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Rising stars salute ACM winners

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 – At most country music award shows, you know what to expect: a heavily-televised room with celebrities and their entourages filling the first several rows, and fans cheering from the back of the room. The year's top singers performing either a recent hit single or debuting a new song. One or two hosts with multiple wardrobe changes (unless the host is Vince Gill or Brad Paisley). Everyone anxiously holding his or her breath to see who will win each prestigious trophy.

The 2nd Annual ACM Honors, held Tuesday at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center, was a little different. This award show recognized industry professionals (venue owners, musicians, concert promoters, etc) who won awards during the ACM Awards that were held in May, but who were not on television.

Host Lee Ann Womack (sans wardrobe changes) recognized each of the honorees and introduced several young country stars like Joe Nichols, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, and Miranda Lambert. These stars sang not their own hits, but covers of the classic tunes written and performed by the night's honorees.

Rodney Atkins presented Joe's Bar with the Nightclub of the Year honor, while Casino of the Year went to Stone Casino in Verona, N.Y. The Don Romeo Buyer of the Year trophy went to Romeo's daughter, Fran Romeo. Nashville's Ryman Auditorium won Venue of the Year.

Some of Nashville's best musicians, including Aubrey Haynie, Eric Darken, Jellyroll Johnson, Greg Morrow, and Dan Dugmore were honored for their talents. Longtime ACM staffer David Young was also recognized for his service to the organization; he recently retired after 20 years with the ACM.

Record producer Tony Brown was awarded Producer of the Year. "When things get sideways," he said, "always turn to music. It will never let you down."

Hank Williams Jr. was one of several to win a Pioneer Award. Titans coach Jeff Fisher and Kid Rock taped video tributes, while Williams' daughters accepted the award on his behalf. Bluegrass band The Grascals did a medley of Williams' hits, while Jamey Johnson sang A Country Boy Can Survive.

Womack was especially appreciative of Lambert's renditions of Haggard's Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star and her knockout take on Hank Williams Jr. song, Anymore Love Songs. "[Lambert] listens to a lot of great country music--especially mine," said Womack.

Merle Haggard and the late Harlan Howard were awarded Poet of the Year awards. Patty Loveless sang a powerful rendition of Howard's Blame It On Your Heart. A version of Howard's Busted is on her forthcoming bluegrass album.

Gill performed an emotional version of Haggard's Holding Things Together. "I wrote the song, and I heard things in his version that I'd never heard in my songs." Haggard said of Gill's version. Haggard received a standing ovation.

"There's a lump in my throat this evening. I'm honored to go in with Harlan." Haggard said before adding, "We once fished for 24 hours together, but never wrote a song together."

The Jim Reeves Award went to Dolly Parton. She was not in attendance, but taped a video acceptance speech for the evening. About her classic songs, she said, "I did not think about how my songs would [come across]. You just have something to get off your chest. In my case that is a lot!"

The late Jerry Reed was also honored; Steve Wariner sang the famous Reed song Eastbound and Down. Jerry Roe, Reid's grandson and an ace musician in his own right, accepted the award. "I'm honored to accept this award, but more honored to have his blood in my veins." Roe said.

Pickler and Johnson were on hand to pay tribute to another Pioneer award winner, Kenny Rogers. Johnson and Pickler performed Every Time Two Fools Collide. Blake Shelton performed The Gambler before sharing that Rogers had recorded Ol' Red before Shelton had gotten to it (the song was a hit for Shelton). "I'll trade you Ol' Red for The Gambler any day," Shelton said.

Long-time buddy and duet partner Parton taped a bubbly video congratulations to Rogers. Of their longtime friendship, Parton said, "You and I go back to when fire was just an idea."

The evening ended with a musical honoring for Randy Travis. James Otto sang Deeper Than The Holler. "What an honor to be here tonight to honor one of my heroes - the great Randy Travis." Carrie Underwood ended the evening with a powerhouse solo version of I Told You So before Travis' acceptance speech.
- Jessica Phillips

More news for Merle Haggard

CD reviews for Merle Haggard

Legendary Performances DVD

The Strangers are a talented and extremely flexible band, as Haggard's mood can vary from showing off his rich singing voice on ballads to playing the jazzy guitar hero via Western swing material. Thus, it takes a multi-faceted combo, like The Strangers, to keep up with Haggard's many moods. This disc collects 15 Haggard TV clips, and the man is definitely not lip synching his way through these performances. For instance, viewers can clearly hear The Hag clear his throat right before »»»

The Bluegrass Sessions

A current trend sees country stars dabbling in bluegrass, sometimes to mixed results. Not so with The Hag. The bluegrass is country influenced, but as one would anticipate from Merle Haggard, it is still genuine. This is not flashy, show-off music. Instead it is a more relaxed pace blending the diverse styles of bluegrass, country and Jimmy Rodgers blues. In just a line there ain't no doubt - the gravelly voice seasoned by a lot of hard living hasn't lost one bit of emotion or the »»»

Working Man's Journey

Merle Haggard must be in competition with compadre Willie Nelson about who can release the most CDs. Not clear who's ahead, but both demonstrate they are unwilling to fade away quietly. This CD includes six new songs and six new recordings of Hag songs like "Workin' Man Blues" and "Kern River." (although it's not at all clear when they were recorded). Haggard shows no signs of slowing down as his vocals are on target. His take on "Workin' Man »»»

Editorial: A fine night for Taylor Swift – Taylor Swift's showing at the Country Music Association awards Wednesday night was no surprise. In some respects, it was invigorating to see someone who was not male and not around umpteen years like some of her male counterparts take home the biggest prize of the night, entertainer of the year. »»»

Concert Review: Radney Foster sparks a revival – Radney Foster told fans that he came home from the University of the South one weekend early in his college career and told his parents in the wee hours of the morning that he wanted to quit college and head to Nashville to pursue a music career. His parents agreed...fortunately. Three decades later, that resulted in Foster playing songs on this... »»»

Concert Review: Neko Case overcomes obstacles – The opening of Neko Case's show was unusual to say the least. "I'm angry right now," said the red head. "We just had a big fight with the promoter. We're going to sing weird, but we're actually very happy to be here." Making quite clear that she was not a happy camper, Case still channeled her musical energies... »»»

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