During a Dallas, Texas, stop on his Blessed and Free Tour on Sunday night (Oct. 17), Kane Brown had a special surprise for the audience: an appearance from one of his country music heroes. In the middle of his set, the star called up iconic country singer Randy Travis to the stage.

It had only been a few days since Travis and Brown last saw each other, as they were both honorees at the 2021 CMT Artists of the Year ceremony, which took place last Wednesday (Oct. 13.) Brown was one of an elite handful of artists being feted as Artists of the Year, while Travis was receiving the prestigious Artist of a Lifetime award. Like the other Artists of the Year honorees, Brown gave a performance, and he used his time onstage to tribute Travis with a rendition of "Three Wooden Crosses."

Onstage in Dallas, Brown explained that he planned to make the tribute cover a repeat performance.

"He got [the] Artist of a Lifetime [award] from CMT and I got to do this for him, and if any of y'all missed it, I'm gonna do it for you guys," he said, with Travis beside him in a wheelchair, smiling out at the crowd.

Brown then launched into a faithful rendition of "Three Wooden Crosses," which was a hit for Travis in 2002. Aside from peaking at the top of the country charts, the single also won Travis and its songwriters, Kim Williams and Doug Johnson, several awards.

Brown's CMT awards show performance wasn't the first time he'd sung the song in front of Travis. In 2016, Travis surprised the then-brand-new artist during a radio appearance. That time around, Brown was so star-struck he could barely finish his performance, and he joked during the CMT show that he "had to redeem" himself by performing "Three Wooden Crosses" again.

Brown has come a long way since those early days, and he's not quite as shy about performing in front of Travis, either. Singing in front of a packed arena of fans, Brown delivered a simple and faithful rendition of the country standard, accompanied by acoustic guitar and a gentle beat, as well as the crowd singing along.

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