Who's Attending "Country Music's Party of the Year"?

On Tuesday March 4, 2008 Country Music superstars Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood are announcing the nominees for the 43^rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards from the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, TN.  The actual awards broadcast is May 18, 2008 live from MGM in Las Vegas, on CBS.  Reba McEntire will host, for the 10^th time, this year.

The awards are billed (and trademarked) as "Country Music's Party of the Year".  It sure makes sense to hold it in Vegas if that's the case.

The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was formed in early 1964 to promote Country Music to the 13 western states (according to information on its website).  Its original name was the Country and Western Music Academy.  The awards show was moved from Los Angeles to Las Vegas a few years ago.  There are many events such as a charity motorcycle ride led by Country Music artists (Montgomery Gentry this year), and the All-Star Jam concert.

Is it good or bad that there are two major organizations that hold Country Music awards? 

On the one side, you have the Country Music Association (CMA), and I should note that CountryHound is a CMA member.  The CMA is headquartered in Nashville, with a substantially larger staff and more comprehensive agenda for promoting Country Music.  Their awards show began a couple years after ACM's actually.  I attended their awards show for the first time this year, and it was very entertaining, well-attended by the stars, and overall an excellent event.

But I think it's great that its not the only major and nationally televised awards show for Country Music.  As far as I am concerned more is better.  Having another awards show in the western part of the United States may help the genre overall by exposing it to listeners who might be more inclined to watch the Country Music Awards show simply because its held in the west by an organization headquartered in the west.

It is very tempting to feel that the Country Music world evolves around Nashville.  While Nashville is key because so much Country Music is produced here, it is not the end-all.

CountryHound, while being headquartered in Nashville (Music City, USA), exists not only to give Country Music fans the latest news out of Nashville, but to also let them know what's going on with country music around the world.  This is a challenge sometimes since, when you are in Nashville, there's this sense that all things important to Country Music emerge from this town.  Well they don't. 

There are many large Country Music events all around the US, and the world to some extent, which just don't get the play in the national media because they aren't out of Nashville.  Most people are aware also of places like Austin, TX and Bakersfield, CA as music centers, but there's more going on than just in those places too.  Who's at fault for this?  I don't have a clue honestly, but I am interested in changing it.

So we're looking for help at CountryHound from Country Music fans, the people we're here to serve.  Let us know by sending information about Country Music events in your area to news@countryhound.com.  And if you are an event organizer, send us photos and information about your event so we can publicize it to the world. 

We want to hear about events from coast to coast, and beyond.  We're not a big corporate site.  We are a group of people who believe Country Music fans want a good website to find out whatever they need to know about Country Music.  Fans themselves can help us do that by participating and sending us Country Music news and information.  So if you feel a Country Music event in your area is being overlooked, let us know!