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.
Kane, 29, walked the red carpet with wife Katelyn Brown (née Jay) ahead of their performance of their hit single with “Thank God” later that night. The “Like I Love Country” crooner wore a black and white Alexander McQueen suit while Katelyn, 30, donned a white, strapless Halston gown with white evening gloves and pink tights.
“I just love being beside her. Our daughters get to see mom and dad on TV,” Kane gushed to CMT during rehearsals.
Katelyn, who shares daughters Kingsley, 3, and Kodi, 14 months, with the Tennessee native added: “It’s super special for our family, not only for me and Kane as husband and wife to do it, but for our little girls to watch mom and dad do it is just wild.”
The duo are the second married couple in country music history to land the No. 1 spot on both Billboard and Aircheck charts. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were first.
The Philadelphia native said that Kane, who she married in 2018, had a feeling the song would be big, but she didn’t know how much success was on the way. “Kane says that after we recorded it that he kind of felt that it was gonna be a big song. But for me, I was pretty shocked,” she revealed.
The “Grand” singer added, “I just knew that the song was good and I knew she could sing incredibly and I knew my fans have been dying and waiting for it. I just knew it was going to be a big song. I didn’t know it was going to be compared to Tim and Faith but I’ll take it.”
However, Katelyn said her husband isn’t one to give advice, despite the two preparing for their first televised performance of their duet.
“Kane’s a man of few words, but I think every time, whether it’s for [the CMTs] or his shows that we’re performing at, he’s just like, ‘You’ve got it, [you’re gonna] kill it.’ Just seeing him so relaxed makes me relaxed, we’re a good balance between the two,” Katelyn shared.
While it was parents’ night out for the Browns, Ballerini made her red carpet debut with new beau Chase Stokes. She posed with her boyfriend, who she started dating earlier this year, on the CMT Music Awards carpet before hosting the show.
“Hi Austin 
KB u lookin gooooood girl,” Stokes, 30, captioned a video of their arrival via his Instagram Story.
Stokes is Ballerini’s first public romance since her split from Morgan Evans. The “Blindsided” songstress broke the news in August 2022 about her and Evans’ breakup after nearly five years of marriage. They finalized their divorce the following November.
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