Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan Stun CMA Awards Crowd With Performance of 'Cowboys Cry Too'

The 58th Annual CMA Awards ceremony was packed with star-powered duets, but no collaboration was as moving as the Kelsea Ballerini-Noah Kahan performance.

After a striking mash up of Kahan's ‘Stick Season’ and Ballerini's 'Mountain With A View’ at this year's ACM Awards, the two stars were back in the saddle on Wednesday night (Nov. 20). This time, though, it was to showcase their latest collaboration, ‘Cowboys Cry Too’, which appeared on Ballerini's recent PATTERNS album.

Kicking off with Ballerini alone under the spotlight, the performance began washed in the vocalist's warm harmonics. Kahan came in on the second verse to lend his emotive croon to the endearing song.

The duet was intimate, the partners singing to each other through much of the display as brilliant graphics, mirroring the song's ebbs and flows, played in the background.

This past October, ‘Cowboys Cry Too’ earned the pair of hitmakers their first-ever UK country radio No. 1, the song soaring up Britain's Country Radio Airplay Chart.

The tear-tugging tune did more than just impress the charts this year. The song is also duking out for Musical Event of the Year against some pretty hard-hitting collaborations. 'I Had Some Help' by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen, 'I Remember Everything' by Zach Bryan with Kacey Musgraves, the Morgan Wallen-Eric Church duet, 'Man Made A Bar', and the beloved 'you look like you love me' by Ella Langley and Riley Green are all up for the honor.

For more on the 2024 CMA Awards, see below: