The singer received the inaugural award on Sunday and also debuted her new song.
Trisha Yearwood says she is feeling positively blessed after receiving the inaugural June Carter Cash Award at the 2024 CMT Music Awards and performing on stage during the show.
Talking with ET's Cassie DiLaura backstage from the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, the 59-year-old singer shared her gratitude for the warm welcome from the crowd who witnessed the world premiere of "Put It In a Song," which she described as "surreal."
"It's kind of like one of those moments where I'm going to have to go home and watch the show now and see the performance," she said of having a see-it-to-believe-it experience on stage. "But just the love in the room, it felt so good. It was just so cool."
The other "surreal" moment of the night for Yearwood came when she was handed the CMT's brand-new humanitarian award by her longtime friend, Jane Seymour. In her simple and hilarious speech, she thanked the voting body for the honor and humbly accepted.
"I have never gotten an award like this, I will say, it's nice to know you won before you got here," she joked. "I don't think anyone who's ever received a humanitarian award thinks they deserve it and that is absolutely tracking right now."
Just then, one person in the audience loudly shouted back at the country singer, "You deserve it," causing her to quickly respond, "Well, you're very sweet."
Yearwood and her husband, Garth Brooks, have both been notable figures to work with Habitat For Humanity to rebuild homes in areas devastated by natural disasters, including Haiti and New Orleans. Both singers have been named Habitat Humanitarians by the organization for their work with the cause.
In an interview with the nonprofit, Yearwood said that she found it to be one of the most rewarding things she has ever done.
"There is something that moves you on every build you do. One of the most moving experiences is our trip to Haiti. The first time we went was over a year after the earthquake," she said. I have never in my life seen the kinds of conditions that people were living in. Because Haiti was in such need, we went back the next year and got to visit the houses that we had built the previous year."
She added, "The homeowners were doing great. They had gardens. You could just see the difference, especially in their eyes. You could see in their faces the joy of homeownership.”
When she is not building houses alongside her rockstar husband, she is building up a new record for her fans to enjoy. The stepmom of three tells ET that she has been hard at work on getting her album together and it's almost here for everyone to enjoy.
"I've been doing a lot of writing and so I'm just going to put it out there," she said. "And every time I write another song I'm like well maybe this is going to be on the record, so we'll see."
One track that is for sure making the cut is "Put It In a Song" which debuted Sunday to rave reviews and audience applause inside the Texas venue where the CMT Music Awards were held. Immediately after her live performance, Rolling Stone hailed the single as "an instant classic."
Brooks, 62, was unable to make it to the awards show Sunday evening but Yearwood told ET that he surely was at home watching and cheering her on nonetheless. While she hadn't gotten the opportunity to check her phone yet, she was also confident he was blowing it up with his love and support from afar.
"He will send me a lot of hearts," she said. "And he already told me before I went out, he said. 'I'm really proud of you.'"
Yearwood also shared that while celebrating in a room with her peers is certainly fun, she was more excited to get on the road and head home to her hubby of nearly 20 years.
"I'm going home to see my husband, that's how I'm celebrating," she said, adding that she couldn't wait to grab a bite to eat, too. "I have not eaten today so I'm excited. It's happening!"
Hosted by Kelsea Ballerini, the 2024 CMT Music Awards took place at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, April 7, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The show aired on CBS and will also be available to stream live and on demand via Paramount+
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