Trisha Yearwood pays tribute to June Carter Cash ahead of CMT Awards: 'She was a force'

AUSTIN, Texas − Trisha Yearwood will receive the inaugural June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award and premiere a brand-new song at Sunday's CMT Music Awards.

“I knew June and Johnny a little bit,” the country music icon says at her concessions stand “Trisha’s Tailgate” inside the Moody Center, where the CMTs are being held. “She was a ball of energy ... she was the Tasmanian devil spinning around. She was so full of love, light and energy.

“So when I heard about this award and I realized she was who it was named after, it made me so happy to be in the same sentence with her because she was a force.”

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The Humanitarian Award recognizes artists or industry veterans who selflessly serve. Yearwood says she's overwhelmed with gratitude to accept the prestigious honor.

“It almost feels awkward to accept an award like this, because I don’t know if you ever would feel like you deserve it,” “XXX’s and OOO’s” singer says. “But it is a call to me to step up my game."

Yearwood’s philanthropy includes working with Habitat for Humanity for the past two decades, the Carter Work Project and National Women Build Week. She was named a Habitat Humanitarian in 2016 with husband Garth Brooks.

“It’s wonderful to write a check for charity, which we do, everybody does that and it’s wonderful,” she says. “But to actually go work alongside somebody that’s going to live in a house and get dirty. I almost feel guilty sometimes when we leave, because I know they’re thanking us, but we got a lot more out of it than they probably did.”

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The singer is returning to the CMT stage for the first time in five years, where she'll debut “Put It In a Song.”

“I started writing a year and a half ago,” she says. “I’m more shocked than anybody that I’m standing here talking about this, because I was gearing up to talk about putting an album out next year.”

The CMT Awards air Sunday (8 p.m. ET/PT) on CBS and Paramount+ with Showtime. Kelsea Ballerini will host with an array of performances including Jelly Roll, Megan Moroney, Keith Urban and Sam Hunt.