The Peculiarities of Country

The Academy of Country Music has announced the winners of the awards which are no longer televised. Reba received the Career Achievement Award, which goes to an artist who promotes country music in multiple areas of the entertainment world. Taylor Swift was recognized with the Jim Reeves International Award for her contributions to the acceptance of country music around the world. The movie Country Stong received the Tex Ritter Award, given in appropriate years to a film that features country music. Garth Brooks and Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers received The Cliffe Stone Pioneer Award. Tom T. Hall and Hank Cochran were honored with the Poet’s Award. Joe’s Bar in Chicago was named Nightclub of the Year, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville was named Venue of the Year, and several musicians honored for their respective instruments. Granted, the show would take all night if they put every award on TV. But don’t you miss the presentations to honor the forefathers of the format when they used to do the Pioneer Award on TV?

Good news if you missed Kenny Chesney’s movie in the theatres last summer. The DVD of Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D is now available in stores.

And just when you thought Alan Jackson was so big that he can justify a tour to Australia, he’s reverting back to the smallest of venues – a middle school – at least for a special occasion. On April 14th, Alan will take the stage for a sold-out show at the Rogersville Middle School in Rogersville, Tennessee. Proceeds from the concert will benefit the area’s Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. Tickets for the event sold out immediately after going on sale as fans jumped at the opportunity to see Alan in the rare, intimate setting. No doubt the wheels of imagination are turning for other Relay For Life teams eager to raise cash for the cause. Makes you wonder who else would be available to book?

And finally, it appears that Willie Nelson might be getting a break in his pot possession case. Even though the U-S Border Patrol in Texas found weed on the singer’s tour bus, according to TMZ.com, the prosecutor is allegedly willing to let Willie off with a one-hundred dollar fine if he sings “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” inside the courtroom. The prosecutor will count the performance as community service. A judge has to approve it and Willie has to agree to do it, but if he’s convicted, Nelson could face 180 days in jail and a two-thousand dollar fine. “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” can be found on Willie’s 1975 album, Red Headed Stranger. It is his first number one hit and was the third-biggest song of 1975 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.