New York gets a taste of country music

New York gets a taste of country music
The 39th Annual Country Music Awards were held in New York amid much fanfare on Tuesday night and in the presence of a pool of country music talent.

The event, which was shifted out of Nashville, Tennessee for the very first time, is an endeavour by the Country Music Association to elevate the deteriorating status of country in Big Apple, which has lost out to other music forms in the past few years. The decline of this music genre in the powerful metropolitan is evident as there has been no country radio station launch in the last three years.

Rascal Flatts member Jay DeMarcus described the event as an effort to better the scope of country in New York City and at the same time also drive out some fallacies regarding this genre of music.
At the awards ceremony, Lee Ann Womack turned out to be one of the prominent winners walking away with the album of the year award for There's More Where That Came From.

Womack's album was all the more significant as it presented a rather traditional flavor, which has vanished in this era of pop music. There was more crowning glory in store for Womack as her song I May Hate Myself in the Morning won the single of the year and to add to it, she was also presented with the musical event of the year award for Good News, Bad News, which was a duet with George Strait.

While accepting one of the awards, Womack did have a message for all the music fans who were bored of listening to music that lacks feel and sounds very much redundant. "Tune into your country music station," was Womack advice to such music aficionados.

Australian-born Keith Urban was chosen the male vocalist of the year for the second successive year. The icing on the cake for Urban was the honor of being selected as the entertainer of the year.

Among the other major victors were Brooks & Dunn, Bill Anderson and Jon Randall, Toby Keith. Alabama, Glen Campbell and DeFord Bailey made it to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Many country celebrities exhibited their talent to make the function a memorable one. Performances were seen by Gretchen Wilson, celeb couple Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Garth Brooks gave a scintillating performance live from the middle of Times Square.

Some non-country performers also played a part in the livening up the atmosphere. Norah Jones took the stage with Willie Nelson while Elton John was joined by Dolly Parton.

Next year, the action shifts back to the original venue Nashville, which will play host to the 40th anniversary celebrations of the awards ceremony.