Carrie Underwood Accepts CMT Artist of the Year Trophy During Cry Pretty Tour 360 Concert

Carrie Underwood received the CMT Artist of the Year trophy for the fifth time on Wednesday, Oct. 16. Underwood, who is in the middle of her Cry Pretty Tour 360, accepted the trophy from opening act Maddie & Tae, while at a concert in Cleveland, Ohio.

“This really is such an honor, because it does take so much to go into shows like this,” Underwood said from stage, taking time to thank her band and crew before acknowledging the fellow honorees. “You guys know what it takes, and I’m so honored to be in such incredible company. Thank you crowd. Thank you, fans, for supporting all of us. The ones watching at home and the ones here tonight.

“You guys are the reason we do what we get to do,” she continued, “and at the end of the day it all comes down to you coming to our shows and listening to my music … Thank you so much. This is truly an honor.”

Underwood will wrap up her Cry Pretty Tour 360 at the end of this month. The “Southbound” singer is currently on tour with her husband, Mike Fisher, and children Isaiah and Jacob. Although her current tour is massive and elaborate, Underwood hopes to do even more in the future.

“I wanna knock people’s socks off. I’ve written more songs for this album, we’ve put more songs into this tour,” Underwood told CMT.

“With every tour, we just keep wanting to have bigger, better, more grand. I feel like there’s gonna be a point where I’m like, ‘I can’t go no bigger,’” she added with a laugh.

Underwood has plenty of things to do besides tour, which is exactly the way she likes it.

“I’m having a lot of irons in the fire,” Underwood acdmitted. “To have an 8-month-old and a 4-year-old, and we’re on tour. We just figure everything out as we go along. We get opportunities all the time, to go to the UK, getting to do Sunday Night Football, getting to be creative in other ways, things that are a little off of the norm of getting to do this life.”

“It is exhausting sometimes,” she added, “but I love my job so it’s worth it.”

Underwood was honored along with Thomas Rhett, Luke Combs, Kane Brown, Dan + Shay, Ashley McBryde and Reba McEntire. The show will re-air this weekend on CMT and can also be found at CMT.com.

Photo Credit: Getty / Duane Prokop