Country Music legend Barbara Mandrell was recognized by fans and peers on Wednesday night at the 43rd Annual CMA Awards for her four decades of artistic contributions to Country Music. The tribute was a surprise to Mandrell as fellow artists Martina McBride, George Strait and Charlie McCoy performed her signature song, "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool."
"I may have been Country when Country wasn't cool, but it was always cool to me," Mandrell said as she was welcomed to the stage. "I am thankful for the faith my Daddy and so many [people] had in me that helped me to be standing here where I am today."
Mandrell has earned more than 75 major awards, including two consecutive CMA Entertainer of the Year awards in 1980 and again in 1981, making her the first artist ever to win two years in a row.
This has been a hall-of-fame-inducting year for Mandrell, who became a Country Music Hall of Fame member and a Steel Guitar Hall of Fame member, for which she was the first women to be inducted.
