Timberlake performed "Drink You Away" for the first time at the 2013 American Music Awards held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles; "Rolling Stone"'s Grow ranked the performance at number five out of 16 performances that night. The song was part of the setlist of &lt;a href="The%2020/20%20Experience%20World%20Tour"&gt;The 20/20 Experience World Tour&lt;/a&gt; (2013–15). Timberlake and Chris Stapleton performed the song together along with the latter's "Tennessee Whiskey" at the Country Music Association Awards on November 4, 2015. "Rolling Stone" magazine praised it as "the best performance of the entire show", while "The New York Times" editor Katie Rogers highlighted Timberlake's crossover appeal. "Entertainment Weekly" declared it as one of the best performances of 2015 and wrote, "In an unapologetic display of talent, Nashville met Motown during country music’s biggest night for a hands-in-the-air, take-us-to-church mash-up that was everything you hope for from an all-star duet."