Chris Janson Calls His First Awards Show Performance ‘Super Surreal’

Chris Janson made his awards show performance debut when he sang his current single, "Buy Me a Boat," at the 2015 CMT Music Awards in early June, and the singer-songwriter says that the moment was everything he hoped it would be.

"It was super emotional, super surreal," Janson tells Taste of Country. "Awards shows are like snap, snap, snap, here we go: show up, we're on stage, we're off stage.

"I get up, and I do "Buy Me a Boat," and it was unbelievable. The artists [were] all right in front of me," he continues. "I got done playing, and Keith Urban stood up and gave me a standing ovation and started the whole thing. And then Charles Kelley from Lady A and Dierks Bentley, and the whole artist pit stood up. So it was really good gratification and made me feel like, 'Okay, you've done it now.' It was a big blessing."

Janson has been seeing his fellow country artists, including his current tour boss Toby Keith, show their support in different ways, and he calls the experience "humbling."

"My dreams are coming true," Janson gushes to Billboard. "... [While playing at the CMT Music Awards], unbeknownst to me, Tim McGraw sent out a message saying he was a huge Janson fan -- are you kidding right now? People are coming out of the business and giving [me] so much love, from Toby to Tim to Brad Paisley to Dan + Shay. It's the most humbling thing that an artist can ever experience."

"Buy Me a Boat" is on Janson's upcoming album, which will be released on Warner Bros. Records later this year.

Janson is current out on the road as an opening act on Keith's 2015 Good Times & Pick Up Lines Tour. See a list of all of his upcoming shows on his website, and download "Buy Me a Boat" on iTunes.

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