Tour rehearsal show provides funding for Belmont award
Reigning Academy of Country Music Female Vocalist of the Year Miranda Lambert recently used a tour warm-up show to make a major difference in the life of an aspiring female songwriter. Thanks to a sold-out club show in Chicago, Lambert will for the second year fund the Miranda Lambert Women Creators Scholarship at Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business. The purpose of the fund is to provide a scholarship to an outstanding female student who is majoring in music business, songwriting or entertainment industry studies.
“I am so happy to continue supporting this scholarship fund for Women Creators at Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business,” said Lambert. “To be able to assist women in a meaningful way means the world to me.”
Lambert raised the funds to continue the scholarship for a second year with her Jan. 24 club show at Joe’s Bar in Chicago, a rehearsal for her current Highway Vagabond Tour, which supports her 2016 album, The Weight of These Wings. Songwriter Natalie Hemby, a Belmont graduate, joined her for the concert.
Doug Howard, dean of the Curb College, said, “We are grateful and humbled by the continued generous support given by Miranda Lambert to the women songwriters and artists at the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business. The level of participation and excitement displayed by our students in connection with this scholarship has been overwhelming, and this year’s gift is once again evidence of Miranda’s firm commitment to inspire and empower the next generation of female creators and entertainment industry leaders.”
Applications are now open for the 2017-18 scholarship. Candidates must complete an online application and submit an original song. A Curb College selection committee will review the applications, and a group of finalists will be sent to Lambert review. Award notification is anticipated to occur in late spring.
The inaugural scholarship for the 2016-17 academic year went to junior songwriting major Anna Vaus.
About Miranda Lambert
Vanner Records/RCA Records Nashville singer/songwriter Miranda Lambert is the reigning ACM Female Vocalist of the Year, having been bestowed this honor for seven consecutive years. Her accolades include 2 Grammy Awards, 13 (CMA) Country Music Associations Awards, and 25 (ACM) Academy of Country Music Awards as well as many other honors, including the prestigious Harmony Award from the Nashville Symphony.
The Texas native released her most recent effort, a double album titled The Weight of These Wings in November 2016, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. She touts six studio albums to her repertoire; Kerosene (2005), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2007), Revolution (2009), Four The Record (2011) and Platinum (2014), the latter earning Lambert a GRAMMY Award for Best Country Album, in addition to her previous GRAMMY win for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2010 for “The House That Built Me.” Her second single “We Should Be Friends” is chasing up the charts at Country Radio. www.Mirandalambert.com
About the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business
In 1971, Belmont first established a Music Business program designed to prepare young women and men for operational, administrative, creative and technical careers in the music industry. The program grew in both size and reputation, leading to the advent of the full Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business in 2003. Currently home to more than 2,500 undergraduates with majors in five areas—music business, audio engineering technology, entertainment industry studies, songwriting and motion pictures—the college boasts an impressive faculty of academic scholars and authors, entrepreneurs, songwriters, producers, filmmakers and sound and recording engineers. It is a world leader in music business and entertainment industry education and the only freestanding college of its kind.
