Miranda Lambert remains the most visible and vocal champion of Carrie Underwood's case as the rightful winner of the CMA Entertainer of the Year award. During a recent appearance on The Ty Bentli Show, Underwood got emotional after hearing her "Somethin' Bad" duet partner's latest show of support.
Lambert first stated Underwood's case on Instagram after praising her all-male field of competitors: Keith Urban, Garth Brooks, Eric Church and Chris Stapleton.
"She blows me away every time I hear her sing. She never wavers in who she is or what she stands for. That iconic voice has been classin' up our stages, charts and televisions for a decade and a half," Lambert wrote. "She has stayed true and pushed herself to be better. So for the sake of sequins, spanx and spray tans, take it home!"
More recently, Lambert explained her stance on-air to Kix Brooks during his American Country Countdown radio show. "To me, the Entertainer of the Year is who's represented the genre in every way the best for that year," Lambert told Brooks, as reported by Nash Country Daily. "I really felt compelled to say something and, you know, watching Carrie host the CMAs pregnant [last year], and also do the Monday Night Football campaign, and also have a brand, and also work with charity, and be a wife, and be a mother and then host [the CMAs this year] with two legendary country artists . . . and go on tour. She tours like a rock star—she does every other day while we're weekend warriors over here. I just know how much work that is. She works harder than I do, and I work hard [laughing]. I just felt like, as a whole, with her tour and everything she encompasses and what she's represented for country music, she deserves it. She just does."
Read More: The 10 Best Carrie Underwood Songs, Ranked
After Bentli played the American Country Countdown audio for Underwood, the Entertainer of the Year nominee was truly at a loss for words. "First, I'm kind of emotional," Underwood admitted.
"It's a nomination for all of us," she continued. "It would definitely be, ya know, not just a win for all of the things that we've been doing, all that stuff that [Miranda] mentioned that I'm so lucky and blessed enough to do, but you know, you watch other women in this industry do the same thing...We lift each other up. We support each other."
Underwood, a co-host of this year's CMA Awards broadcast alongside Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, is the first female artist nominated for Entertainer of the Year since 2016. Taylor Swift was the most recent woman to win the CMA's top prize, and that was way back in 2011.
The 2019 CMA Awards will air live tomorrow (Nov. 13) from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Now Watch: The 10 Best Miranda Lambert Videos
