Gary Clark Jr. to Perform Stevie Ray Vaughan Tribute at 2023 CMT Music Awards

Four-time Grammy winner and Austin native Gary Clark Jr. has been added to the performers lineup for the 2023 CMT Music Awards. He’ll be delivering a tribute to the Texas blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan.

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Clark’s performance joins the previously announced tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd, as well as performances from Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Carly Pearce and many more.

The CMT Music Awards, hosted by Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini, will take place at Moody Center in Austin for the first time, on Sunday, April 2, airing on CBS Television Network and streaming live and on-demand on Paramount+.

Also announced on Friday (March 31), is this year’s roster of presenters. The musicians, actors and athletes set to appear are Pearce, Underwood, Charles Esten, Dixie D’Amelio, Dustin Lynch, HARDY, Ian Bohen + Jen Landon (Yellowstone), Jon Pardi, LeAnn Rimes, Madison Bailey (Outer Banks), Max Thieriot (Fire Country), Megan Thee Stallion, Noah Schnapp (Stranger Things), Parker McCollum, Peter Frampton, Shania Twain, Steve Howey (True Lies) and Travis Kelce.

Vaughan was born in Dallas in 1954, and released six studio albums, beginning with 1983’s Texas Flood. He would become one of the all-time great guitarists, melding the influence of jazz and blues on songs such as “Crossfire” and “Love Struck Baby.” Though Vaughan died in August 1990 in a helicopter crash, his music has continued to inspire artists such as John Mayer and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Clark Jr. has earned three top 10 albums on the Billboard 200, including 2012’s Blak and Blu, 2015’s The Story of Sonny Boy Slim, and 2019’s This Land.

The Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute will feature Slash of Guns N’ Roses, Wynonna Judd, Billy Gibbons, Chuck Leavell, Cody Johnson, Paul Rodgers, Warren Haynes and LeAnn Rimes. The tribute performance follows the death of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s final original founding member, guitarist Gary Rossington, who passed away on March 5 at age 71.

Jessica Nicholson

Billboard