Luke Bryan was not able to attend this year's CMT Artists of the Year ceremony because of a death in the family. The country superstar was on hand last night, Dec. 15, at the American Country Countdown Awards to perform "Roller Coaster" and receive the Male Vocalist of the Year Award. He took some time during his speech to thank his fans for their support after the passing of Ben Lee Cheshire.
"I wanna get serious just for a second. I wanna thank all of my fans — for the past couple of weeks of my life — for keeping my family in your prayers. And I wanna also recognize the country music community," he said, CMT noted.
Cheshire was married to Bryan's sister Kelly, who died in 2007.
"Hey, fans, let me explain something to you," Bryan added. "You guys support wonderful artists because they have rallied around me and helped me and my family through the past couple of weeks. It's nice to feel loved in a situation. Just thank you, guys, for an amazing 2014. We love you, Nashville. We love you, fans."
Lady Antebellum paid tribute to Bryan and his family at the CMT ceremony by performing his ballad "Drink a Beer." The singer was touched by the performance.
That was amazing. Truly. Thank you Charles, Dave, Hillary and Chris! Beautiful!!! Thank you fans for your love.
— Luke Bryan (@LukeBryanOnline) December 3, 2014
Bryan had an impressive 2014 following the success of Crash My Party. He will be looking to carry that momentum over to 2015 with a couple winter dates — check them out here.
Crash My Party dominated the charts behind singles like "Roller Coaster," "Play It Again" and "That's My Kind of Night." Bryan took home the Entertainer of the Year Award at this year's CMAs as well.
