Brett Young Salutes Tim McGraw With ‘Don’t Take the Girl’ at 2023 ACM Honors

Brett Young was among the special performers during the 2023 ACM Honors broadcast on Monday night (Sept. 18) on Fox. The country singer took the stage at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to pay tribute to Tim McGraw by singing his first No. 1 hit from 1994, "Don't Take the Girl."

Young stuck very close to the original arrangement, imbuing each note with emotion as he delivered the emotional story song.

McGraw received the ACM Icon Award during the awards show, which took place live at the Ryman on Aug. 23 and aired on Monday evening. The Academy of Country Music awards the Icon Award to "a country music artist, duo/group or industry leader who, throughout their career, has advanced the popularity of the genre through their contributions in multiple facets of the industry, such as songwriting, recording, production, touring, film, television, literary works, philanthropic contributions and other goodwill efforts," according to a press release.

McGraw gave an emotional speech in accepting the award, and his wife, Faith Hill, and two of their daughters were present at the awards ceremony for his big moment.

McGraw was just one of the top-name honorees at the 2023 ACM Honors. Chris Stapleton received the ACM Triple Crown Award at the event, while Kane Brown was awarded the ACM International Award. Mary Chapin Carpenter and Clint Black received the Poet's Award, which K.T. Oslin also earned posthumously. Charlie Daniels received a posthumous ACM Spirit Award at the 2023 ACM Honors ceremony.

Lee Brice, Trisha Yearwood, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lady A, Brandy Clark and the War and Treaty were among the other artists who paid musical tribute to the evening's biggest honorees.

Carly Pearce hosted the 2023 ACM Honors, which will be available to stream via Hulu beginning Tuesday (Sept. 19).