Australian country music star Keith Urban grabbed an award at the CMT Music Awards, which was led by young stars like Carrie Underwood and Lady Antebellum.

Urban's "Till Summer Comes Around" got the award for male video of the year, beating Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Billy Currington and Jason Aldean.

The singer was accompanied by wife Nicole Kidman, who wore a sleeveless gold, patterned sheath although she didn't walk the red carpet.

In his acceptance speech, Urban sent a shout-out to Kidman before becoming serious and talking about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"I want to send my deepest love to all the families around the gulf, who are going for an insane time right now," he said.

A few minutes after, he and John Mayer performed a guitar duel on the song "Hit The Ground Runnin".

"John Mayer and Keith Urban making love on guitars," said Kid Rock, who is the host of the show.

The winners of the Wednesday night's award were decided by fan texts and online voting during the show.

Underwood was well-loved by her fans. The former American Idol winner won the night's top honour video of the year for "Cowboy Casanova" and CMT performance of the year for "Temporary Home". She was the only artist who received multiple awards.

"They were there before I had anything, an album, a record deal, a tour or anything like that," Underwood said about her fans.

"They built me from the ground up."

Meanwhile, Lady Antebellum's crossover hit "Need You Now" got the award for group video of the year.

"Tonight's all about the fans," Dave Haywood from the trio said when they received the belt buckle trophy.

"Thank you fans!"

Other winners were Miranda Lambert's "White Liar" for female video of the year, Brooks & Dunn's "Indian Summer" for duo video of the year, Luke Bryan's "I Do" for breakthrough video of the year, Shelton and Trace Adkins' "Hillbilly Bone" for collaborative video of the year and Shaun Silva won director of the year for Kenny Chesney's "Out Last Night" and Rascal Flatts' "Summer Nights".