanboy during girlfriend Kelsea Ballerini's CMT Music Awards performance. The 30-year-old  star was spotted dancing and singing along to Ballerini's «If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too)» during Sunday's awards ceremony. In a video shared on Instagram by CMT, Stokes was all smiles while lip syncing and shaking his hips to the beat.

The CMT Music Awards 2023 proved to be a big night for Jelly Roll who topped the night as the most-awarded artist taking home three trophies.

Kelsea Ballerini made her feelings about the Tennessee drag ban known during her performance at the 2023 CMT Music Awards Sunday.Ballerini, who also served as the night's co-host, transported the audience backyard barbecue in the '60s, where she was surrounded by a bevy of drag queens while belting out her hit, «If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too).»The group served as Ballerini's backup dancers, while the singer sang and strummed along on a pink guitar. After throwing her long, green coat to the side, Ballerini showed off a yellow two-piece, which she strutted her stuff in while the drag queens followed behind — all dressed in their best '60s-inspired wears.The performance ended with a flutter of confetti that was illuminated with rainbow stage lights, which made Ballerini's stance loud and clear.ET spoke to the drag queens — Kennedy Davenport, Manila Luzon, Jan Sport and Oliva Lux — that performed alongside the «Penthouse» singer, who shared the importance of taking the stage with Ballerini.«Just like all these amazing country music artists, we drag queens are also artists.

She’s all that! Kelsea Ballerini didn’t only slay as cohost of the 2023 CMT Music Awards, but she served stellar looks too.

Date night at the CMT Music Awards! Several stars brought dates to the red carpet in Austin on Sunday, April 2, including both cohosts, Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini.

Kelsea Ballerini kicked off the 2023 CMT Music Awards with a dedication to the victims of the Nashville school shooting. The country music star, 29, said, "On March 27, 2023, three nine-year-olds Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs along with Dr.

the mass school shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville at the 2023 CMT Music Awards.On Sunday, several stars in attendance at the awards show wore black ribbons to honor the victims from Monday's mass shooting at the Nashville, Tennessee private school. The shooting, which marked Tennessee's deadliest mass shooting in history, left three children and three adults dead, in addition to the shooter.«You know why it is important? Today is Psalm Sunday and I'm a very religious person and what better way to honor them and support them,» Lynyrd Skynyrd's Johnny Van Zant tells ET about the band's decision to wear ribbons on the red carpet. «Everybody say prayers for the family.

Paying tribute. Kelsea Ballerini honored victims of the Nashville, Tennessee, Covenant School shooting at the start of the 2023 CMT Awards on Sunday, April 2.

A major milestone! Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes were all smiles during their red carpet debut at the 2023 CMT Music Awards on Sunday, April 2.

CMT Music Awards!This year, Lainey Wilson leads the charge with four noms, including Performance of the Year and Female Video of the Year, with three nominees tied for second place -- Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, and CMT Music Awards co-host Kane Brown.Across all categories, CMT is recognizing 21 first-time nominees, with Carrie Underwood, the most awarded artist in CMT history, also earning another nod this year. Hosted by Brown and Kelsea Ballerini -- also a nominee this year — the CMT Music Awards air at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS Sunday from the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

mass school shooting at The Covenant School earlier this week.Sheryl Crow was among the local resident artists who performed during the vigil as hundreds of people gathered to mourn the tragic loss of life.Crow, who has been a Nashville-area resident for more than 15 years, accompanied herself at a piano to sing «I Shall Believe,» a hymn-like track from her 1993 album, . «Come to me now, and lay your hands on me,» Crow sang. «Say it will be all right, and I shall believe.» She ended the song with the chorus of Dionne Warwick’s «What the World Needs Now (Is Love, Sweet Love).»Margo Price, an outspoken advocate for gun safety, also performed, singing an a cappella version of Bob Dylan’s «Tears of Rage.»Both Price and Crow spoke out on social media in the wake of Monday's fatal shooting, calling not just for gun safety but an end to the senseless violence that continues in this country.Also in attendance, was first lady Jill Biden, along with a host of local and state elected officials, police officers, and clergy members.Speaking to the crowd, Nashville Mayor John Cooper thanked mourners for gathering after what he called was the city's «worst day.»«Just two days ago was our city's worst day,» Cooper said. «And Deputy Mayor Heywood and Laura and I want to thank all of you for being here today.

Neil Pond A candlelight vigil in Nashville Wednesday night drew hundreds to grieve the victims of the mass school shooting which claimed six lives earlier this week, with local residents Sheryl Crow and Margo Price among those offering performances as part of the public grieving. The event was relatively brief — only about half an hour — but powerful and moving, attended by First Lady Jill Biden, a host of local and state elected officials, police officers, and clergy, along with the musicians who performed songs obviously chosen with great care for the somber occasion. Sheryl Crow, who has spent more than 15 years as a Nashville-area resident, accompanied herself at a piano to sing “I Shall Believe,” a hymn-like track from her breakthrough album “Tuesday Night Music Club.” The crowd soaked up the hopeful balm of the spiritually tinged ballad in the wake of the shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School, the small Christian elementary academy where three children and three adults were killed by a 28-year-old assailant carrying two assault weapons and a pistol.

Bigger in Texas! Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown return to host the 2023 CMT Music Awards on Sunday, April 2.

A heartbreaking story. Melissa Joan Hart revealed that she and husband Mark Wilkerson were in the area after the recent Nashville school shooting and helped a group of kindergarteners evacuate to safety.

Melissa Joan Hart posted a raw video of her experience being nearby the Nashville school shooting.