Country star Kane Brown shared his condolences for his longtime drummer Kenny Dixon. The musician passed away in a car crash on Saturday, October 19th. Brown had announced that he was canceling Friday’s concert at LA’s Staples Center. But he felt it was important to show up Wednesday night, October 16th, to accept his CMT Artists of the Year honor and pay tribute to his fallen band member and friend.
Brown is one of five honorees at Wednesday’s CMT Artists of the Year event, sharing the stage with Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Thomas Rhett and Luke Combs.
“Thank y’all so much.. I want to dedicate this to my drummer Kenny. He started with me coming out of Chattanooga off Facebook. People didn’t think we would make it. He was with me the whole time. He was so supportive of me. I love you, man. I miss you. The band misses you.”
The entire speech was tearful and emotional, and you could feel everyone’s sympathy in the building.
Brown also took to Instagram to pay tribute, writing “You started all of this with me from the start in 2015 when no body else believed we would make it out of Chattanooga playing for 500 people and your last show was in a Fn Stadium my guy.”
After thanking his management, CMT and the country community, Brown ended his speech with this poignant sign-off: “God bless you guys, y’all stay safe.”
Watch the emotional speech here.
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