Reba McEntire’s eyes glistened with emotion as LeAnn Rimes delivered a stirring rendition of “The Greatest Man I Never Knew,” and once you hear it, you’ll see why.

Over the years, Reba has built a legacy of delivering deeply emotional ballads, but none tug at the heartstrings quite like “The Greatest Man I Never Knew.” Written by Richard Leigh and Layng Martine, Jr. and released in 1991, the song resonates deeply with anyone who has ever felt the pain of unspoken love.

Inspired in part by Leigh’s relationship with his father, the song is a poignant reflection from the perspective of a grown child remembering a father who cared deeply but never showed it due to being consumed by work. The emotional climax of the song reveals that the father passed away the previous year, leaving the daughter to grapple with the haunting realization that he never expressed his love—culminating in the heartrending line, “Guess he thought I knew.”

While the song became one of Reba’s most beloved hits, it reached new heights of emotion when LeAnn Rimes paid tribute to her at the Country Music Awards. The crowd was immediately moved by the depth of LeAnn’s heartfelt performance, and Reba’s emotional reaction was impossible to miss.

LeAnn’s raw, powerful voice, combined with her heartfelt delivery, made the performance unforgettable. In the footage, LeAnn can be seen fighting back tears, struggling to hold it together as she connected deeply with the song’s poignant narrative.

But what made this moment even more emotionally charged for Reba—and the audience—was the fact that she had brought her parents to the ceremony, and was sitting next to her father. While many assumed the song mirrored Reba’s real-life relationship with her own dad, this wasn’t the case. Her relationship with him was filled with love. It was her ability to channel the song’s silent sorrow that turned it into one of her greatest triumphs.