Academy of Country Music
Encyclopedia
The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...

, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, the Academy sought to promote country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 in the western states. Among those involved in the founding was West Coast singer, songwriter, and actor Eddie Dean
Eddie Dean (singer)
Eddie Dean was an American western singer and actor whom Roy Rogers and Gene Autry termed the best cowboy singer of all time. Dean was best known for "I Dreamed Of A Hill-Billy Heaven" , which became an even greater hit in 1961 for Tex Ritter....

. As such, its early membership was largely composed of those country performers based in the west. This is evidenced by the early awards shows being dominated by Bakersfield
Bakersfield sound
The Bakersfield sound was a genre of country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. The many hit singles were largely produced by Capitol Records country music head, Ken Nelson. Bakersfield country was a reaction against the slickly produced, string...

 artists Buck
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...

 and Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens , born Bonnie Campbell, was an American country music singer who was married to Buck Owens and later Merle Haggard.-Biography:...

, and Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

. At the first ceremony held in 1965, Buck Owens won for Top Male Vocalist and Bonnie Owens won for Top Female Vocalist. Haggard was named Top New Male Vocalist, Kay Adams was named Top New Female Vocalist and Buck Owens's band, The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos were a Grammy-winning band led by Buck Owens in the 1960s and early '70s, who were heavily involved in the development and presentation of the "Bakersfield Sound." Their peak of success was from 1965-1970. In 2005, CMT named the Buckaroos No...

, were named Band Of The Year.

Awards

The most prestigious awards are for Artist of the Decade and Entertainer of the Year. There are a number of other awards to recognize male and female vocalists, albums, videos, songs and musicians. The awards are typically presented in April or May and recognize achievement for the previous year. An award presented in 1999 is for achievement in 1998, i.e., the "1998" award.

Artists of the Decade

2000s George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 (presented 2009)
1990s Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 (presented 1999)
1980s Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

 (presented 1989)
1970s Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

 (presented 1979)
1960s Marty Robbins
Marty Robbins
Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...

 (presented 1969)

Major awards

Year Entertainer of the Year Top Male Vocalist Top Female Vocalist Song of the Year
2010  Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...

 
Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

 
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is an American country music artist who gained fame as a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place and later signed to Epic Records. Lambert made her debut with the release of "Me and Charlie Talking", the first single from her 2005 debut...

 
Tom Douglas
Tom Douglas (songwriter)
Thomas Stevenson "Tom" Douglas is an American country music songwriter. Active since the early 1990s, he has written Top Ten hits for John Michael Montgomery, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Collin Raye and others....

, Allen Shamblin
Allen Shamblin
Allen Shamblin is a country music songwriter who was born in Tennessee, and was brought up in Texas.After graduating from Sam Houston State University he worked in Austin as a real estate appraiser. In 1987, he quit his job and moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a song writer. He supported...

 – "The House That Built Me
The House That Built Me
"The House That Built Me" is a song written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin, and recorded by American country artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in March 2010 as the third single from her third studio album, Revolution. It is the fastest-rising single of her career, reaching the Top 20 in...

"
2009  Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

 
Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

 
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is an American country music artist who gained fame as a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place and later signed to Epic Records. Lambert made her debut with the release of "Me and Charlie Talking", the first single from her 2005 debut...

 
Dave Haywood
Dave Haywood
David Wesley Haywood is an American country music singer. He is one-third of the band Lady Antebellum, in which he plays piano, guitar and mandolin, and sings backing vocals....

, Josh Kear
Josh Kear
Joshua Peter "Josh" Kear is an American songwriter. His credits include Carrie Underwood's number-one "Before He Cheats," for which Kear won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 2007 and Lady Antebellum's number-one "Need You Now," for which Kear won an Academy of Country Music Award for Best...

, Charles Kelley
Charles Kelley
Charles Burgess Kelley is an American country music singer-songwriter and founding member of Lady Antebellum, a country rock trio formed in 2006 and signed to Capitol Nashville.-Early life and career:...

, Hillary Scott
Hillary Scott (singer)
Hillary Dawn Scott is an American country music singer-songwriter. She is currently a member of Lady Antebellum, a country band that was formed in 2006 and signed to Capitol Nashville.-Early life:...

 – "Need You Now"
2008  Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

 
Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

 
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

 
Jamey Johnson
Jamey Johnson
Jamey Johnson is an American Grammy Award nominated country music artist. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single "The Dollar," the title track to his 2006 album The Dollar...

, Lee Thomas Miller
Lee Thomas Miller
Lee Thomas Miller is an American country music songwriter and occasional record producer. His credits include the Number One country hits "The World" and "I'm Still a Guy" for Brad Paisley and "You're Gonna Miss This" for Trace Adkins, as well as Top Ten hits for Terri Clark, Joe Nichols, and...

, James Otto
James Otto
James Allen Otto is an American country music artist who is a member of the MuzikMafia, a group of country musicians known for their "country music without prejudice"...

 – "In Color
In Color (song)
"In Color" is the title of a single co-written and recorded by American country music artist Jamey Johnson. It is the first single from his second album, That Lonesome Song, which was initially released to digital retailers in 2007, and was released on August 5, 2008 on Mercury Nashville Records....

"
2007  Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

 
Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

 
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

 
Jennifer Nettles
Jennifer Nettles
Jennifer Nettles is an American country music artist. She is known primarily for her role as lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush. Before Sugarland's inception, she also fronted Atlanta, Georgia-based bands called Soul Miner's Daughter and Jennifer Nettles Band...

 – "Stay
Stay (Sugarland song)
In 2009, Irish pop singer and Boyzone member Ronan Keating released a cover version of the song. The song was the first single from Keating's 2009 album, Winter Songs.-Chart performance:...

"
2006  Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

 
Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

 
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

 
Bill Anderson, Buddy Cannon
Buddy Cannon
Buddy Cannon is an American country music songwriter and record producer. Active since the late 1970s, he is known primarily for his work as Kenny Chesney's record producer, for which he won the Academy of Country Music's Producer of the Year award in 2006.Along with Bill Anderson and Jamey...

, Jamey Johnson
Jamey Johnson
Jamey Johnson is an American Grammy Award nominated country music artist. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single "The Dollar," the title track to his 2006 album The Dollar...

 – "Give It Away
Give It Away (George Strait song)
"Give It Away" is a the title of a song performed by American country music artist George Strait, co-written by Jamey Johnson and Bill Anderson. It was released in July 2006 as the lead single from the album, It Just Comes Natural....

"
2005  Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

 
Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...

 
Sara Evans
Sara Evans
Sara Lynn Evans is an American country singer and songwriter.Evans was one of the few traditional-styled singers to emerge from Nashville in the late 1990s, according to Allmusic. Since emerging in the late 1990s, Evans has made five No. 1 Country hits and Gold and Platinum-certified albums by...

 
Craig Wiseman
Craig Wiseman
Craig Michael Wiseman is an American country music songwriter. Active since the late 1980s as a songwriter, he has had his songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, and several other acts....

, Ronnie Dunn
Ronnie Dunn
Ronnie Gene Dunn is an American country music singer-songwriter, known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn. In 2011, Dunn began working as a solo artist following the breakup of Brooks & Dunn...

 – "Believe
Believe (Brooks & Dunn song)
"Believe" is a single by American country music duo Brooks & Dunn. It was the second single from their album Hillbilly Deluxe, and it won the Country Music Association's 2006 awards for Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year.-Content:...

"
2004  Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

 
Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...

 
Gretchen Wilson
Gretchen Wilson
Gretchen Frances Wilson is an American country music artist. She made her debut in 2004 with the Grammy Award-winning single "Redneck Woman," a number-one hit on the Billboard country charts. The song served as the lead-off single of her debut album, Here for the Party...

 
Craig Wiseman
Craig Wiseman
Craig Michael Wiseman is an American country music songwriter. Active since the late 1980s as a songwriter, he has had his songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, and several other acts....

, Tim Nichols
Tim Nichols
Tim Nichols Tim Nichols Tim Nichols (born in Portsmouth, Virginia is an American country music singer and songwriter. Active since the late 1980s, Nichols has written for several country music singers, including Keith Whitley, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Jo Dee Messina, and Alan Jackson...

 – "Live Like You Were Dying
Live Like You Were Dying (song)
"Live Like You Were Dying" is a song written by Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman and performed by American country music artist Tim McGraw. The song appears on his Live Like You Were Dying album. It reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard country music charts, and held that position for a total of seven...

"
2003  Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

 
Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

 
Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....

 
Doug Johnson, Kim Williams – "Three Wooden Crosses
Three Wooden Crosses
"Three Wooden Crosses" the title of a song written by Kim Williams and Doug Johnson, and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Randy Travis. The first single released in November 2002 from his 2002 album, Rise and Shine, it became Travis' sixteenth Number One single, and his first...

"
2002  Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

 
Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

 
Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....

 
Phillip Brian White, David Vincent Williams – "I'm Movin' On
I'm Movin' On (Rascal Flatts song)
"I'm Movin' On" is the title of a song written by Phillip White and D. Vincent Williams, and recorded by the country music group Rascal Flatts on their self-titled debut album...

"
2001  Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

 
Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

 
Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....

 
Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

 – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
"Where Were You " is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Alan Jackson. Written in the wake of the September 11 attacks, it was introduced at the Country Music Association's annual awards show on November 7, 2001...

"
2000  Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...

 
Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

 
Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...

 
Mark D. Sanders
Mark D. Sanders
Mark Daniel Sanders is an American Country Music songwriter. He has written 14 No. 1 hits, 50 singles, and over 200 cuts, including the famous Lee Ann Womack single “I Hope You Dance,” co-written with Tia Sillers.-Early life:...

, Tia Sillers – "I Hope You Dance
I Hope You Dance (song)
"I Hope You Dance" is a crossover country pop song written by Mark D. Sandersand Tia Sillers, and recorded by country singer Lee Ann Womack along with Sons of the Desert...

"
1999  Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...

 
Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

 
Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...

 
Marv Green, Aimee Mayo
Aimee Mayo
Aimee Mayo is an American songwriter, primarily known for writing country hits for artists such as Lonestar, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Kellie Pickler. Mayo owns her own publishing company, Little Blue Typewriter Music.-Biography:Aimee Mayo grew up in Gadsden, Alabama...

 – "Amazed
Amazed
"Amazed" is the title of a song written by Marv Green, Aimee Mayo and Chris Lindsey. The first version of the song was recorded by the American country music group Lonestar, whose version was released in March 1999 as the second single from their 1999 album Lonely Grill...

"
1998  Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 
Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

 
Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...

 
Steve Wariner
Steve Wariner
Steven Noel "Steve" Wariner is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released eighteen studio albums, including six on MCA Records, and three each on RCA Records, Arista Records and Capitol Records...

, Billy Kirsch – "Holes in the Floor of Heaven
Holes in the Floor of Heaven
"Holes in the Floor of Heaven" is a song co-written and recorded by country music artist Steve Wariner. It is the lead-off single from his 1998 album Burnin' the Roadhouse Down, as well as his first single in four years...

"
1997  Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 
George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 
Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...

 
Stephony Smith – "It's Your Love
It's Your Love
"It's Your Love" is a song by Tim McGraw, released as the first single from his album Everywhere. The song, featuring wife Faith Hill, reached number one on Billboards Hot Country Songs chart in its fifth week on the chart. The song stayed there for six weeks, and became McGraw's and Hill's first...

"
1996  Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

 
George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 
Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless , is an American country music singer.Since her emergence on the country music scene in late 1986 with her first album, Loveless has been one of the most popular female singers of the Neotraditional country movement, although she has also recorded albums in the Country pop and...

 
Bill Mack
Bill Mack
Bill Mack is one of the most recognizable voices in country music radio. For many years, Mack was best known as the host of The Country Roads Show, the overnight country music show on WBAP, a clear channel station in Fort Worth...

 – "Blue
Blue (LeAnn Rimes song)
"Blue" is the title of the debut single released by American country music singer, LeAnn Rimes, released in 1996 from her debut album of the same name . The song propelled Rimes to fame at thirteen years old....

"
1995  Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

 
Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

 
Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless , is an American country music singer.Since her emergence on the country music scene in late 1986 with her first album, Loveless has been one of the most popular female singers of the Neotraditional country movement, although she has also recorded albums in the Country pop and...

 
Dickey Lee
Dickey Lee
Royden Dickey Lipscomb , known professionally as Dickey Lee , is an American pop/country singer and songwriter, best known for the 1960s teenage tragedy songs "Patches" and "Laurie ."-Career:Lee made his first recordings in his hometown of Memphis for Tampa...

, Karen Staley, Danny Mayo
Danny Mayo
Danny "Bear" Mayo was an American songwriter, primarily known for writing country hits for artists such as Alabama, Tracy Byrd, Pirates of the Mississippi and Confederate Railroad...

 – "The Keeper of the Stars
The Keeper of the Stars
"The Keeper of the Stars" is the title of a song recorded by American country music artist Tracy Byrd. Released in early 1995 as the last single from his 1994 album No Ordinary Man, it went on to reach a peak of #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts...

"
1994  Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 
Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

 
Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 
Gary Baker
Gary Baker (songwriter)
Gary Baker is an American country music singer and songwriter.-Career:In the late 1970s, Baker was a musician with the LeBlanc and Carr Band. Baker was also a singer musician with the country pop band, The Shooters. He has written songs for John Michael Montgomery, Alabama and others...

, Frank J. Myers
Frank J. Myers
Frank Joseph Myers is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer. In his career, he has written songs for John Michael Montgomery, Eddie Rabbitt, Crystal Gayle, Lonestar and others...

 – "I Swear
I Swear
"I Swear" is a ballad written by Gary Baker and Frank J. Myers that became a hit for two acts in 1994. Initially it was a number one song on the U.S. Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for American country music artist John Michael Montgomery at the beginning of the year. His version crossed over...

"
1993  Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 
Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

 
Wynonna Judd
Wynonna Judd
Wynonna Ellen Judd is an American country music singer. Her solo albums and singles are all credited to the singular name Wynonna. Wynonna first rose to fame in the 1980s alongside her mother, Naomi, in the country music duo The Judds...

 
Victoria Shaw
Victoria Shaw (singer)
Victoria Lynn Shaw is an American country music artist. She has recorded four studio albums, and has charted five singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts...

, Chuck Cannon – "I Love the Way You Love Me
I Love the Way You Love Me
"I Love the Way You Love Me" is a single by American country music singer John Michael Montgomery that reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. Released as the second single released from his debut CD, Life's a Dance, it became Montgomery's first Number One single...

"
1992  Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 
Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

 
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...

 
Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

, John Barlow Jarvis – "I Still Believe in You"
1991  Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 
Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 
Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 
Billy Dean
Billy Dean
William Harold "Billy" Dean, Jr. is an American country music singer and songwriter. Billy Dean first gained national attention after appearing on the television talent competition Star Search...

, Richard Leigh
Richard Leigh (songwriter)
Richard Leigh is an American country music songwriter and singer. He is best known for penning "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" . In 1978 he received a Grammy Award for "Best Country Song" for the popular song...

 – "Somewhere in My Broken Heart
Somewhere in My Broken Heart
"Somewhere in My Broken Heart" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Billy Dean. Released in 1991, it was the second single from the album Young Man. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart...

"
1990  Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 
Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 
Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 
Tony Arata
Tony Arata
Tony Arata is an American singer-songwriter. He was born and grew up in Savannah, Georgia, attended the Georgia Southern University, and moved to Nashville in 1986....

 – "The Dance"
1989  George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 
Clint Black
Clint Black
Clint Patrick Black is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country...

 
Kathy Mattea
Kathy Mattea
Kathleen Alice "Kathy" Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass performer who often brings folk, Celtic and traditional country sounds to her music. Active since 1983 as a recording artist, she has recorded seventeen albums and has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot...

 
Jon Vezner, Don Henry – "Where've You Been
Where've You Been
"Where've You Been" is a single by American country music artist Kathy Mattea. Released in 1989, it was the third single from the album Willow in the Wind. The song reached #10 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart....

"
1988  Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...

 
George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 
K. T. Oslin
K. T. Oslin
Kay Toinette "K. T." Oslin is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is known for a series of top-ten country hits during the late 1980s and early 1990s, four of which topped the chart.-Early life and career:...

 
Charles Gene Nelson, Paul Nelson – "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses
Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses
"Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" is a country song by Kathy Mattea from her 1987 album, Untasted Honey. The song was released as a single and hit number one on both the US and Canadian Country charts in 1988. The song is about a truck driver called Charlie who is retiring after 30 years to spend...

"
1987  Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...

 
Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...

 
Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 
Paul Overstreet
Paul Overstreet
Paul Lester Overstreet is an American country music singer and songwriter. He recorded 10 studio albums between 1982 and 2005, and charted 16 singles on the Billboard country charts, including two #1 hits...

, Don Schlitz
Don Schlitz
Donald Alan "Don" Schlitz, Jr. is a country music songwriter. For his songwriting efforts, Schlitz has earned two Grammys, as well as four ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year awards...

 – "Forever and Ever, Amen
Forever and Ever, Amen
"Forever and Ever, Amen" is a single released in 1987 by country music artist Randy Travis, written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. It was Travis's third No. 1 single on the U.S...

"
1986  Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...

 
Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...

 
Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 
Paul Overstreet
Paul Overstreet
Paul Lester Overstreet is an American country music singer and songwriter. He recorded 10 studio albums between 1982 and 2005, and charted 16 singles on the Billboard country charts, including two #1 hits...

, Don Schlitz
Don Schlitz
Donald Alan "Don" Schlitz, Jr. is a country music songwriter. For his songwriting efforts, Schlitz has earned two Grammys, as well as four ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year awards...

 – "On the Other Hand
On the Other Hand
"On the Other Hand" is a country music song written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. First recorded by Keith Whitley on his 1985 album L.A. to Miami, it was later released as a single by Randy Travis. It was the lead-off single to his 1986 album Storms of Life, and it peaked at #67 in the United...

"
1985  Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

 
George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 
Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 
Fred Parris, Mike Reid, Troy Seals
Troy Seals
Troy Seals is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.He is a member of the prominent Seals family of musicians that includes, Jim Seals and Dan Seals and Brady Seals...

 – "Lost in the Fifties Tonight
Lost in the Fifties Tonight
"Lost in The Fifties Tonight ", also known simply as "Lost in The Fiftes Tonight", is a song made famous by country music singer Ronnie Milsap.-Success and Reception:...

"
1984  Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

 
George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 
Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 
Harlan Howard
Harlan Howard
Harlan Perry Howard was a prolific American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote a large number of popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists...

, Brent Maher, Sonny Throckmorton
Sonny Throckmorton
James Fron "Sonny" Throckmorton is an American country music singer and songwriter. Known primarily for his songwriting, Throckmorton has had more than 1,000 of his songs recorded by various country singers...

 – "Why Not Me"
1983  Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

 
Lee Greenwood
Lee Greenwood
Melvin Lee Greenwood is an American country music artist. Active since the early 1980s, he has released more than twenty major-label albums and has charted more than 35 singles on the Billboard country music charts....

 
Janie Fricke
Janie Fricke
Janie Fricke is an American country music singer, best remembered for a series of country music hits in the early to mid 1980s....

 
Larry Henley
Larry Henley
Larry Henley is an American singer and songwriter, born June 30, 1941 in Arp, Texas. He is perhaps best known for co-writing the 1989 hit record, "Wind Beneath My Wings". The single was a U.S...

, Jeff Silbar – "Wind Beneath My Wings
Wind Beneath My Wings
"Wind Beneath My Wings" is the title of a song written in 1982 by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley. They recorded a demo of the song, which they gave to musician Bob Montgomery. Montgomery then recorded his own demo version of the song, changing it from the mid-tempo version he was given to a ballad...

"
1982  Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

 
Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Lee Milsap is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country’s most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s...

 
Sylvia
Sylvia (singer)
Sylvia Jane Kirby is an American country music and country pop singer and songwriter. More commonly known by the singular name Sylvia, she enjoyed crossover music success with the song "Nobody" in 1982....

 
Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 – "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)
Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)
"Are the Good Times Really Over " is a single by American country music artist Merle Haggard. Released in May 1982, it was the third single from his album Big City. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and #1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.-Chart performance:...

"
1981  Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

 
Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

 
Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant
Felice and Boudleaux Bryant
Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team best known for songs such as "Rocky Top," "Love Hurts" and numerous Everly Brothers hits, including "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Bye Bye Love".-Beginnings:Boudleaux was born Diadorius...

, Larry Collins, Sandy Pinkard
Pinkard & Bowden
Pinkard & Bowden is an American country music duo composed of singer-songwriters James "Sandy" Pinkard and Richard Bowden, who also play guitar and bass guitar. The duo's music comprises a mix of musical parody and original comedy songs. Pinkard has also written hit singles for Mel Tillis, Anne...

 – "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma
You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma
"You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" is a 1981 single from the film "Any Which Way You Can" and was performed by David Frizzell and Shelly West. "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" was written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Larry Collins and Sandy Pinkard would become Shelly West's debut on...

"
1980  Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

 
George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....

 
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

 
Bobby Braddock
Bobby Braddock
Robert Valentine Braddock is an American country music songwriter and record producer. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Braddock has contributed numerous hit songs during more than 40 years in the industry, including 13 number-one hit...

, Curly Putman
Curly Putman
Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr. is an American songwriter, based in Nashville. His biggest success was "Green, Green Grass of Home" , which was covered by Elvis Presley, Johnny Darrell, Gram Parsons, Joan Baez, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roberto Leal, Merle Haggard, Bobby Bare, Joe Tex, Nana...

 – "He Stopped Loving Her Today
He Stopped Loving Her Today
"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is the title of a song by American country music artist George Jones that has been named in several surveys as the greatest country song of all time. It was released in April 1980 as the lead single from the album I Am What I Am. The song was Jones's first No. 1 single...

"
1979  Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 
Larry Gatlin
Larry Gatlin
Larry Wayne Gatlin is an American country music singer/songwriter. He is perhaps best known for teaming up with his brothers Steve and Rudy in the late 1970s, becoming one of country music's most successful acts of the 1970s and 1980s. Gatlin has had a total of 33 Top 40 singles...

 
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...

 
Sonny Throckmorton
Sonny Throckmorton
James Fron "Sonny" Throckmorton is an American country music singer and songwriter. Known primarily for his songwriting, Throckmorton has had more than 1,000 of his songs recorded by various country singers...

, Curly Putman
Curly Putman
Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr. is an American songwriter, based in Nashville. His biggest success was "Green, Green Grass of Home" , which was covered by Elvis Presley, Johnny Darrell, Gram Parsons, Joan Baez, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roberto Leal, Merle Haggard, Bobby Bare, Joe Tex, Nana...

 – "It's a Cheating Situation
It's a Cheating Situation
"It's a Cheating Situation" is a single by American country music artist Moe Bandy with Janie Fricke. Released in January 1979, it was the first single from his album It's a Cheating Situation. The song peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It also reached number 1 on the...

"
1978  Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

 
Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

 
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

 
Randy Goodrum
Randy Goodrum
Randy Goodrum is an American songwriter. Goodrum has written numerous popular songs, including Anne Murray's #1 hit "You Needed Me" and "Broken Hearted Me" , Michael Johnson's "Bluer Than Blue" , England Dan & John Ford Coley's "It's Sad to Belong" , Steve Perry's "Oh Sherrie" , DeBarge's "Who's...

 – "You Needed Me
You Needed Me
"You Needed Me" became the second single for Irish Boyband Boyzone from their album By Request. The single became number #1 on the UK Singles Chart, beating the debut solo single of Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, outselling her by just 700 copies...

"
1977  Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

 
Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

 
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...

 
Roger Bowling
Roger Bowling
Roger D. Bowling was a Nashville songwriter in the 1970s who specialized in Country music...

, Hal Bynum
Hal Bynum
Hal Bynum is an American songwriter most notably associated with the Outlaw country movement in the 1970s. Bynum has written more than 200 songs for popular country artists, including Kenny Rogers Patty Loveless , Johnny Cash , Cash and Waylon Jennings , and Jim Reeves...

 – "Lucille
Lucille (Kenny Rogers song)
"Lucille" is the title of a ballad written by Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, and recorded by Kenny Rogers. It was released in January 1977 as the second and final single from the album Kenny Rogers. The song is about a man in a bar that meets a woman who has left her husband...

"
1976  Mickey Gilley
Mickey Gilley
Mickey Leroy Gilley is an American country music singer and musician. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as...

 
Mickey Gilley
Mickey Gilley
Mickey Leroy Gilley is an American country music singer and musician. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as...

 
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...

 
Baker Knight – "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time
Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time
"Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time" is the title of a song written by Baker Knight and recorded by American country music artist Mickey Gilley. The song became Gilley's fifth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart...

"
1975  Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

 
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...

 
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

 
Larry Weiss – "Rhinestone Cowboy"
1974  Mac Davis
Mac Davis
Mac Davis is a country music singer, songwriter, and actor originally from Lubbock, Texas who has enjoyed much crossover success...

 
Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

 
Don Wayne – "Country Bumpkin
Country Bumpkin (song)
"Country Bumpkin" is a 1974 single by Cal Smith. "Country Bumpkin" was Cal Smith's second number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of ten weeks on the country chart. Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn recorded a duet that peaked in the top...

"
1973  Roy Clark
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...

 
Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich
Charles Rich was an American country music singer and musician. A Grammy Award winner, his eclectic-style of music was often hard to classify in a single genre, playing in the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and gospel genres.In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname The Silver...

 
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

 
Kenny O'Dell
Kenny O'Dell
Kenny O'Dell is an American country music singer and songwriter.Early in his career he worked with guitar legand,Duane Eddy,and his own band, Guys and Dolls. He is best known for writing the country hit "Behind Closed Doors", which Charlie Rich recorded, and "Mama He's Crazy" for The Judds...

 – "Behind Closed Doors
Behind Closed Doors (Charlie Rich song)
"Behind Closed Doors" is a country song written by Kenny O'Dell and first recorded by Charlie Rich for his 1973 album Behind Closed Doors. The single became Rich's first number-one hit on the country charts, spent 20 weeks on this chart, and also became a crossover hit on the pop charts...

"
1972  Roy Clark
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...

 
Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 
Donna Fargo
Donna Fargo
Donna Fargo is an American country music singer-songwriter, who is best-known for a series of Top 10 country hits in the 1970s...

 
Donna Fargo
Donna Fargo
Donna Fargo is an American country music singer-songwriter, who is best-known for a series of Top 10 country hits in the 1970s...

 – "The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA
The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA
"The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA" is a country and pop music song written and recorded by Donna Fargo. It is written in the voice of a newlywed girl, sung to her new husband...

"
1971  Freddie Hart
Freddie Hart (musician)
Frederick Segrest , known professionally as Freddie Hart, is an American country musician and songwriter best-known for his No. 1 hit "Easy Loving," which won the Country Music Association Song of the Year award in 1971 and 1972....

 
Freddie Hart
Freddie Hart (musician)
Frederick Segrest , known professionally as Freddie Hart, is an American country musician and songwriter best-known for his No. 1 hit "Easy Loving," which won the Country Music Association Song of the Year award in 1971 and 1972....

 
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

 
Freddie Hart
Freddie Hart (musician)
Frederick Segrest , known professionally as Freddie Hart, is an American country musician and songwriter best-known for his No. 1 hit "Easy Loving," which won the Country Music Association Song of the Year award in 1971 and 1972....

 – "Easy Loving
Easy Loving
"Easy Loving" is a song composed by country music singer-songwriter Freddie Hart. Released in the summer of 1971, it became Hart's breakthrough hit and a country music standard.-Song history:...

"
1970  Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 
Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...

 
Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...

 – "For the Good Times
For the Good Times (song)
"For the Good Times" is a 1970 song penned by Kris Kristofferson that appeared on his debut album Kristofferson.Later that year, Ray Price recorded a version of the song which topped the U.S. country music charts and was awarded "Song of the Year" by the Academy of Country Music...

"
1969  Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 
Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....

 
1968  Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...

 
Cathie Taylor
Cathie Taylor
Cathie Taylorwas born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on 7/26/1944. As a child Taylor had moved with her family from Canada to Morgan Hill, California. At age 12, a talent contest appearance led to her singing western folk songs on San Francisco’s KQED-TV. After some time raising blue-ribbon cows, she landed...

 
1967  Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...

 
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...

 
1966  Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 
Bonnie Guitar
Bonnie Guitar
Bonnie Guitar is an American Country-Pop Singer. She is best remembered for her 1957 Country-Pop crossover hit "Dark Moon"...

 
1965  Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...

 
Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens , born Bonnie Campbell, was an American country music singer who was married to Buck Owens and later Merle Haggard.-Biography:...

 

Awards by year

2010 (presented 2011)
Host: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

 and Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country music artist. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". Released as the lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" went on to spend five weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...

Entertainer of the Year: Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...

Song of the Year: "The House That Built Me
The House That Built Me
"The House That Built Me" is a song written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin, and recorded by American country artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in March 2010 as the third single from her third studio album, Revolution. It is the fastest-rising single of her career, reaching the Top 20 in...

" – Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is an American country music artist who gained fame as a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place and later signed to Epic Records. Lambert made her debut with the release of "Me and Charlie Talking", the first single from her 2005 debut...

 – Tom Douglas
Tom Douglas (songwriter)
Thomas Stevenson "Tom" Douglas is an American country music songwriter. Active since the early 1990s, he has written Top Ten hits for John Michael Montgomery, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Collin Raye and others....

, Allen Shamblin
Allen Shamblin
Allen Shamblin is a country music songwriter who was born in Tennessee, and was brought up in Texas.After graduating from Sam Houston State University he worked in Austin as a real estate appraiser. In 1987, he quit his job and moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a song writer. He supported...

Single Record of the Year: "The House That Built Me" – Miranda Lambert
Album of the Year: Need You Now
Need You Now
"Need You Now" is a country pop song performed by American country music group Lady Antebellum. The song was co-written by Lady Antebellum and Josh Kear, and produced by the trio along with Paul Worley. It serves as the lead-off single and title track to their second studio album, Need You Now,...

Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum is an American country pop music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2006. The trio is composed of Charles Kelley , Dave Haywood and Hillary Scott .The group made its debut in 2007 as guest vocalists on Jim Brickman's single "Never Alone", before signing to Capitol...

Top Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

Top Female Vocalist: Miranda Lambert
Top Vocal Duo: Sugarland
Top Vocal Group: Lady Antebellum
Top New Artist: The Band Perry
The Band Perry
The Band Perry, an American country music group, is composed of siblings Kimberly Perry , Reid Perry and Neil Perry...

Top New Solo Artist: Eric Church
Eric Church
Kenneth Eric Church is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Capitol Records in 2006, Church released his debut album Sinners Like Me that year...

Top New Duo/Group: The Band Perry
Video of the Year: "The House That Built Me" – Miranda Lambert
Vocal Event of the Year: "As She's Walking Away
As She's Walking Away
"As She's Walking Away" is the title of a song performed by the Zac Brown Band, an American country music band. It features guest vocals from veteran country singer Alan Jackson. The song is the sixth single release by the band, and the first from its album You Get What You Give...

" – Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music, southern rock, and folk band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown , Jimmy De Martini , John Driskell Hopkins , Coy Bowles , Chris Fryar and Clay Cook...

 and Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...


2009 (presented 2010)
Host: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Entertainer of the Year: Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

Song of the Year: "Need You Now" – Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum is an American country pop music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2006. The trio is composed of Charles Kelley , Dave Haywood and Hillary Scott .The group made its debut in 2007 as guest vocalists on Jim Brickman's single "Never Alone", before signing to Capitol...

 – Dave Haywood, Josh Kear
Josh Kear
Joshua Peter "Josh" Kear is an American songwriter. His credits include Carrie Underwood's number-one "Before He Cheats," for which Kear won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 2007 and Lady Antebellum's number-one "Need You Now," for which Kear won an Academy of Country Music Award for Best...

, Charles Kelley
Charles Kelley
Charles Burgess Kelley is an American country music singer-songwriter and founding member of Lady Antebellum, a country rock trio formed in 2006 and signed to Capitol Nashville.-Early life and career:...

, Hillary Scott
Hillary Scott (singer)
Hillary Dawn Scott is an American country music singer-songwriter. She is currently a member of Lady Antebellum, a country band that was formed in 2006 and signed to Capitol Nashville.-Early life:...

Single Record of the Year: "Need You Now" – Lady Antebellum
Album of the Year: Revolution
Revolution (Miranda Lambert album)
Upon its release, Revolution received general acclaim from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 85, based on 11 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".Rolling Stone magazine...

 – Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is an American country music artist who gained fame as a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place and later signed to Epic Records. Lambert made her debut with the release of "Me and Charlie Talking", the first single from her 2005 debut...

 
Top Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

Top Female Vocalist: Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is an American country music artist who gained fame as a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place and later signed to Epic Records. Lambert made her debut with the release of "Me and Charlie Talking", the first single from her 2005 debut...

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: Lady Antebellum
Top New Artist: Luke Bryan
Luke Bryan
Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan is an American country singer who debuted in 2007 with the single "All My Friends Say", a Top 5 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His debut album, I'll Stay Me, was released on Capitol Records in 2007. This album also produced chart singles in "We Rode in...

Top New Solo Vocalist: Luke Bryan
Top New Vocal Duo: Joey + Rory
Joey + Rory
Joey+Rory is an American country music duo composed of singer-songwriters Rory Lee Feek and Joey Martin Feek, who are husband and wife. Joey is the duo's lead vocalist, while Rory sings background vocals and plays guitar. The duo was the third-place finalist on CMT's competition Can You Duet in 2008...

Top New Vocal Group: Gloriana
Gloriana (band)
Gloriana is an American country music group founded in 2008. It is composed of brothers Tom Gossin and Mike Gossin , as well as Rachel Reinert and, until July 2011, Cheyenne Kimball . Before the band's foundation, Kimball was the 2002 winner of the competition America's Most Talented Kid and a...

Video of the Year: "White Liar
White Liar
"White Liar" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released as the second single to her third studio album, Revolution. Lambert performed "White Liar" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on October 6, 2009, and on the 2009 CMA Awards on...

" – Miranda Lambert
Vocal Event of the Year: "Hillbilly Bone
Hillbilly Bone (song)
"Hillbilly Bone" is the title of a song written by Luke Laird and Craig Wiseman, and recorded by American country artist Blake Shelton for his extended play Hillbilly Bone...

" – Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country music artist. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". Released as the lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" went on to spend five weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...

 and Trace Adkins
Trace Adkins
Tracy Darrell "Trace" Adkins is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1996 with the album Dreamin' Out Loud, released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since then, Adkins has released seven more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations...

Triple-Crown Award (special honor): Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

Humanitarian Award (special honor): Montgomery Gentry
Montgomery Gentry
Montgomery Gentry is an American country music duo composed of vocalists Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry. The two began performing in the 1990s as part of a band which also included Eddie Montgomery's brother John Michael Montgomery, and founded the existing duo in 1999.Signed to Columbia Records,...


2008 (presented 2009)
Host: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Artist of the Decade: George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

Entertainer of the Year: Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

Song of the Year: "In Color
In Color (song)
"In Color" is the title of a single co-written and recorded by American country music artist Jamey Johnson. It is the first single from his second album, That Lonesome Song, which was initially released to digital retailers in 2007, and was released on August 5, 2008 on Mercury Nashville Records....

" – Jamey Johnson
Jamey Johnson
Jamey Johnson is an American Grammy Award nominated country music artist. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single "The Dollar," the title track to his 2006 album The Dollar...

 – Jamey Johnson, Lee Thomas Miller
Lee Thomas Miller
Lee Thomas Miller is an American country music songwriter and occasional record producer. His credits include the Number One country hits "The World" and "I'm Still a Guy" for Brad Paisley and "You're Gonna Miss This" for Trace Adkins, as well as Top Ten hits for Terri Clark, Joe Nichols, and...

, James Otto
James Otto
James Allen Otto is an American country music artist who is a member of the MuzikMafia, a group of country musicians known for their "country music without prejudice"...

Single of the Year: "You're Gonna Miss This
You're Gonna Miss This
"You're Gonna Miss This" is a single by American country music artist Trace Adkins. It is the second single released from his 2007 album American Man: Greatest Hits Volume II...

" – Trace Adkins
Trace Adkins
Tracy Darrell "Trace" Adkins is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1996 with the album Dreamin' Out Loud, released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since then, Adkins has released seven more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations...

Album of the Year: Fearless
Fearless (Taylor Swift album)
Fearless has been well-received by music professionals, with many praising Swift for her introspective lyrics, as well as her mature sound. According to the music review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an...

Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...

Top Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

Top Female Vocalist: Carrie Underwood
Top Vocal Duo: Sugarland
Top Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

Top New Artist: Julianne Hough
Julianne Hough
Julianne Alexandra Hough is an American professional ballroom dancer, country music singer and actress. She is most widely known for being a two-time champion of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. She earned a Creative Arts Primetime Emmy nomination in 2007 for choreography...

Top New Male Vocalist: Jake Owen
Jake Owen
Joshua Ryan "Jake" Owen is an American country music artist. Signed to RCA Records Nashville in 2005, he released his debut album Startin' with Me that year. The album produced three singles, all of which reached Top 20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart: "Yee Haw", "Startin' with Me", and...

Top New Female Vocalist: Julianne Hough
Top New Duo or Vocal Group: Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music, southern rock, and folk band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown , Jimmy De Martini , John Driskell Hopkins , Coy Bowles , Chris Fryar and Clay Cook...

Video of the Year: "Waitin' on a Woman
Waitin' on a Woman
"Waitin' on a Woman" is the title of a song written by Don Sampson and Wynn Varble, and recorded three times by American country music artist Brad Paisley. His first recording of the song was included on his 2005 album Time Well Wasted. Three years later, Paisley re-recorded the song for inclusion...

" – Brad Paisley
Vocal Event of the Year: "Start a Band
Start a Band
"Start a Band" is the title of a country music song written by Dallas Davidson, Ashley Gorley and Kelley Lovelace. It was recorded as a duet between Brad Paisley and Keith Urban for Paisley's sixth studio album, Play. Released as the only single from that album, it is also one of only four...

" – Brad Paisley and Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...

Humanitarian Award: LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...

Crystal Milestone Award: Taylor Swift, Jennifer Nettles
Jennifer Nettles
Jennifer Nettles is an American country music artist. She is known primarily for her role as lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush. Before Sugarland's inception, she also fronted Atlanta, Georgia-based bands called Soul Miner's Daughter and Jennifer Nettles Band...


2007 (presented 2008)
Host: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Entertainer of the Year: Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

Song of the Year: "Stay
Stay (Sugarland song)
In 2009, Irish pop singer and Boyzone member Ronan Keating released a cover version of the song. The song was the first single from Keating's 2009 album, Winter Songs.-Chart performance:...

" – Sugarland – Jennifer Nettles
Jennifer Nettles
Jennifer Nettles is an American country music artist. She is known primarily for her role as lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush. Before Sugarland's inception, she also fronted Atlanta, Georgia-based bands called Soul Miner's Daughter and Jennifer Nettles Band...

Single of the Year: "Stay" – Sugarland
Album of the Year: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Upon its release, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend received general acclaim from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 85, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".Stephen Thomas...

Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is an American country music artist who gained fame as a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place and later signed to Epic Records. Lambert made her debut with the release of "Me and Charlie Talking", the first single from her 2005 debut...

Top Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

Top Female Vocalist: Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

Top New Male Vocalist: Jack Ingram
Jack Ingram
Jack Owen Ingram is an American Texas Country artist signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eight studio albums, one extended play, six live albums and eighteen singles. Although active since 1992, Ingram did not reach the U.S. country Top 40 until the late...

Top New Female Vocalist: Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...

Top New Duo or Vocal Group: Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum is an American country pop music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2006. The trio is composed of Charles Kelley , Dave Haywood and Hillary Scott .The group made its debut in 2007 as guest vocalists on Jim Brickman's single "Never Alone", before signing to Capitol...

Video of the Year: "Online
Online (song)
"Online" is a single by American country music artist Brad Paisley. It is the second single from his 2007 album 5th Gear. The single is Brad's ninth overall Number One single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, as well as his fifth consecutive Number One...

" – Brad Paisley
Vocal Event of the Year: "Find Out Who Your Friends Are
Find out Who Your Friends Are
"Find Out Who Your Friends Are" is the title of a song written by Casey Beathard and Ed Hill, and recorded by American country music artist Tracy Lawrence. It was the lead-off single for his album For the Love, which was released in early 2007 on Rocky Comfort Records, a label which Lawrence owns...

" – Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lawrence is an American country music artist. He started at a country music restaurant called "Live At Libby's" where owner Libby Knight would help local talent find their way into country music...

, Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

 and Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

Humanitarian Award: Rascal Flatts
Crystal Milestone Award: Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...


2006 (presented 2007)
Host: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Entertainer of the Year: Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

Song of the Year: "Give It Away
Give It Away (George Strait song)
"Give It Away" is a the title of a song performed by American country music artist George Strait, co-written by Jamey Johnson and Bill Anderson. It was released in July 2006 as the lead single from the album, It Just Comes Natural....

" – George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

 – Bill Anderson, Buddy Cannon
Buddy Cannon
Buddy Cannon is an American country music songwriter and record producer. Active since the late 1970s, he is known primarily for his work as Kenny Chesney's record producer, for which he won the Academy of Country Music's Producer of the Year award in 2006.Along with Bill Anderson and Jamey...

, Jamey Johnson
Jamey Johnson
Jamey Johnson is an American Grammy Award nominated country music artist. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single "The Dollar," the title track to his 2006 album The Dollar...

Single of the Year: "Give It Away" – George Strait
Album of the Year: Some HeartsCarrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

Top Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

Top Female Vocalist: Carrie Underwood
Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

Top New Male Vocalist: Rodney Atkins
Rodney Atkins
Rodney Allan Atkins is an American country music artist. Signed to Curb Records in 1996, he charted his first single on the Billboard country chart that year, but did not release an album until 2003's Honesty, which included the number 4 hit "Honesty ".If You're Going Through Hell, his second...

Top New Female Vocalist: Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is an American country music artist who gained fame as a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place and later signed to Epic Records. Lambert made her debut with the release of "Me and Charlie Talking", the first single from her 2005 debut...

Top New Duo or Vocal Group: Little Big Town
Little Big Town
Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its inception: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, and Phillip Sweet. The quartet's musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all...

Video of the Year: "Before He Cheats
Before He Cheats
"Before He Cheats" is a song written by Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear and the third wide-release single from Carrie Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts. It was the fifth release from the album overall. It was named the 2007 Single of the Year by the Country Music Association...

" – Carrie Underwood
Vocal Event of the Year: "Building Bridges
Building Bridges (Brooks & Dunn song)
"Building Bridges" was covered by country music duo Brooks & Dunn and released as the third single released from their 2005 album Hillbilly Deluxe. It features Vince Gill and Sheryl Crow on background vocals. The song peaked at number four on the country music charts.-Music video:The music video...

" – Brooks & Dunn, Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

 and Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...

Humanitarian Award: Brooks & Dunn

2005 (presented 2006)
Host: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Entertainer of the Year: Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

Song of the Year: "Believe
Believe (Brooks & Dunn song)
"Believe" is a single by American country music duo Brooks & Dunn. It was the second single from their album Hillbilly Deluxe, and it won the Country Music Association's 2006 awards for Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year.-Content:...

" – Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

 – Craig Wiseman
Craig Wiseman
Craig Michael Wiseman is an American country music songwriter. Active since the late 1980s as a songwriter, he has had his songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, and several other acts....

, Ronnie Dunn
Ronnie Dunn
Ronnie Gene Dunn is an American country music singer-songwriter, known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn. In 2011, Dunn began working as a solo artist following the breakup of Brooks & Dunn...

Single of the Year: "Jesus, Take the Wheel
Jesus, Take the Wheel
"Jesus, Take the Wheel" is a song written by Brett James, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson. It is the second single from Carrie Underwood's debut album, Some Hearts....

" – Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

Album of the Year: Time Well Wasted
Time Well Wasted
-Personnel:As listed in liner notes.*Jim "Moose" Brown - piano, keyboards, Hammond organ, background vocals*Randel Currie – steel guitar*Eric Darken - percussion, vibraphone*Jerry Douglas - Dobro*Stuart Duncan - fiddle, mandolin...

Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

Top Male Vocalist: Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...

Top Female Vocalist: Sara Evans
Sara Evans
Sara Lynn Evans is an American country singer and songwriter.Evans was one of the few traditional-styled singers to emerge from Nashville in the late 1990s, according to Allmusic. Since emerging in the late 1990s, Evans has made five No. 1 Country hits and Gold and Platinum-certified albums by...

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Top Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

Top New Male Vocalist: Jason Aldean
Jason Aldean
Jason Aldine Williams is an American country music singer, known professionally as Jason Aldean. Since 2005, Aldean has recorded for Broken Bow Records, an independent record label for which he has released four albums and twelve singles...

Top New Female Vocalist: Carrie Underwood
Top New Duo or Vocal Group: Sugarland
Video of the Year: "When I Get Where I'm Going" – Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

Vocal Event of the Year: "When I Get Where I'm Going" – Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton
Humanitarian Award: Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...


2004 (presented 2005)
Host: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Entertainer of the Year: Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

Song of the Year: "Live Like You Were Dying
Live Like You Were Dying (song)
"Live Like You Were Dying" is a song written by Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman and performed by American country music artist Tim McGraw. The song appears on his Live Like You Were Dying album. It reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard country music charts, and held that position for a total of seven...

" – Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

 – Craig Wiseman
Craig Wiseman
Craig Michael Wiseman is an American country music songwriter. Active since the late 1980s as a songwriter, he has had his songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, and several other acts....

, Tim Nichols
Tim Nichols
Tim Nichols Tim Nichols Tim Nichols (born in Portsmouth, Virginia is an American country music singer and songwriter. Active since the late 1980s, Nichols has written for several country music singers, including Keith Whitley, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Jo Dee Messina, and Alan Jackson...

Single of the Year: "Live Like You Were Dying" – Tim McGraw
Album of the Year: Be Here
Be Here
- Album :- Singles :- Certifications :- References :...

Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...

Top Male Vocalist: Keith Urban
Top Female Vocalist: Gretchen Wilson
Gretchen Wilson
Gretchen Frances Wilson is an American country music artist. She made her debut in 2004 with the Grammy Award-winning single "Redneck Woman," a number-one hit on the Billboard country charts. The song served as the lead-off single of her debut album, Here for the Party...

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

Top New Artist: Gretchen Wilson
Video of the Year: "Whiskey Lullaby
Whiskey Lullaby
"Whiskey Lullaby" is the title of a country song composed by Bill Anderson and Jon Randall. It was first recorded by Brad Paisley as a duet with Alison Krauss on Paisley's 2003 album Mud on the Tires, and released on April 12, 2004, as that album's third single, and the eleventh chart single of...

" – Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

 and Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...

Vocal Event of the Year: "Whiskey Lullaby" – Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss
Humanitarian Award: Neal McCoy
Neal McCoy
Hubert Neal McGaughey, Jr. is an American country music singer of mixed Irish and Filipino descent. Known professionally as Neal McCoy, he has released ten studio albums on various labels, and has released 34 singles to country radio...


2003 (presented 2004)
Entertainer of the Year: Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

Song of the Year: "Three Wooden Crosses
Three Wooden Crosses
"Three Wooden Crosses" the title of a song written by Kim Williams and Doug Johnson, and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Randy Travis. The first single released in November 2002 from his 2002 album, Rise and Shine, it became Travis' sixteenth Number One single, and his first...

" – Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...

 – Doug Johnson, Kim Williams
Single of the Year: "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere
It's Five O'Clock Somewhere (song)
"It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" is a song performed by Alan Jackson with Jimmy Buffett, and written by Jim "Moose" Brown and Don Rollins. It was released in June 2003 as the lead single from Jackson's 2003 compilation album Greatest Hits Volume II. It spent eight non-consecutive weeks at Number One...

" – Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

 and Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett
James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...

Album of the Year: Shock'n Y'all
Shock'n Y'all
-References:...

– Toby Keith
Top Male Vocalist: Toby Keith
Top Female Vocalist: Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

Top New Artist: Dierks Bentley
Dierks Bentley
Dierks Bentley is an American country music artist who has been signed to Capitol Records Nashville since 2003. That year, he released his self-titled debut album. Both it and its follow-up, 2005's Modern Day Drifter, are certified platinum in the United States. A third album, 2006's Long Trip...

Video of the Year: "Beer for My Horses
Beer for My Horses
"Beer for My Horses" is the title of a song recorded by American country music artists Toby Keith and Willie Nelson. It was released in April 2003 as the fourth and final single from Keith's 2002 album Unleashed. The song spent six weeks at Number One on the U.S...

" – Toby Keith and Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

Vocal Event of the Year: "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" – Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett
Humanitarian Award: Martina McBride

2002 (presented 2003)
Host: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Entertainer of the Year: Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

Song of the Year: "I'm Movin' On
I'm Movin' On (Rascal Flatts song)
"I'm Movin' On" is the title of a song written by Phillip White and D. Vincent Williams, and recorded by the country music group Rascal Flatts on their self-titled debut album...

" – Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

 – Phillip Brian White, David Vincent Williams
Single of the Year: "The Good Stuff
The Good Stuff
"The Good Stuff" is a single, released in May 2002, by American country music artist Kenny Chesney. It was the second single from his 2002 album No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems....

" – Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

Album of the Year: Drive
Drive (Alan Jackson album)
Drive is the tenth studio album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. Released in 2002 on Arista Nashville, the album produced Jackson's highest-debuting single on the Hot Country Songs charts in the Number One hit "Where Were You ", a ballad written in response to the September 11, 2001...

Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

Top Male Vocalist: Kenny Chesney
Top Female Vocalist: Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts
Top New Male Vocalist: Joe Nichols
Top New Female Vocalist: Kellie Coffey
Kellie Coffey
Kellie Coffey is an American country music artist. She made her debut in 2002 with the release of her single "When You Lie Next to Me", a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Emerson Drive
Emerson Drive
Emerson Drive is a country music band founded in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada in 1995. The band is Brad Mates , Danick Dupelle , Mike Melancon , Dale Wallace , and David Pichette .Early on, the band found minor success in Canada, releasing two albums under the name of 12 Gauge, the first Open...

Video of the Year: "Drive (For Daddy Gene)
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
"Drive " is a song written and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Alan Jackson. It was released in January 2002 as the second single from his album, "Drive". It reached number one on the U.S...

" – Alan Jackson
Vocal Event of the Year: "Mendocino County Line" – Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 and Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack is an American country music singer and songwriter, who is best known for her old fashioned-styled country music songs that often discuss subjects such as cheating and lost love....

Humanitarian Award: Lonestar
Lonestar
Lonestar is an American country music group consisting of Richie McDonald , Michael Britt , Keech Rainwater , Dean Sams , and Michael Hill . McDonald left the band in November 2007 for a solo career before returning in 2011...


2001 (presented 2002)
Host: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Entertainer of the Year: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Song of the Year: "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
"Where Were You " is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Alan Jackson. Written in the wake of the September 11 attacks, it was introduced at the Country Music Association's annual awards show on November 7, 2001...

" – Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

 – Alan Jackson
Single of the Year: "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" – Alan Jackson
Album of the Year: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is the soundtrack of music from the 2000 American film of the same name, written, directed and produced by the Coen Brothers and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Goodman....

– Various Artists
Top Male Vocalist: Alan Jackson
Top Female Vocalist: Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Top Vocal Group: Lonestar
Lonestar
Lonestar is an American country music group consisting of Richie McDonald , Michael Britt , Keech Rainwater , Dean Sams , and Michael Hill . McDonald left the band in November 2007 for a solo career before returning in 2011...

Top New Male Vocalist: Phil Vassar
Phil Vassar
Phil Vassar is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the country music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw , Jo Dee Messina , Collin Raye , and Alan Jackson Phil Vassar (born May 28, 1964 in Lynchburg, Virginia) is an...

Top New Female Vocalist: Carolyn Dawn Johnson
Carolyn Dawn Johnson
Carolyn Dawn Johnson is a Canadian Juno Award winning country music singer-songwriter. Johnson first rose to fame by co-writing Chely Wright's 1999 Number One single, "Single White Female," which reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in September 1999...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Trick Pony
Trick Pony
Trick Pony was an American country music group. It was formed in 1996 by Keith Burns , Ira Dean , and Heidi Newfield . The group recorded three studio albums: Trick Pony, On a Mission and R.I.D.E., released in 2001, 2002 and 2005, respectively...

Video of the Year: "Only in America
Only in America (song)
"Only in America" is the title of a song recorded by the American country music duo Brooks & Dunn on their 2001 album Steers & Stripes. Kix Brooks, one-half of the duo, co-wrote the song with Don Cook and Ronnie Rogers, although it features Ronnie Dunn on lead vocals...

" – Brooks & Dunn
Vocal Event of the Year: "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow
Man of Constant Sorrow
"Man of Constant Sorrow" is a traditional American folk song first recorded by Dick Burnett, a partially blind fiddler from Kentucky. The song was originally recorded by Burnett as "Farewell Song" printed in a Richard Burnett songbook, c. 1913. An early version was recorded by Emry Arthur in 1928...

" – The Soggy Bottom Boys
Humanitarian Award: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...


2000 (presented 2001)
Host: LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...

Entertainer of the Year: Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...

 
Song of the Year: "I Hope You Dance
I Hope You Dance (song)
"I Hope You Dance" is a crossover country pop song written by Mark D. Sandersand Tia Sillers, and recorded by country singer Lee Ann Womack along with Sons of the Desert...

" – Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack is an American country music singer and songwriter, who is best known for her old fashioned-styled country music songs that often discuss subjects such as cheating and lost love....

 and Sons of the Desert
Sons of the Desert (band)
Sons of the Desert was an American country music band founded in 1989 in Waco, Texas by brothers Drew Womack and Tim Womack , along with Scott Saunders , Doug Virden and Brian Westrum...

 – Mark D. Sanders, Tia Sillers
Single of the Year: "I Hope You Dance" – Lee Ann Womack and Sons of the Desert
Album of the Year: How Do You Like Me Now?!
How Do You Like Me Now?!
How Do You Like Me Now?! is the fifth studio album from American country music artist Toby Keith. It was his first album for DreamWorks Records after parting ways with Mercury Records after Mercury Nashville rejected this album. After buying the master, Keith gave the album to DreamWorks...

Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

Top Male Vocalist: Toby Keith
Top Female Vocalist: Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: Dixie Chicks
Top New Male Vocalist: Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...

Top New Female Vocalist: Jamie O'Neal
Jamie O'Neal
Jamie O'Neal is a contemporary country singer and songwriter who has had success in the United States. She was born Jamie Murphy in Sydney, Australia, to parents Jimmy and Julie Murphy, who were also professional musicians...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

Video of the Year: "Goodbye Earl
Goodbye Earl
"Goodbye Earl", written by Dennis Linde, is a country music song. Initially recorded by the band Sons of the Desert for an unreleased album in the late 1990s, the song gained fame when it was recorded by the Dixie Chicks on their second studio album featuring Natalie Maines as lead vocalist on...

" – Dixie Chicks
Vocal Event of the Year: "I Hope You Dance" – Lee Ann Womack and Sons of the Desert

1999 (presented 2000)
Host: Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

Artist of the Decade: Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

Entertainer of the Year: Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...

Song of the Year: "Amazed
Amazed
"Amazed" is the title of a song written by Marv Green, Aimee Mayo and Chris Lindsey. The first version of the song was recorded by the American country music group Lonestar, whose version was released in March 1999 as the second single from their 1999 album Lonely Grill...

" – Lonestar
Lonestar
Lonestar is an American country music group consisting of Richie McDonald , Michael Britt , Keech Rainwater , Dean Sams , and Michael Hill . McDonald left the band in November 2007 for a solo career before returning in 2011...

 – Marv Green, Aimee Mayo
Single of the Year: "Amazed" – Lonestar
Album of the Year: FlyDixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...

Top Male Vocalist: Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

Top Female Vocalist: Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...

Top Vocal Duo or Group: Dixie Chicks
Top New Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

Top New Female Vocalist: Jessica Andrews
Jessica Andrews
Jessica Danielle Andrews is an American country music singer. At age 15 in mid-1999, she made her debut on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts with the single "I Will Be There for You", from her debut album Heart Shaped World, released in 1999 on DreamWorks Records Nashville.Andrews...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Montgomery Gentry
Montgomery Gentry
Montgomery Gentry is an American country music duo composed of vocalists Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry. The two began performing in the 1990s as part of a band which also included Eddie Montgomery's brother John Michael Montgomery, and founded the existing duo in 1999.Signed to Columbia Records,...

Video of the Year: "Breathe
Breathe (Faith Hill song)
"Breathe" is a country song by American recording artist Faith Hill, released as the first single from her 1999 album of the same name. The song was written by Stephanie Bentley and Holly Lamar. "Breathe" became Hill's 7th number one on the country music charts in the US. The song spent four weeks...

" – Faith Hill
Vocal Event of the Year: "When I Said I Do
When I Said I Do
"When I Said I Do" is the title of a song recorded by American country music singers Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black as a duet. It was released in August 1999 as the first single from Clint Black's album, D'lectrified. The song reached the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks...

" – Clint Black
Clint Black
Clint Patrick Black is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country...

 and Lisa Hartman Black

1998 (presented 1999)
Entertainer of the Year: Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

Song of the Year: "Holes in the Floor of Heaven
Holes in the Floor of Heaven
"Holes in the Floor of Heaven" is a song co-written and recorded by country music artist Steve Wariner. It is the lead-off single from his 1998 album Burnin' the Roadhouse Down, as well as his first single in four years...

" – Steve Wariner
Steve Wariner
Steven Noel "Steve" Wariner is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released eighteen studio albums, including six on MCA Records, and three each on RCA Records, Arista Records and Capitol Records...

 – Steve Wariner, Billy Kirsch
Single of the Year: "This Kiss
This Kiss
"This Kiss" is a song written by Beth Nielsen Chapman, Robin Lerner and Annie Roboff, and recorded by American country music singer Faith Hill. Released on March 10, 1998 as the first single from her 1998 album Faith, it became a crossover single, reaching #1 on the U.S...

" – Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...

Album of the Year: Wide Open Spaces
Wide Open Spaces
Wide Open Spaces is the major label debut of American country music band the Dixie Chicks, and the fourth studio album overall, released in 1998 . It was their first record with new lead vocalist Natalie Maines, and became their breakthrough commercial success...

Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...

Top Male Vocalist: Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

Top Female Vocalist: Faith Hill
Top Vocal Duo or Group: Dixie Chicks
Top New Male Vocalist: Mark Wills
Mark Wills
Daryl Mark Williams is an American country music artist, best known professionally as Mark Wills. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label — Mark Wills, Wish You Were Here, Permanently, Loving Every Minute and And the Crowd Goes Wild — as well...

Top New Female Vocalist: Jo Dee Messina
Jo Dee Messina
Jo Dee Marie Messina , known professionally as Jo Dee Messina, is an American country music artist. She has charted nine Number One singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has been honored by the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and has been nominated for two...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Dixie Chicks
Video of the Year: "This Kiss" – Faith Hill
Vocal Event of the Year: "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me
Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me
"Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me" is a song written by Diane Warren and recorded by pop singer Chynna Phillips for her solo debut album, Naked and Sacred, released in 1995. The song was released as the fourth and final single from the album. In 1998, the song was recorded by country singer...

" – Faith Hill and Tim McGraw

1997 (presented 1998)
Entertainer of the Year: Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

Song of the Year: "It's Your Love
It's Your Love
"It's Your Love" is a song by Tim McGraw, released as the first single from his album Everywhere. The song, featuring wife Faith Hill, reached number one on Billboards Hot Country Songs chart in its fifth week on the chart. The song stayed there for six weeks, and became McGraw's and Hill's first...

" – Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

 and Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...

 – Stephony Smith
Single of the Year: "It's Your Love" – Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Album of the Year: Carrying Your Love with Me
Carrying Your Love With Me
Carrying Your Love With Me is the title of an album released in 1997 by American country music singer George Strait. It was released by MCA Nashville Records and it produced four singles for Strait on the Billboard country charts...

George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

Top Male Vocalist: George Strait
Top Female Vocalist: Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...

Top Vocal Duo or Group: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top New Male Vocalist: Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

Top New Female Vocalist: Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack is an American country music singer and songwriter, who is best known for her old fashioned-styled country music songs that often discuss subjects such as cheating and lost love....

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: The Kinleys
The Kinleys
The Kinleys was an American country music duo composed of identical twin sisters Heather and Jennifer Kinley, born November 5, 1970 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between 1997 and 2000, they recorded two albums for the Epic Records label , also charting eight singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot...

Video of the Year: "It's Your Love" – Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Vocal Event of the Year: "It's Your Love" – Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

1996 (presented 1997)
Entertainer of the Year: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Song of the Year: "Blue
Blue (LeAnn Rimes song)
"Blue" is the title of the debut single released by American country music singer, LeAnn Rimes, released in 1996 from her debut album of the same name . The song propelled Rimes to fame at thirteen years old....

" – LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...

 – Bill Mack
Bill Mack
Bill Mack is one of the most recognizable voices in country music radio. For many years, Mack was best known as the host of The Country Roads Show, the overnight country music show on WBAP, a clear channel station in Fort Worth...

Single of the Year: "Blue" – LeAnn Rimes
Album of the Year: Blue Clear Sky
Blue Clear Sky
Blue Clear Sky is the title of an album released in 1996 by American country music artist George Strait. Certified 3× Multi-Platinum in the U.S. for sales of three million copies, the album produced four singles...

George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

Top Male Vocalist: George Strait
Top Female Vocalist: Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless , is an American country music singer.Since her emergence on the country music scene in late 1986 with her first album, Loveless has been one of the most popular female singers of the Neotraditional country movement, although she has also recorded albums in the Country pop and...

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Top Vocal Group: Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown is an American country music band founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by five members of country pop singer Don King's road band: Bobby Randall and Jim Scholten , both from Midland, Michigan; Joe Smyth , Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard , and Mark Miller...

Top New Male Vocalist: Trace Adkins
Trace Adkins
Tracy Darrell "Trace" Adkins is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1996 with the album Dreamin' Out Loud, released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since then, Adkins has released seven more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations...

Top New Female Vocalist: LeAnn Rimes
Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Ricochet
Ricochet (band)
Ricochet is an American country music band from Oklahoma. The band was founded in 1993 by brothers Jeff Bryant and Junior Bryant , along with Heath Wright , Greg Cook , Teddy Carr , and Eddie Kilgallon ,After several years of...

Video of the Year: "I Think About You
I Think About You (song)
"I Think About You" is the title of a song written by Don Schlitz and Steve Seskin, and recorded by American country music singer Collin Raye. It was released in February 1996 as the third single from his 1995 album of the same name...

" – Collin Raye
Collin Raye
Floyd Collin Wray Floyd Collin Wray Floyd Collin Wray (born August 22, 1959 or 1960,Although multiple online sources all indicate Raye's date of birth as 1959, Raye's MySpace lists his date of birth as 1960. Furthermore, the 2004 Deseret News article cited in this article indicates the singer as...


1995 (presented 1996)
Entertainer of the Year: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Song of the Year: "The Keeper of the Stars
The Keeper of the Stars
"The Keeper of the Stars" is the title of a song recorded by American country music artist Tracy Byrd. Released in early 1995 as the last single from his 1994 album No Ordinary Man, it went on to reach a peak of #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts...

" – Tracy Byrd – Dickey Lee
Dickey Lee
Royden Dickey Lipscomb , known professionally as Dickey Lee , is an American pop/country singer and songwriter, best known for the 1960s teenage tragedy songs "Patches" and "Laurie ."-Career:Lee made his first recordings in his hometown of Memphis for Tampa...

, Karen Staley, Danny Mayo
Single of the Year: "Check Yes or No
Check Yes or No
"Check Yes or No" is the title of a song written by Danny Wells and Dana Hunt, and recorded by American country singer George Strait. It was released in September 1995 as the lead single from his 1995 box set Strait Out of the Box. It peaked at number-one on both the U.S...

" – George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

Album of the Year: The Woman in MeShania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...

Top Male Vocalist: Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

Top Female Vocalist: Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless , is an American country music singer.Since her emergence on the country music scene in late 1986 with her first album, Loveless has been one of the most popular female singers of the Neotraditional country movement, although she has also recorded albums in the Country pop and...

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Top Vocal Group: The Mavericks
The Mavericks
The Mavericks is a country music band founded in 1989 in Miami, Florida, United States. Between 1991 and 2003 they recorded six studio albums, in addition to charting 14 singles on the Billboard country charts...

Top New Male Vocalist: Bryan White
Bryan White
Bryan White is an American country music artist. Signed to Asylum Records in 1994 at age 20, White released his self-titled debut album that year. Both it and its follow-up, 1996's Between Now and Forever, were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and 1997's The...

Top New Female Vocalist: Shania Twain
Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Lonestar
Lonestar
Lonestar is an American country music group consisting of Richie McDonald , Michael Britt , Keech Rainwater , Dean Sams , and Michael Hill . McDonald left the band in November 2007 for a solo career before returning in 2011...

Video of the Year: "The Car
The Car (song)
"The Car" is a single by American country music artist Jeff Carson. Released in October 1995, it was the third single from his debut album, Jeff Carson. The song reached number three on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in December 1995....

" – Jeff Carson
Jeff Carson
Jeffrey Lee Herndon , known professionally as Jeff Carson, is an American country music artist. Originally a session musician in Branson, Missouri and later a demo singer, he was signed to Curb Records in 1995, releasing his self-titled debut album that year, followed by Butterfly Kisses in 1998...


1994 (presented 1995)
Entertainer of the Year: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Song of the Year: "I Swear
I Swear
"I Swear" is a ballad written by Gary Baker and Frank J. Myers that became a hit for two acts in 1994. Initially it was a number one song on the U.S. Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for American country music artist John Michael Montgomery at the beginning of the year. His version crossed over...

" – John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery is an American country music artist. He has produced more than thirty singles on the Billboard country charts, including two of Billboard’s Number One country singles of the year: "I Swear" and "Sold "...

 – Gary Baker, Frank Myers
Baker & Myers
Baker & Myers was an American country music duo composed of singer-songwriters Gary Baker and Frank J. Myers, who first worked as songwriters for other country music artists; one of their most notable compositions is John Michael Montgomery's 1994 crossover hit "I Swear", which won the Grammy Award...

Single of the Year: "I Swear" – John Michael Montgomery
Album of the Year: Not a Moment Too Soon
Not a Moment Too Soon
Not a Moment Too Soon is the second album by American country music singer Tim McGraw. It was released on March 22, 1994. Written by country song writer Wayne Perry, it reached #1 on Billboard's Top 200 chart and #1 on Billboard Country chart and stayed for 26 consecutive weeks. It was Billboard's...

Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

Top Male Vocalist: Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

Top Female Vocalist: Reba McEntire
Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: The Mavericks
The Mavericks
The Mavericks is a country music band founded in 1989 in Miami, Florida, United States. Between 1991 and 2003 they recorded six studio albums, in addition to charting 14 singles on the Billboard country charts...

Top New Male Vocalist: Tim McGraw
Top New Female Vocalist: Chely Wright
Chely Wright
Richell Rene "Chely" Wright is an American country music artist and, starting in 2010, gay rights activist. On the strength of her debut album in 1994, the Academy of Country Music named her Top New Female Vocalist in 1995. Wright's first Top 40 country hit came in 1997 with "Shut Up and Drive"...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: The Mavericks
Video of the Year: "The Red Strokes
The Red Strokes
"The Red Strokes" is a single by country music artist Garth Brooks from his album, In Pieces. While only charting on the country charts in the U.S. and Canada as an album cut, it became one of his most popular songs in the United Kingdom, peaking at #13...

" – Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...


1993 (presented 1994)
Entertainer of the Year: Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

Song of the Year: "I Love the Way You Love Me
I Love the Way You Love Me
"I Love the Way You Love Me" is a single by American country music singer John Michael Montgomery that reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. Released as the second single released from his debut CD, Life's a Dance, it became Montgomery's first Number One single...

" – John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery is an American country music artist. He has produced more than thirty singles on the Billboard country charts, including two of Billboard’s Number One country singles of the year: "I Swear" and "Sold "...

 – Victoria Shaw
Victoria Shaw (singer)
Victoria Lynn Shaw is an American country music artist. She has recorded four studio albums, and has charted five singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts...

, Chuck Cannon
Single of the Year: "Chattahoochee
Chattahoochee (song)
"Chattahoochee" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released in May 1993 as the third single from his 1992 album A Lot About Livin' ...

" – Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

Album of the Year: A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love)
A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'Bout Love)
A Lot About Livin' is the third studio album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released on October 9, 1992, and produced the singles "Chattahoochee", "She's Got the Rhythm ", "Tonight I Climbed the Wall", " You Can't Have It All" and "Mercury Blues"...

– Alan Jackson
Top Male Vocalist: Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

Top Female Vocalist: Wynonna
Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: Little Texas
Little Texas
Little Texas is an American country music band founded in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1988 by Tim Rushlow , Brady Seals , Del Gray , Porter Howell , Dwayne O'Brien , and Duane Propes . Signed to Warner Bros...

Top New Male Vocalist: John Michael Montgomery
Top New Female Vocalist: Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Gibson/Miller Band
Gibson/Miller Band
The Gibson/Miller Band was an American country music band founded in 1990 by Dave Gibson and Bill "Blue" Miller, the latter of whom was a former guest musician in rock musician Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band...

Video of the Year: "We Shall Be Free
We Shall Be Free
"We Shall Be Free" is a song released by American country music artist Garth Brooks in late 1992. It debuted on his fourth studio album The Chase and also appears on The Hits, The Limited Series, Double Live, and The Ultimate Hits. It reached #12 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1992...

" – Garth Brooks

1992 (presented 1993)
Entertainer of the Year: Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

Song of the Year: "I Still Believe in You" – Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

 – Vince Gill, John Barlow Jarvis
Single of the Year: "Boot Scootin' Boogie
Boot Scootin' Boogie
"Boot Scootin' Boogie" is the title of a song written and recorded by the American country music duo Brooks & Dunn. Before its release, the band Asleep at the Wheel recorded it on their 1990 album Keepin' Me Up Nights...

" – Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Album of the Year: Brand New Man
Brand New Man
Brand New Man is the debut album by country duo Brooks & Dunn. The album produced four consecutive Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts in "Brand New Man", "Boot Scootin' Boogie", "My Next Broken Heart", and "Neon Moon"; in addition, "Lost and Found" was a #6...

– Brooks & Dunn
Top Male Vocalist: Vince Gill
Top Female Vocalist: Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Top Vocal Group: Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio is an American Country music/Christian music band formed in 1984 in Nashville, Tennessee. Since its foundation, the group has comprised the same six members: Gene Johnson , Jimmy Olander , Brian Prout , Marty Roe , Dan Truman , and Dana Williams...

Top New Male Vocalist: Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lawrence is an American country music artist. He started at a country music restaurant called "Live At Libby's" where owner Libby Knight would help local talent find their way into country music...

Top New Female Vocalist: Michelle Wright
Michelle Wright
Michelle Wright is a Canadian country music artist. She is one of the country's most widely recognized and awarded female country singers of the 1990s, winning the Canadian Country Music Association's Fans' Choice Award twice...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Confederate Railroad
Confederate Railroad
Confederate Railroad is an American country rock band founded in 1987 in Marietta, Georgia by Danny Shirley , Michael Lamb , Mark Dufresne , Chris McDaniel , Warren "Gates" Nichols and Wayne Secrest...

Video of the Year: "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane
Two Sparrows in a Hurricane
"Two Sparrows in a Hurricane" is a single by American country music artist Tanya Tucker. Released in 1992, it was the first single from the album Can't Run from Yourself. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart....

" – Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker
Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...


1991 (presented 1992)
Entertainer of the Year: Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

Song of the Year: "Somewhere in My Broken Heart
Somewhere in My Broken Heart
"Somewhere in My Broken Heart" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Billy Dean. Released in 1991, it was the second single from the album Young Man. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart...

" – Billy Dean
Billy Dean
William Harold "Billy" Dean, Jr. is an American country music singer and songwriter. Billy Dean first gained national attention after appearing on the television talent competition Star Search...

 – Billy Dean, Richard Leigh
Richard Leigh (songwriter)
Richard Leigh is an American country music songwriter and singer. He is best known for penning "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" . In 1978 he received a Grammy Award for "Best Country Song" for the popular song...

Single of the Year: "Don't Rock the Jukebox
Don't Rock the Jukebox (song)
"Don't Rock the Jukebox" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released in April 1991 as the lead single from the album of the same name, Don't Rock the Jukebox. It was his second consecutive Number One single on the U.S...

" – Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

Album of the Year: Don't Rock the Jukebox
Don't Rock The Jukebox
-Track listing:# "Don't Rock the Jukebox" – 2:52# "That's All I Need to Know" – 3:47# "Dallas" – 2:45# "Midnight in Montgomery" – 3:46...

– Alan Jackson
Top Male Vocalist: Garth Brooks
Top Female Vocalist: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...

Top Vocal Group: Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio is an American Country music/Christian music band formed in 1984 in Nashville, Tennessee. Since its foundation, the group has comprised the same six members: Gene Johnson , Jimmy Olander , Brian Prout , Marty Roe , Dan Truman , and Dana Williams...

Top New Male Vocalist: Billy Dean
Top New Female Vocalist: Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Brooks & Dunn
Video of the Year: "Is There Life Out There
Is There Life Out There
"Is There Life Out There" is the title of a country music song written by Susan Longacre and Rick Giles. It was recorded by American singer Reba McEntire on her 1991 album For My Broken Heart, from which it was released in early 1992 as the album's second single...

" – Reba McEntire

1990 (presented 1991)
Entertainer of the Year: Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

Song of the Year: "The Dance" – Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

 – Tony Arata
Single of the Year: "Friends in Low Places
Friends in Low Places
"Friends in Low Places" is a song released by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was the first single from his second album, No Fences. The song spent four weeks at #1 on the U.S...

" – Garth Brooks
Album of the Year: No Fences
No Fences
No Fences is the second studio album by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was released on August 27, 1990 and reached #3 on the Billboard 200, and #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart...

– Garth Brooks
Top Male Vocalist: Garth Brooks
Top Female Vocalist: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Top Vocal Duo: The Judds
The Judds
The Judds were an American country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter, Wynonna Judd. Signed to RCA Records in 1983, the duo released six studio albums between then and 1991. One of the most successful acts in country music history, The Judds won five Grammy Awards for Best Country...

Top Vocal Group: Shenandoah
Shenandoah (band)
Shenandoah is an American country music group founded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in 1984 by Marty Raybon , Ralph Ezell , Stan Thorn , Jim Seales , and Mike McGuire...

Top New Male Vocalist: Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

Top New Female Vocalist: Shelby Lynne
Shelby Lynne
Shelby Lynne is an American singer, songwriter and actress. The success of the 1999 album I Am Shelby Lynne led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, even though she had been active in the music industry for some time...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: Pirates of the Mississippi
Pirates of the Mississippi
Pirates of the Mississippi was an American country music group. It was founded in 1987 by Rich Alves , Bill McCorvey Jimmy Lowe , Pat Severs , and Dean Townson...

Video of the Year: "The Dance" – Garth Brooks

1989 (presented 1990)
Artist of the Decade: Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

Entertainer of the Year: George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

Song of the Year: "Where've You Been
Where've You Been
"Where've You Been" is a single by American country music artist Kathy Mattea. Released in 1989, it was the third single from the album Willow in the Wind. The song reached #10 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart....

" – Kathy Mattea
Kathy Mattea
Kathleen Alice "Kathy" Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass performer who often brings folk, Celtic and traditional country sounds to her music. Active since 1983 as a recording artist, she has recorded seventeen albums and has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot...

 – Jon Vezner, Don Henry
Single of the Year: "A Better Man
A Better Man
"A Better Man" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Clint Black. It was released in February 1989 as the lead and debut single from his debut album, Killin' Time. It was written by Black and Hayden Nicholas. When "A Better Man" went to No...

" – Clint Black
Clint Black
Clint Patrick Black is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country...

Album of the Year: Killin' Time – Clint Black
Top Male Vocalist: Clint Black
Top Female Vocalist: Kathy Mattea
Top Vocal Duo: The Judds
The Judds
The Judds were an American country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter, Wynonna Judd. Signed to RCA Records in 1983, the duo released six studio albums between then and 1991. One of the most successful acts in country music history, The Judds won five Grammy Awards for Best Country...

Top Vocal Group: Restless Heart
Restless Heart
Restless Heart is an American country music band established in 1984. The band's original members were John Dittrich , Paul Gregg , Dave Innis , Greg Jennings , and Verlon Thompson...

Top New Male Vocalist: Clint Black
Top New Female Vocalist: Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...

Top New Vocal Duo or Group: The Kentucky Headhunters
The Kentucky Headhunters
The Kentucky Headhunters are an American country rock band. They were founded in 1968 as Itchy Brother, which comprised brothers Richard Young and Fred Young along with Greg Martin and Anthony Kenney...

Video of the Year: "There's a Tear in My Beer
There's a Tear in My Beer
"There's a Tear in My Beer" is a country song written and recorded by Hank Williams, and later re-recorded by his son in 1988.-Original version:...

" – Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...

 and Hank Williams

1988 (presented 1989)
Entertainer of the Year: Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...

Song of the Year: "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses
Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses
"Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" is a country song by Kathy Mattea from her 1987 album, Untasted Honey. The song was released as a single and hit number one on both the US and Canadian Country charts in 1988. The song is about a truck driver called Charlie who is retiring after 30 years to spend...

" – Kathy Mattea
Kathy Mattea
Kathleen Alice "Kathy" Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass performer who often brings folk, Celtic and traditional country sounds to her music. Active since 1983 as a recording artist, she has recorded seventeen albums and has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot...

 – Gene Nelson, Paul Nelson
Single of the Year: "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" – Kathy Mattea
Album of the Year: This Woman
This Woman (K. T. Oslin album)
This Woman is the second studio album by American country music artist K. T. Oslin. It was released by RCA Records in 1988. "Money," "Hold Me," "Hey Bobby," the title track and "Didn't Expect It to Go Down This Way" were released as singles...

K. T. Oslin
K. T. Oslin
Kay Toinette "K. T." Oslin is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is known for a series of top-ten country hits during the late 1980s and early 1990s, four of which topped the chart.-Early life and career:...

Top Male Vocalist: George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

Top Female Vocalist: K. T. Oslin
Top Vocal Duo: The Judds
The Judds
The Judds were an American country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter, Wynonna Judd. Signed to RCA Records in 1983, the duo released six studio albums between then and 1991. One of the most successful acts in country music history, The Judds won five Grammy Awards for Best Country...

Top Vocal Group: Highway 101
Highway 101 (band)
Highway 101 is an American country music band founded by Paulette Carlson , Jack Daniels , Curtis Stone and Scott "Cactus" Moser . With Carlson as lead vocalist, the band recorded three albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashville and charted ten consecutive Top Ten hits on the Hot Country Songs...

Top New Male Vocalist: Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell is a Grammy Award-winning musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music....

Top New Female Vocalist: Suzy Bogguss
Suzy Bogguss
Susan Kay "Suzy" Bogguss is an American country music singer. In the 1980s and 90s she released one platinum and three gold albums and charted six top ten singles, winning the Academy of Country Music's award for Top New Female Vocalist and the Country Music Association's Horizon Award.After...

Video of the Year: "Young Country
Young Country
"Young Country" is the title of a song written and recorded by country music artist Hank Williams, Jr.. It features guest vocals from Butch Baker, Steve Earle, Highway 101, Dana McVicker, Marty Stuart, Keith Whitley, T. Graham Brown. It was released in February 1988 as the third and final single...

" – Hank Williams, Jr.

1987 (presented 1988)
Entertainer of the Year: Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...

Song of the Year: "Forever and Ever, Amen
Forever and Ever, Amen
"Forever and Ever, Amen" is a single released in 1987 by country music artist Randy Travis, written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. It was Travis's third No. 1 single on the U.S...

" – Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...

 – Paul Overstreet
Paul Overstreet
Paul Lester Overstreet is an American country music singer and songwriter. He recorded 10 studio albums between 1982 and 2005, and charted 16 singles on the Billboard country charts, including two #1 hits...

, Don Schlitz
Don Schlitz
Donald Alan "Don" Schlitz, Jr. is a country music songwriter. For his songwriting efforts, Schlitz has earned two Grammys, as well as four ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year awards...

Single of the Year: "Forever and Ever, Amen" – Randy Travis
Album of the Year: Trio
Trio (album)
Trio was a collaboration album by three of the most successful American female singers of the 1970s and 1980s, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris...

Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

, Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...

 and Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...

Top Male Vocalist: Randy Travis
Top Female Vocalist: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Top Vocal Duo: The Judds
The Judds
The Judds were an American country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter, Wynonna Judd. Signed to RCA Records in 1983, the duo released six studio albums between then and 1991. One of the most successful acts in country music history, The Judds won five Grammy Awards for Best Country...

Top Vocal Group: Highway 101
Highway 101 (band)
Highway 101 is an American country music band founded by Paulette Carlson , Jack Daniels , Curtis Stone and Scott "Cactus" Moser . With Carlson as lead vocalist, the band recorded three albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashville and charted ten consecutive Top Ten hits on the Hot Country Songs...

Top New Male Vocalist: Ricky Van Shelton
Ricky Van Shelton
Ricky Van Shelton is a currently retired American country music artist. Active between 1986 and 2006, he has charted more than twenty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...

Top New Female Vocalist: K. T. Oslin
K. T. Oslin
Kay Toinette "K. T." Oslin is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is known for a series of top-ten country hits during the late 1980s and early 1990s, four of which topped the chart.-Early life and career:...

Video of the Year: "80's Ladies
80's Ladies (song)
"80's Ladies" is a song written and recorded by American country artist K.T. Oslin. It was the second single and title track from the Oslin's 1987 album 80's Ladies. The song reached #7 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart....

" – K. T. Oslin

1986 (presented 1987)
Entertainer of the Year: Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...

Song of the Year: "On the Other Hand
On the Other Hand
"On the Other Hand" is a country music song written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. First recorded by Keith Whitley on his 1985 album L.A. to Miami, it was later released as a single by Randy Travis. It was the lead-off single to his 1986 album Storms of Life, and it peaked at #67 in the United...

" – Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...

 – Paul Overstreet
Paul Overstreet
Paul Lester Overstreet is an American country music singer and songwriter. He recorded 10 studio albums between 1982 and 2005, and charted 16 singles on the Billboard country charts, including two #1 hits...

, Don Schlitz
Don Schlitz
Donald Alan "Don" Schlitz, Jr. is a country music songwriter. For his songwriting efforts, Schlitz has earned two Grammys, as well as four ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year awards...

Single of the Year: "On the Other Hand" – Randy Travis
Album of the Year: Storms of Life
Storms of Life
Storms of Life is the debut album by country music star Randy Travis, and was released on June 6, 1986 by Warner Bros. Records Nashville. Certified 3× Multi-Platinum by the RIAA for American shipments of three million copies, it features the singles "On the Other Hand" Storms of Life is the...

– Randy Travis
Top Male Vocalist: Randy Travis
Top Female Vocalist: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Top Vocal Duo: The Judds
The Judds
The Judds were an American country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter, Wynonna Judd. Signed to RCA Records in 1983, the duo released six studio albums between then and 1991. One of the most successful acts in country music history, The Judds won five Grammy Awards for Best Country...

Top Vocal Group: The Forester Sisters
The Forester Sisters
The Forester Sisters are an American country music vocal group consisting of sisters Kathy, June, Kim and Christy Forester. The quartet had commercial success in the 1980s, charting fifteen Top Tens on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, including the Number Ones "I Fell in Love Again Last...

Top New Male Vocalist: Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...

Top New Female Vocalist: Holly Dunn
Holly Dunn
Holly Dunn is a country music artist who first found fame with her 1986 Top-10 hit "Daddy's Hands" from her self-titled début album. Dunn has charted more than a dozen country singles, two of which reaching the #1 spot.Dunn is the daughter of a minister father...

Video of the Year: "Whoever's in New England
Whoever's in New England (song)
"Whoever's in New England" is the name of a popular single made famous by Reba McEntire in 1986. The song was considered one of her signature and breakthrough singles.-Song background:...

" – Reba McEntire

1985 (presented 1986)
Entertainer of the Year: Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

Song of the Year: "Lost in the Fifties Tonight
Lost in the Fifties Tonight
"Lost in The Fifties Tonight ", also known simply as "Lost in The Fiftes Tonight", is a song made famous by country music singer Ronnie Milsap.-Success and Reception:...

" – Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Lee Milsap is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country’s most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s...

 – Fred Parris, Mike Reid, Troy Seals
Troy Seals
Troy Seals is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.He is a member of the prominent Seals family of musicians that includes, Jim Seals and Dan Seals and Brady Seals...

Single of the Year: "Highwayman
Highwayman (song)
"Highwayman" is the title of a song written by American songwriter Jimmy Webb, about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history, a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a star ship captain....

" – The Highwaymen
The Highwaymen (country supergroup)
The Highwaymen were an American supergroup comprising four country music artists well known for, among other things, their involvement and pioneering influence on the outlaw country subgenre: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson...

Album of the Year: Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind
Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind
Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind is the fourth studio album from American country music artist George Strait, released in 1984. It is certified platinum by the RIAA for sales of one million copies in the U.S...

George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

Top Male Vocalist: George Strait
Top Female Vocalist: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Top Vocal Duo: The Judds
The Judds
The Judds were an American country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter, Wynonna Judd. Signed to RCA Records in 1983, the duo released six studio albums between then and 1991. One of the most successful acts in country music history, The Judds won five Grammy Awards for Best Country...

Top Vocal Group: Alabama
Top New Male Vocalist: Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...

Top New Female Vocalist: Judy Rodman
Judy Rodman
Judy Rodman is an American Country Music Singer. In the mid-80s, she was a successful country music singer, making all the way to number one on the country charts in 1986 with the song "Until I Met You." She also won the Academy of Country Music's "Top New Female Vocalist" award in 1985.Today,...

Video of the Year: "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes
Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes (song)
"Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" is the title of a song written by Troy Seals and Max D. Barnes and recorded by American country music singer George Jones. It was recorded for his 1985 album Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes, from which it was released in late 1985 as the first single...

" – George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....


1984 (presented 1985)
Entertainer of the Year: Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

Song of the Year: "Why Not Me" – The Judds
The Judds
The Judds were an American country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter, Wynonna Judd. Signed to RCA Records in 1983, the duo released six studio albums between then and 1991. One of the most successful acts in country music history, The Judds won five Grammy Awards for Best Country...

 – Harlan Howard
Harlan Howard
Harlan Perry Howard was a prolific American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote a large number of popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists...

, Brent Maher, Sonny Throckmorton
Sonny Throckmorton
James Fron "Sonny" Throckmorton is an American country music singer and songwriter. Known primarily for his songwriting, Throckmorton has had more than 1,000 of his songs recorded by various country singers...

Single of the Year: "To All the Girls I've Loved Before
To All the Girls I've Loved Before
"To All the Girls I've Loved Before" was a 1984 cover of Albert Hammond's song by singers Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson, which appeared on Iglesias's album 1100 Bel Air Place. A breakthrough for Iglesias in the English language market, the song peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the...

" – Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 and Julio Iglesias
Julio Iglesias
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva , better known simply as Julio Iglesias, is a Spanish singer who has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released 77 albums. According to Sony Music Entertainment, he is one of the top 15 best selling music artists in history,...

Album of the Year: Roll On
Roll On (Alabama album)
Roll On is the fifth studio album of country music band Alabama. Iit was released in 1984.All four singles released from this album reached Number One on the Hot Country Singles chart: "Roll On ", "When We Make Love", "If You're Gonna Play in Texas " and " Fire in the Night"...

– Alabama
Top Male Vocalist: George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

Top Female Vocalist: Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

Top Vocal Duo: The Judds
Top Vocal Group: Alabama
Top New Male Vocalist: Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

Top New Female Vocalist: Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson was an American pop singer. She is perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young, as well as her 1978 cover of Young's "Lotta Love". The song, her debut single, was a Number One Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks hit and #8 pop hit that year...

Video of the Year: "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight
All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight
"All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" is a song written and recorded by country music performer Hank Williams, Jr.. It was released in October 1984 as the second single from his 1984 album Major Moves. It peaked at number ten on the country music charts...

" – Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...


1983 (presented 1984)
Entertainer of the Year: Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

Song of the Year: "Wind Beneath My Wings
Wind Beneath My Wings
"Wind Beneath My Wings" is the title of a song written in 1982 by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley. They recorded a demo of the song, which they gave to musician Bob Montgomery. Montgomery then recorded his own demo version of the song, changing it from the mid-tempo version he was given to a ballad...

" – Gary Morris
Gary Morris
Gary Gwyn Morris is an American country music artist who charted a string of countrypolitan-styled hit songs throughout the 1980s....

 – Larry Henley
Larry Henley
Larry Henley is an American singer and songwriter, born June 30, 1941 in Arp, Texas. He is perhaps best known for co-writing the 1989 hit record, "Wind Beneath My Wings". The single was a U.S...

, Jeff Silbar
Single of the Year: "Islands in the Stream
Islands in the Stream
"Islands in the Stream" is the title of a song written by the Bee Gees and sung by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It was released in August 1983 as the first single from Rogers' album Eyes That See in the Dark and the second pop number-one for both Rogers and Parton...

" – Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

 and Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

Album of the Year: The Closer You Get… – Alabama
Top Male Vocalist: Lee Greenwood
Lee Greenwood
Melvin Lee Greenwood is an American country music artist. Active since the early 1980s, he has released more than twenty major-label albums and has charted more than 35 singles on the Billboard country music charts....

Top Female Vocalist: Janie Fricke
Janie Fricke
Janie Fricke is an American country music singer, best remembered for a series of country music hits in the early to mid 1980s....

Top Vocal Duo: Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
Top Vocal Group: Alabama
Top New Male Vocalist: Jim Glaser
Jim Glaser
Jim Glaser is an American country music artist. The brother of country singers Chuck and Tompall Glaser, he has performed as both a solo artist and alongside his two brothers in the group Tompall and the Glaser Brothers...

Top New Female Vocalist: Gus Hardin
Gus Hardin
Gus Hardin was a country music singer.-Career:Hardin was born in 1945 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her rise to country music popularity began in 1983 with her first RCA Records single, the top 10 hit "After The Last Goodbye"...


1982 (presented 1983)
Entertainer of the Year: Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

Song of the Year: "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)
Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)
"Are the Good Times Really Over " is a single by American country music artist Merle Haggard. Released in May 1982, it was the third single from his album Big City. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and #1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.-Chart performance:...

" – Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 – Merle Haggard
Single of the Year: "Always on My Mind
Always on My Mind
"Always on My Mind" is an American country music song by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson, originally recorded by Brenda Lee in 1972.Allmusic lists over 300 recorded releases of the song in versions by dozens of performers...

" – Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

Album of the Year: Always on My Mind
Always on My Mind (album)
Always on My Mind is a 1982 album by country singer Willie Nelson. It was the Billboard number one country album of the year for 1982, and stayed 253 weeks on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts, peaking at number one for a total of 22 weeks, as well as spending 99 weeks on the Billboard 200...

– Willie Nelson
Top Male Vocalist: Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Lee Milsap is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country’s most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s...

Top Female Vocalist: Sylvia
Sylvia (singer)
Sylvia Jane Kirby is an American country music and country pop singer and songwriter. More commonly known by the singular name Sylvia, she enjoyed crossover music success with the song "Nobody" in 1982....

Top Vocal Duo: Shelly West
Shelly West
Shelly West is an American country music singer. Her mother was the country music star Dottie West, whose career spanned three decades. Shelly West is best known for having hit duets with David Frizzell, and for their #1 hit "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma"...

 and David Frizzell
David Frizzell
David Frizzell is an American country music singer. He is the younger brother of country music legend Lefty Frizzell. His career first started in the late 1950s, but his biggest success came in the '80s, 30 years into his career....

Top Vocal Group: Alabama
Top New Male Vocalist: Michael Martin Murphey
Michael Martin Murphey
Michael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, Country music, and Popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter...

Top New Female Vocalist: Karen Brooks
Karen Brooks
Karen Brooks is an American country music singer who is best known for a series of Top 40 hits on the Billboard Country Chart in the early 1980s, including "Faking Love," a duet with T.G. Sheppard which topped the country chart in February 1983.Brooks was born in Dallas, Texas in 1954. Attended...


1981 (presented 1982)
Entertainer of the Year: Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...

Song of the Year: "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma
You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma
"You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" is a 1981 single from the film "Any Which Way You Can" and was performed by David Frizzell and Shelly West. "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" was written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Larry Collins and Sandy Pinkard would become Shelly West's debut on...

" – David Frizzell
David Frizzell
David Frizzell is an American country music singer. He is the younger brother of country music legend Lefty Frizzell. His career first started in the late 1950s, but his biggest success came in the '80s, 30 years into his career....

 and Shelly West
Shelly West
Shelly West is an American country music singer. Her mother was the country music star Dottie West, whose career spanned three decades. Shelly West is best known for having hit duets with David Frizzell, and for their #1 hit "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma"...

 – Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant
Felice and Boudleaux Bryant
Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team best known for songs such as "Rocky Top," "Love Hurts" and numerous Everly Brothers hits, including "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Bye Bye Love".-Beginnings:Boudleaux was born Diadorius...

, Larry Collins, Sandy Pinkard
Single of the Year: "Elvira
Elvira (song)
"Elvira" is a song written by Dallas Frazier which became a famous country and pop hit by The Oak Ridge Boys. A Number One hit on the Billboard country music charts, The Oak Ridge Boys' version is considered one of their signature songs.-Song history:...

" – The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet.The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in southern gospel during the 1950s...

Album of the Year: Feels So Right
Feels So Right (album)
Feels So Right is the second studio album released by country music band Alabama. Released in 1981 on RCA Records, the album went on to achieve greater success than its predecessor, My Home's In Alabama....

– Alabama
Top Male Vocalist: Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

Top Female Vocalist: Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

Top Vocal Duo: Shelly West and David Frizzell
Top New Male Vocalist: Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...

Top New Female Vocalist: Juice Newton
Juice Newton
Judith Kay "Juice" Newton is an American Pop music and Country singer, songwriter and guitarist...


1980 (presented 1981)
Entertainer of the Year: Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

Song of the Year: "He Stopped Loving Her Today
He Stopped Loving Her Today
"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is the title of a song by American country music artist George Jones that has been named in several surveys as the greatest country song of all time. It was released in April 1980 as the lead single from the album I Am What I Am. The song was Jones's first No. 1 single...

" – George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....

 – Bobby Braddock
Bobby Braddock
Robert Valentine Braddock is an American country music songwriter and record producer. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Braddock has contributed numerous hit songs during more than 40 years in the industry, including 13 number-one hit...

, Curly Putman
Curly Putman
Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr. is an American songwriter, based in Nashville. His biggest success was "Green, Green Grass of Home" , which was covered by Elvis Presley, Johnny Darrell, Gram Parsons, Joan Baez, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roberto Leal, Merle Haggard, Bobby Bare, Joe Tex, Nana...

Single of the Year: "He Stopped Loving Her Today" – George Jones
Album of the Year: Urban Cowboy
Urban Cowboy
Released as a 2× vinyl record album, re-released on CD in 1995.Side A:#Hello Texas – Jimmy Buffett #All Night Long – Joe Walsh #Times Like These – Dan Fogelberg #Nine Tonight – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band...

– Soundtrack
Top Male Vocalist: George Jones
Top Female Vocalist: Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

Top New Male Vocalist: Johnny Lee
Johnny Lee
Johnny Lee is an American country music singer. His 1980 single, "Lookin' for Love" not only spent three weeks at the top of the Billboard country singles chart in the second half of 1980 but also went to the Top 5 on the Pop charts, and Top 10 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary survey...

Top New Female Vocalist: Terri Gibbs
Terri Gibbs
Teresa Fay "Terri" Gibbs is an American country music artist who was born blind. Between 1980 and 1990, she recorded seven studio albums, including four for MCA Records and one for Warner Bros. Records...


1979 (presented 1980)
Artist of the Decade: Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

Entertainer of the Year: Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

Song of the Year: "It's a Cheating Situation
It's a Cheating Situation
"It's a Cheating Situation" is a single by American country music artist Moe Bandy with Janie Fricke. Released in January 1979, it was the first single from his album It's a Cheating Situation. The song peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It also reached number 1 on the...

" – Moe Bandy
Moe Bandy
Marion Franklin Bandy, Jr.–better known professionally as Moe Bandy– is a country music singer...

 – Sonny Throckmorton
Sonny Throckmorton
James Fron "Sonny" Throckmorton is an American country music singer and songwriter. Known primarily for his songwriting, Throckmorton has had more than 1,000 of his songs recorded by various country singers...

, Curly Putman
Curly Putman
Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr. is an American songwriter, based in Nashville. His biggest success was "Green, Green Grass of Home" , which was covered by Elvis Presley, Johnny Darrell, Gram Parsons, Joan Baez, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roberto Leal, Merle Haggard, Bobby Bare, Joe Tex, Nana...

Single of the Year: "All the Gold in California
All the Gold in California
"All the Gold in California" is a 1979 single by Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers Band. "All the Gold in California" was written by Larry Gatlin and would be the first of two number one singles for Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers Band. The single stayed at number one for two weeks and spent...

" – Larry Gatlin
Larry Gatlin
Larry Wayne Gatlin is an American country music singer/songwriter. He is perhaps best known for teaming up with his brothers Steve and Rudy in the late 1970s, becoming one of country music's most successful acts of the 1970s and 1980s. Gatlin has had a total of 33 Top 40 singles...

Album of the Year: Straight Ahead – Larry Gatlin
Top Male Vocalist: Larry Gatlin
Top Female Vocalist: Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...

Top Vocal Duo: Joe Stampley
Joe Stampley
Joe Stampley is an American country music singer.-Biography:He was born to R.C. Stampley, Jr. , and Mary E. Stampley...

 and Moe Bandy
Moe Bandy
Marion Franklin Bandy, Jr.–better known professionally as Moe Bandy– is a country music singer...

Top New Male Vocalist: R. C. Bannon
Top New Female Vocalist: Lacy J. Dalton
Lacy J. Dalton
Lacy J. Dalton , is an American country and western singer and songwriter, known for her gritty, powerful vocals, which a number of critics likened to a country equivalent to Bonnie Raitt . She had a number of hits in the 1980s, including "Takin' It Easy," "Crazy Blue Eyes" and "16th Avenue." ...


1978 (presented 1979)
Entertainer of the Year: Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

Song of the Year: "You Needed Me
You Needed Me
"You Needed Me" became the second single for Irish Boyband Boyzone from their album By Request. The single became number #1 on the UK Singles Chart, beating the debut solo single of Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, outselling her by just 700 copies...

" – Anne Murray
Anne Murray
Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....

 – Randy Goodrum
Randy Goodrum
Randy Goodrum is an American songwriter. Goodrum has written numerous popular songs, including Anne Murray's #1 hit "You Needed Me" and "Broken Hearted Me" , Michael Johnson's "Bluer Than Blue" , England Dan & John Ford Coley's "It's Sad to Belong" , Steve Perry's "Oh Sherrie" , DeBarge's "Who's...

Single of the Year: "Tulsa Time
Tulsa Time
"Tulsa Time" is a song written by Danny Flowers. Don Williams recorded and released it as a single in 1978. "Tulsa Time" would be Don Williams' eighth number one on the country chart...

" – Don Williams
Don Williams
Don Williams , is an American country singer, songwriter and a 2010 inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He grew up in Portland, Texas, and graduated in 1958 from Gregory-Portland High School. After seven years with the folk-pop group Pozo-Seco Singers, he began his solo career in 1971,...

Album of the Year: Y'all Come Back Saloon
Y'all Come Back Saloon
Y'all Come Back Saloon is the Oak Ridge Boys' Country debut album.From this album, the song "Old Time Lovin'" was seen and heard on the Dukes of Hazzard Episode Granny Annie.-Track listing:#"Y'all Come Back Saloon"...

The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet.The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in southern gospel during the 1950s...

Top Male Vocalist: Kenny Rogers
Top Female Vocalist: Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

Top Vocal Group: The Oak Ridge Boys
Top New Male Vocalist: John Conlee
John Conlee
John Conlee is an American country music singer. Between 1978 and 2004, Conlee charted a total of thirty-two singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and recorded eleven studio albums...

Top New Female Vocalist: Cristy Lane
Cristy Lane
Eleanor Johnston, known by her professional name as Cristy Lane is an American country music and gospel music singer, best known for a number of major country hits in the late 70s and the early 1980s, including her cover version of the song, "One Day at a Time".Lane's career began to take shape in...


1977 (presented 1978)
Entertainer of the Year: Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

Song of the Year: "Lucille
Lucille (Kenny Rogers song)
"Lucille" is the title of a ballad written by Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, and recorded by Kenny Rogers. It was released in January 1977 as the second and final single from the album Kenny Rogers. The song is about a man in a bar that meets a woman who has left her husband...

" – Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

 – Roger Bowling
Roger Bowling
Roger D. Bowling was a Nashville songwriter in the 1970s who specialized in Country music...

, Hal Bynum
Hal Bynum
Hal Bynum is an American songwriter most notably associated with the Outlaw country movement in the 1970s. Bynum has written more than 200 songs for popular country artists, including Kenny Rogers Patty Loveless , Johnny Cash , Cash and Waylon Jennings , and Jim Reeves...

Single of the Year: "Lucille" – Kenny Rogers
Album of the Year: Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers (1977 album)
Kenny Rogers is the title of Kenny Rogers' second solo album for United Artists Records, released worldwide in 1977. The album marked his first major solo success following the minor success of Love Lifted Me in 1976....

– Kenny Rogers
Top Male Vocalist: Kenny Rogers
Top Female Vocalist: Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...

Top Vocal Group: The Statler Brothers
Top New Male Vocalist: Eddie Rabbitt
Eddie Rabbitt
Edward Thomas "Eddie" Rabbitt was an American singer-songwriter and musician. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974...

Top New Female Vocalist: Debby Boone
Debby Boone
Deborah Anne Boone is an American singer and stage actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life," which spent a then record ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year...


1976 (presented 1977)
Entertainer of the Year: Mickey Gilley
Mickey Gilley
Mickey Leroy Gilley is an American country music singer and musician. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as...

Song of the Year: "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time
Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time
"Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time" is the title of a song written by Baker Knight and recorded by American country music artist Mickey Gilley. The song became Gilley's fifth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart...

" – Mickey Gilley
Mickey Gilley
Mickey Leroy Gilley is an American country music singer and musician. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as...

 – Baker Knight
Single of the Year: "Bring It On Home to Me
Bring It On Home to Me
"Bring It On Home to Me" is a 1962 soul song written and recorded by R&B singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. The song, about infidelity, was a hit for Cooke and has become a pop standard covered by numerous artists of different genres. It is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped...

" – Mickey Gilley
Album of the Year: Gilley's Smoking – Mickey Gilley
Top Male Vocalist: Mickey Gilley
Top Female Vocalist: Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...

Top Vocal Duo: Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...

 and Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

Top New Male Vocalist: Moe Bandy
Moe Bandy
Marion Franklin Bandy, Jr.–better known professionally as Moe Bandy– is a country music singer...

Top New Female Vocalist: Billie Jo Spears
Billie Jo Spears
Billie Jo Spears is an American country music singer. She reached the top-10 of the Country music charts five times between 1969 and 1977, her biggest hit being "Blanket on the Ground", which, in 1975, became her only number one...


1975 (presented 1976)
Entertainer of the Year: Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

Song of the Year: "Rhinestone Cowboy" – Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...

 – Larry Weiss
Single of the Year: "Rhinestone Cowboy" – Glen Campbell
Album of the Year: Feelin's – Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...

Top Male Vocalist: Conway Twitty
Top Female Vocalist: Loretta Lynn
Top Vocal Duo: Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn
Top New Male Vocalist: Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender , born Baldemar Garza Huerta in San Benito, Texas, United States, was a Mexican-American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados...

Top New Female Vocalist: Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...


1974 (presented 1975)
Entertainer of the Year: Mac Davis
Mac Davis
Mac Davis is a country music singer, songwriter, and actor originally from Lubbock, Texas who has enjoyed much crossover success...

Song of the Year: "Country Bumpkin
Country Bumpkin (song)
"Country Bumpkin" is a 1974 single by Cal Smith. "Country Bumpkin" was Cal Smith's second number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of ten weeks on the country chart. Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn recorded a duet that peaked in the top...

" – Cal Smith
Cal Smith
Calvin Grant Shofner , known professionally as Cal Smith, is an American country musician, most famous for his 1974 hit "Country Bumpkin."-Career:...

 – Don Wayne
Single of the Year: "Country Bumpkin" – Cal Smith
Album of the Year: Back Home AgainJohn Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...

Top Male Vocalist: Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

Top Female Vocalist: Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

Top Vocal Duo: Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...

 and Loretta Lynn
Top New Male Vocalist: Mickey Gilley
Mickey Gilley
Mickey Leroy Gilley is an American country music singer and musician. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as...

Top New Female Vocalist: Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...


1973 (presented 1974)
Entertainer of the Year: Roy Clark
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...

Song of the Year: "Behind Closed Doors
Behind Closed Doors (Charlie Rich song)
"Behind Closed Doors" is a country song written by Kenny O'Dell and first recorded by Charlie Rich for his 1973 album Behind Closed Doors. The single became Rich's first number-one hit on the country charts, spent 20 weeks on this chart, and also became a crossover hit on the pop charts...

" – Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich
Charles Rich was an American country music singer and musician. A Grammy Award winner, his eclectic-style of music was often hard to classify in a single genre, playing in the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and gospel genres.In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname The Silver...

 – Kenny O'Dell
Kenny O'Dell
Kenny O'Dell is an American country music singer and songwriter.Early in his career he worked with guitar legand,Duane Eddy,and his own band, Guys and Dolls. He is best known for writing the country hit "Behind Closed Doors", which Charlie Rich recorded, and "Mama He's Crazy" for The Judds...

Single of the Year: "Behind Closed Doors" – Charlie Rich
Album of the Year: Behind Closed Doors
Behind Closed Doors (Charlie Rich album)
Behind Closed Doors is a 1973 album by Charlie Rich. The album received three Country Music Association awards: Best Male Vocalist, Album of the Year, and Single of the Year, for the title song written by Kenny O'Dell. The album also went gold...

– Charlie Rich
Top Male Vocalist: Charlie Rich
Top Female Vocalist: Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

Top Vocal Group: Brush Arbor
Top New Male Vocalist: Dorsey Burnette
Dorsey Burnette
Dorsey Burnette was an early Rockabilly singer. With his younger brother, Johnny Burnette, and a friend named Paul Burlison, he was a founder member of The Rock and Roll Trio.-Background and early career:Dorsey Burnett was born on December 28, 1932 to Willie May and Dorsey Burnett Sr...

Top New Female Vocalist: Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...


1972 (presented 1973)
Entertainer of the Year: Roy Clark
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...

Song of the Year: "The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A." – Donna Fargo
Donna Fargo
Donna Fargo is an American country music singer-songwriter, who is best-known for a series of Top 10 country hits in the 1970s...

 – Donna Fargo
Single of the Year: "The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A." – Donna Fargo
Album of the Year: The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.
The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.
The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A. is the debut studio album by American country artist Donna Fargo. The album was released in May 1972 on Dot Records and was produced by Fargo's husband and manager Stan Silver...

– Donna Fargo
Top Male Vocalist: Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

Top Female Vocalist: Donna Fargo
Top Vocal Group: The Statler Brothers
Top New Male Vocalist: Johnny Rodriguez
Johnny Rodriguez
Johnny Rodriguez is an American country music singer. He was the first famous Latin American country music singer, infusing his music with Latin sounds, and even singing verses of songs in Spanish....

Top New Female Vocalist: Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker
Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...


1971 (presented 1972)
Entertainer of the Year: Freddie Hart
Freddie Hart (musician)
Frederick Segrest , known professionally as Freddie Hart, is an American country musician and songwriter best-known for his No. 1 hit "Easy Loving," which won the Country Music Association Song of the Year award in 1971 and 1972....

Song of the Year: "Easy Loving
Easy Loving
"Easy Loving" is a song composed by country music singer-songwriter Freddie Hart. Released in the summer of 1971, it became Hart's breakthrough hit and a country music standard.-Song history:...

" – Freddie Hart – Freddie Hart
Single of the Year: "Easy Loving" – Freddie Hart
Album of the Year: Easy Loving – Freddie Hart
Top Male Vocalist: Freddie Hart
Top Female Vocalist: Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

Top Vocal Duo: Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...

 and Loretta Lynn
Top New Male Vocalist: Tony Booth
Tony Booth (musician)
Tony Booth is an American country music singer who participated in Buck Owens' "Bakersfield sound" revolution.-Early years:...

Top New Female Vocalist: Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...


1970 (presented 1971)
Entertainer of the Year: Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

Song of the Year: "For the Good Times" – Ray Price
Ray Price (musician)
Ray Price is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music...

 – Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...

Single of the Year: "For the Good Times" – Ray Price
Album of the Year: For the Good Times – Ray Price
Top Male Vocalist: Merle Haggard
Top Female Vocalist: Lynn Anderson
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...

Top Vocal Group: The Kimberleys
Top New Male Vocalist: Buddy Alan
Buddy Alan
Alvis Alan Owens , known professionally as Buddy Alan, is an American country music artist. The son of Buck Owens and Bonnie Owens and stepson of Merle Haggard, Alan recorded four albums for Capitol Records in the 1970s...

Top New Female Vocalist: Sammi Smith
Sammi Smith
Sammi Smith was an American country music singer and songwriter. Born Jewel Faye Smith, she is best known for her 1971 country/pop crossover hit, "Help Me Make It Through the Night", which was written by Kris Kristofferson...


1969 (presented 1970)
Artist of the Decade: Marty Robbins
Marty Robbins
Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...

Single of the Year: "Okie from Muskogee
Okie from Muskogee (song)
"Okie from Muskogee" is an American country music song performed by its co-writer, Merle Haggard. Released in September 1969, the song became one of the most famous of his career.-Background:...

" – Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

Album of the Year: Okie from Muskogee
Okie from Muskogee
Okie from Muskogee is an album by Merle Haggard and the Strangers, released in 1969. The album won the Academy of Country Music award for Album of the Year in 1969. Haggard also won Single of the Year for "Okie from Muskogee" as well as Top Male Vocalist.Haggard has stated that the title song on...

– Merle Haggard
Top Male Vocalist: Merle Haggard
Top Female Vocalist: Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....

Top Vocal Duo: Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens , born Bonnie Campbell, was an American country music singer who was married to Buck Owens and later Merle Haggard.-Biography:...

Top Vocal Group: The Kimberleys
Top New Male Vocalist: Freddy Weller
Freddy Weller
Freddy Weller is a United States country music singer-songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. His recording career started in 1969, while he was playing guitar in the band Paul Revere & The Raiders....

Top New Female Vocalist: Donna Fargo
Donna Fargo
Donna Fargo is an American country music singer-songwriter, who is best-known for a series of Top 10 country hits in the 1970s...


1968 (presented 1969)
Single of the Year: "Little Green Apples
Little Green Apples
"Little Green Apples" is a song written by Bobby Russell which was most successful as a 1968 hit single by O. C. Smith.According to Buzz Cason, who partnered Bobby Russell in the Nashville-based Rising Sons music publishing firm, Russell wrote both the songs "Honey" and "Little Green Apples" as "an...

" – Roger Miller
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...

Album of the Year: Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell
Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell
Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell is a 1968 album by Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry. Gentry and Campbell's harmonies resulted in a gold record and three hit singles, including a cover of the Everly Brothers' hit "All I Have to Do Is Dream", which rose to #3 on the U.K. Top 40 and #27 on the...

Bobbie Gentry
Bobbie Gentry
Roberta Lee Streeter , professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is a former American singer-songwriter notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material...

 and Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...

Top Male Vocalist: Glen Campbell
Top Female Vocalist: Cathie Taylor
Cathie Taylor
Cathie Taylorwas born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on 7/26/1944. As a child Taylor had moved with her family from Canada to Morgan Hill, California. At age 12, a talent contest appearance led to her singing western folk songs on San Francisco’s KQED-TV. After some time raising blue-ribbon cows, she landed...

Top Vocal Duo: Johnny Mosby and Jonie Mosby
Top New Male Vocalist: Ray Sanders
Ray Sanders (singer)
Raymon Sanders is an American country music artist. Between 1960 and 1980, he charted fourteen times on the Hot Country Songs charts with singles released by Liberty, Imperial and United Artists labels...

Top New Female Vocalist: Cheryl Poole
Band of the Year: The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos were a Grammy-winning band led by Buck Owens in the 1960s and early '70s, who were heavily involved in the development and presentation of the "Bakersfield Sound." Their peak of success was from 1965-1970. In 2005, CMT named the Buckaroos No...


1967 (presented 1968)
Album of the Year: Gentle on My MindGlen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...

Top Male Vocalist: Glen Campbell
Top Female Vocalist: Lynn Anderson
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...

Top Vocal Duo: Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 and Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens , born Bonnie Campbell, was an American country music singer who was married to Buck Owens and later Merle Haggard.-Biography:...

Top Vocal Group: Sons of the Pioneers
Sons of the Pioneers
The Sons of the Pioneers are one of America's earliest Western singing groups whose classic recordings set a new standard for performers of Western music. Known for the high quality of their vocal performances, musicianship, and songwriting, they produced finely-crafted and innovative recordings...

Top New Male Vocalist: Jerry Inman
Top New Female Vocalist: Bobbie Gentry
Bobbie Gentry
Roberta Lee Streeter , professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is a former American singer-songwriter notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material...

Band of the Year: The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos were a Grammy-winning band led by Buck Owens in the 1960s and early '70s, who were heavily involved in the development and presentation of the "Bakersfield Sound." Their peak of success was from 1965-1970. In 2005, CMT named the Buckaroos No...


1966 (presented 1967)
Top Male Vocalist: Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

Top Female Vocalist: Bonnie Guitar
Bonnie Guitar
Bonnie Guitar is an American Country-Pop Singer. She is best remembered for her 1957 Country-Pop crossover hit "Dark Moon"...

Top New Male Vocalist: Billy Mize
Billy Mize
Billy Mize is a steel guitarist, band leader, vocalist, songwriter, and TV show host.-Biography:...

Top New Female Vocalist: Cathie Taylor
Cathie Taylor
Cathie Taylorwas born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on 7/26/1944. As a child Taylor had moved with her family from Canada to Morgan Hill, California. At age 12, a talent contest appearance led to her singing western folk songs on San Francisco’s KQED-TV. After some time raising blue-ribbon cows, she landed...

Band of the Year: The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos were a Grammy-winning band led by Buck Owens in the 1960s and early '70s, who were heavily involved in the development and presentation of the "Bakersfield Sound." Their peak of success was from 1965-1970. In 2005, CMT named the Buckaroos No...


1965 (presented 1966)
Top Male Vocalist: Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...

Top Female Vocalist: Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens
Bonnie Owens , born Bonnie Campbell, was an American country music singer who was married to Buck Owens and later Merle Haggard.-Biography:...

Top Vocal Duo: Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

 and Bonnie Owens
Top New Male Vocalist: Merle Haggard
Top New Female Vocalist: Kay Adams
Band of the Year: The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos
The Buckaroos were a Grammy-winning band led by Buck Owens in the 1960s and early '70s, who were heavily involved in the development and presentation of the "Bakersfield Sound." Their peak of success was from 1965-1970. In 2005, CMT named the Buckaroos No...


Entertainer of the Year

Most Consecutive Entertainer of the Year Award wins:
  • Alabama (5) - (1981–1985)


Females to win Entertainer of the Year:
  • Loretta Lynn - (1975)
  • Dolly Parton - (1977)
  • Barbara Mandrell - (1980)
  • Reba McEntire - (1994)
  • Shania Twain - (1999)
  • The Dixie Chicks - (2000)
  • Carrie Underwood - (2008, 2009)
  • Taylor Swift - (2010)


Most Entertainer of the Year Awards won:
  • Garth Brooks (6) - (1990–1993, 1997–1998)

Female Vocalist of the Year

Most Consecutive Female Vocalist of the Year Award wins:
  • Reba McEntire (4) - (1984–1987)


Most Female Vocalist of the Year Awards won:
  • Reba McEntire (7) - (1984–1987, 1990–1991, 1994)

Male Vocalist of the Year

Most Consecutive Male Vocalist of the Year Award wins:
  • Brad Paisley (5) - (2006–2010)


Most Male Vocalist of the Year Award wins:
  • Merle Haggard (6) - (1966, 1969–1970, 1972, 1974, 1981)

Triple-Crown Award

The Triple-Crown Award is an elite honor that has been presented to only five country artists in the history of the ACM Awards. The honor distinguishes achievement in a solo artist winning the Top New Male/Female Vocalist and/or Top New Artist category, Male/Female Vocalist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year.
The five artists are based on their first year winning each of the awards.
  • Kenny Chesney
    Kenny Chesney
    Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

Top New Male Vocalist: 1997

Top Male Vocalist: 2002

Entertainer of the Year: 2004

  • Merle Haggard
    Merle Haggard
    Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

Top New Male Vocalist: 1965

Top Male Vocalist: 1966

Entertainer of the Year: 1970

  • Mickey Gilley
    Mickey Gilley
    Mickey Leroy Gilley is an American country music singer and musician. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as...

Top New Male Vocalist: 1974

Top Male Vocalist: 1976

Entertainer of the Year: 1976

  • Barbara Mandrell
    Barbara Mandrell
    Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

Top New Female Vocalist: 1971

Top Female Vocalist: 1978

Entertainer of the Year: 1980

  • Carrie Underwood
    Carrie Underwood
    Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

Top New Female Vocalist: 2005

Top Female Vocalist: 2006

Entertainer of the Year: 2008

See also

  • Country Music Association
    Country Music Association
    The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...

  • Country Music Hall of Fame
  • Grand Ole Opry
    Grand Ole Opry
    The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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