Carrie Underwood and CeCe Winans joined together for a performance at the Grand Ole Opry House stage, singing two Gospel songs during the 56th Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards on April 18.
After their powerful performance at the recent Easter event in Nashville, Winans teamed up with Underwood again to belt out "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and "The Old Rugged Cross." The latter concluded her medley performance with "How Great Thou Art," Billboard wrote.
Dolly Parton commended Underwood in her introduction.
"I have always admired Carrie's incredible talent, but am just as impressed with her personal qualities- her compassion, kindness, generosity, and, most of all, the powerful faith that we both share," she said.
"Now, her performance tonight speaks to that faith in a medley from her new gospel hymns album, "My savior," which I know is a true passion project for her," Parton further stated.
The ceremony was hosted by Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton. The latter was noted to be making history as the first Black woman to do such in a big show.
Luke Bryan was declared the entertainer of the year that night.
However, Underwood's fans were disappointed that the singer did not win any award. She was nominated in the Video of the Year category, for a duet with John Legend in "Hallelujah," but the award went to Kane Brown for his "Worldwide Beautiful."
But last year in September, Underwood won ACM's "Entertainer of the Year" award, in a tie with Thomas Rhett. She was the only woman nominated in the category. Other nominees include Luke Combs, Eric Church and Luke Bryan. The singer already won the same award before twice, in 2008 and 2010.
Underwood released her ninth album, "My Savior," on March 26, topping multiple charts.
Gospel singer Winans also released her first live worship album, "Believe For It," on March 12. It contains 12 tracks.
"This message is something that our nation, literally our whole nation and the world, needs to hear," she said of her album.
In an interview with Music Row, Winans spoke about her collaboration with Underwood.
She said that she first met Underwood on "American Idol" but only got a close encounter with her when they sang together at the White House sometime after.
She also said that Underwood's rendition of "How Great Thou Art" was one of the best renditions she ever heard. Thus, when she was preparing for her Compassion Live concert before Christmas last year, she asked her management to have Underwood as her guest.
When they went to reach out Underwood's management, it revealed that Underwood was actually looking for the singer to do a duet for "Great is Thy Faithfulness."
"We had fun. I looked at her and I said, 'Hey, are you ready for what God will do with this project?' She looked at me and said, 'Yeah, I think so.' Because these songs are powerful, anointed songs and her voice is spectacular. She's introducing old, powerful songs to a new generation and to a new audience. I think that's spectacular," Winans stated.
