It may have been Wednesday night in Nashville, but Brooks & Dunn and Jelly Roll brought a heavy dose of Sunday morning worship to the 2024 CMA Awards during their rendition of “Believe.”

The performance started with Kix Brooks on piano and Jelly standing next to him to sing the opening verse. Then Ronnie Dunn walked onto the stage singing and stood next to Jelly.

The stars were supported by a vocal chorus, horns and strings, adding even more power to this already emotional ballad.

Jelly wore a black shirt with white decorations around his collar. The singer’s outfit choices for awards shows and big performances are usually significant, although it wasn’t immediately clear what these specific designs mean. What was of course, however, was the large silver cross that Jelly wore around his neck, as a nod to the song’s message of enduring religious faith.

As the song came to an end, Jelly raised his hand to the audience: “I love you, Lord,” he said into the microphone.

The stars in the audience reacted strongly to the performance. One clip showed Carly Pearce clasping her hands and singing along. Little Big Town’s Philip Sweet wiped away tears, while his bandmate Jimi Westbrook didn’t bother to hide it: he wept openly right there in the audience.

Read more: Jelly Roll Joins Brooks & Dunn for “Believe”

The Jelly-led new version of “Believe” is one of the standout tracks on Brooks & Dunn’s new Restart II album, which sees the iconic country duo team up with contemporary stars for the second time to reimagine some of their biggest hits of all time.

Brooks & Dunn actually gave “Believe.” Reboot tribute before. In the first version of the project, Kane Brown gave his take on the spiritual vocal ballad, a story song about a man finding faith in the face of immeasurable pain.

But this time, band members Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn knew right away that they wanted Jelly Roll to get their hands on this particular song.

“We really weren’t involved with the artists and the songs they wanted to make. But when our manager came to us, he said, ‘I really want Jelly Roll to do ‘Believe,'” Brooks explained. Taste of country evenings in an interview around the album’s release day.

The 2024 CMA Awards aired live on ABC from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Luke Bryan, Lainey Wilson and Peyton Manning co-hosted the show.

*Note: The best way to watch the CMA Awards is on ABC with ToC on your phone.