The 26th annual International Country Music Conference honored some of the top authors and journalists in the field of country music May 21-23 during an annual gathering at Belmont University.
The Belmont Book Award, Lifetime Achievement Award and Charlie Lamb Awards were presented during a special noon luncheon, underwritten by the Mike Curb Family Foundation, on Fri., May 22 in the Frist Lecture Hall. This year’s Belmont Book Award was given to Patrick Huber for Linthead Stomp: The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South. The University of Illinois Press received the Lifetime Achievement Award for their series, Music in American Life.
In addition to the book awards, the Charlie Lamb Awards for Excellence in Journalism were presented to Alanna Nash in the Career category and Barry Mazor in the Contemporary category. The Charlie Lamb Awards are underwritten by Gary and Peggy Walker.
The 26th annual ICMC featured authors of books on a variety of country music subjects, including Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Tubb, Eddy Arnold, Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Events included a Thursday evening panel at the Quonset Hut with Shelby Singleton, Jerry Kennedy and Bob Moore, moderated by Don Cusic, and a panel discussion at RCA Studio B on Friday evening with Harold Bradley, Fred Foster and Ray Edenton with moderator John Rumble. There were also several presentations from prominent country music historians and scholars, including panels “The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers” and “Defining Country Music: What It Is and Does It Matter?”
For more information, visit www.internationalcountrymusic.org.
