Miranda Lambert, 28, and Blake Shelton, 36, the crooning couple who have taken the country music world by storm, wound up on top as the big winners of the 46th Country Music Association Awards, which was hosted by nominees Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley and held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday night.

Lambert won Female Vocalist of the Year, beating out competitors Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride and Kelly Clarkson. "I don't necessarily deserve this," Lambert said when she accepted the award. "But I'll take it."

It was during her second win for Song of the Year for "Over You," an honor that she shared with Shelton, that Lambert started to tear up, however, after her hubby Shelton started talking about the death of his brother when he was a teenager and the recent death of his father. "My dad always told me, 'Son, you should write a song about your brother.' … I just needed the right person to write this song with and the right person to sing it," he said, turning toward Lambert and kissing her on the forehead as she tried to compose herself. "I love you so much, baby."

"Thank you, Blake, for allowing me to sing this beautiful song and write it with you," Lambert said after Shelton completed his emotional speech. "Thank you CMA and all of our peers for voting for us," she said. "It's really emotional. We love y'all — thank you."

In other emotional CMA highlights, Willie Nelson took home the Lifetime Achievement Award, Eric Church's Chief was voted Album of the Year, Louisiana-born newcomer Hunter Hayes, 21, nabbed New Artist of the Year.

Stars like Hayes speak directly to country music's current shift toward a younger demographic, says Church, who went into the CMA Awards ceremony with five nominations, the most of the night… "I think it's great for the format because, going forward, you have this youth and vitality in the format, in the fan base," said Church. "It's a chance to grow a format that I don't think we've ever had in country. I don't know if it's ever been like it is now, especially with young people, in country music."

Watch Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton's acceptance speech here:

Watch the video for "Over You" here:

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