Each year as we grow older, it seems like we have a hard time with finding that perfect gift for loved ones, coworkers, and friends. Hopefully with our 2016 Holiday Gift Guide, you will be able to find the perfect gift. We strive to seek out locally made products from here in Kentucky, with a couple of exceptions. Please feel free to let us know any stores or items that you would recommend for your loved ones.
Chris Stapleton at CMA Awards. Photo by Erika Goldring/FilmMagic
If you noticed carefully throughout the night, several Kentucky country music stars were featured on the CMA Award 50th anniversary broadcast. Here are a few of those highlights:
Keith Whitley Remembered Twice
During Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood's melody of hits, they performed Keith Whitley's "Don't Close Your Eyes." Then when Alan Jackson sang "Remember When" and George Strait sang "Troubadour," a photo of Keith Whitley was shown in the background as to honor the legends.
Trisha Yearwood pays tribute to Crystal Gayle & Loretta Lynn
Trisha Yearwood performed "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" as Crystal Gayle looked on in the audience beside her sister Loretta Lynn. Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks also sang "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," in tribute to Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty.
Bill Monroe and Keith Whitley Memoralized
During Alan Jackson and George Strait's duet, you will see photos on the wall in the background that included Bill Monroe and Keith Whitley among those that helped build the foundation of country music.
Ricky Skaggs & Dwight Yoakam Pickin' and Grinnin' in Opener
During the CMA Award show opener, Ricky Skaggs and Brad Paisley picked their way through "Country Boy," complete with fast guitar picking skills. We also got to see Dwight Yoakam singing "Guitars, Cadillacs" during the opener.
Ricky Skaggs, Brad Paisley, and Charlie Daniels at the CMA Awards. Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images.
Roy Clark looks on as Dwight Yoakam sings "Guitars, Cadillacs" at the CMA Awards. Photo by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images
Dwight Yoakam and Chris Stapleton singing "Seven Spanish Angels"
Here is some six degrees of Kentucky: Pikeville native Dwight Yoakam performed with Paintsville native Chris Stapleton on the hit tune, "Seven Spanish Angels." That song was made famous with the performance by Ray Charles and Willie Nelson. Willie Nelson leased part of Renfro Valley Entertainment Center back in the day, but has never played there. One of the co-writers of that song, Eddie Setser, is from Corbin, Kentucky, which is home of the original KFC.
Chris Stapleton Takes Home 2 Awards
A humbled Chris Stapleton took home the award for Best Male Vocalist, along with Best Video for the powerful tune "Fire Away."
Darrell Scott is Long Time Gone
Laurel County native, Darrell Scott, has made a living on songwriting and performing. He wrote "Long Time Gone" that the Dixie Chicks sang last night alongside Beyonce at the CMA Awards. Ironically the tune is about the dismay of country music with the lyrics, "Now they sound tired but they don't sound Haggard / They got money but they don't have Cash / They got Junior but they don't have Hank..."
Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle in the audience
Believe me when I say this, it was just a disgrace that Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle were only given a few seconds of screentime rather than have them up on stage performing showing how it is done.
What were some of your favorite moments of the awards? Did your favorite win?
Last night, the lineup for the 22nd annual Master Musicians Festival was revealed. With a theme of "Kentucky Loud and Proud," east Kentucky native, Dwight Yoakam, will headline the festival. The festival will have a blend of country, bluegrass, soul, rock, and folk music. The Master Musicians Festival will be held on July 10 and 11, 2015, at the Somerset Community College Festival Field in Somerset, Ky.
Also on hand will be Sam Bush, Bela Fleck with Abigail Washburn, Billy Strings with Don Julin, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Ben Sollee, Mandolin Orange, Quinn DeVeaux, Ben Knight and the Well Diggers, Josh Nolan, Travis Harris and the West Coast Turnarounds, The Kites, Kevin Dalton and the Tuesday Blooms, Wicked Peace, and Mixed Nuts.
Tickets for the Master Musicians Festival are currently on sale. A Tier 1 Weekend Pass is $45. Regular presale tickets will end on July 10, at 5:00 p.m. All presale tickets are weekend pass only. Single day tickets will be available only at the gate while supplies last.
For more information and to purchase tickets, be sure to visit www.mastermusiciansfestival.org
During this past week, Kentucky was very well represented on the national stage of television thanks to the likes of Dwight Yoakam and Sturgill Simpson. Dwight Yoakam performed a duet with Brandy Clark on the Grammy Awards. Sturgill Simpson was a guest performer again on the David Letterman Show. You might notice that Sturgill's drummer, Miles, doesn't sport the Commonwealth of Kentucky logo on his drums during his television performances, but does live in concert. He does sport a Kentucky shirt. :) Check out their performances below:
Kentucky natives Ricky Skaggs and Dwight Yoakam have been announced as recipients of the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award. The announcement came today from the Academy of Country Music. They will be honored during the 6th Annual ACM Honors event in Nashville on September 24, 2012.
Ricky Skaggs is best known for both his country and bluegrass music. During the 1980s, he had over 15 Top 10 Singles, with 11 of those being number one hits. He was named the ACM’s 1981 Top New Male Vocalist and received five ACM Awards for Touring Band of the Year.
Dwight Yoakam captured the imagination of traditionalists and new listeners alike by giving hillbilly music a modern twist. Born in Kentucky but based in Los Angeles, Yoakam debuted with a twangy cover of Johnny Horton’s “Honky Tonk Man,” which led him to the ACM’s 1986 Top New Male Vocalist trophy. In all, Yoakam landed 14 Top 10 hits – some he wrote (“I Sang Dixie”) and others he revived (Elvis Presley’s “Little Sister”). Along with acclaimed albums and music videos, Yoakam proudly partnered with Buck Owens on the endearing 1988 duet, “Streets of Bakersfield.” He remains active in music and film.
Past recipients of the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award include Alabama, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels, Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, The Oak Ridge Boys, Dolly Parton, Charley Pride, Jerry Reed, Tex Ritter, Marty Robbins, Kenny Rogers, Mel Tillis, Randy Travis, Conway Twitty, Porter Wagoner, Hank Williams, Sr., Hank Williams Jr. and Bob Wills, among others.
Kentucky native Dwight Yoakam will be lending his voice and knowledge to the Country Music Hall of Fame as part of a new exhibit. The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and California Country, will contain over 5,000 square feet of exhibits opening on Friday, March 23, 2012, and closing on December 31, 2013.
Narrated by Dwight Yoakam, the exhibit will explore the roots, heyday and impact of the Bakersfield Sound, the loud, stripped-down and radio-ready music most closely identified with the careers of Country Music Hall of Fame members Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Co-curated by the institution's Curatorial Director Mick Buck, Photo Collection Manager Tim Davis and Museum Editor Michael Gray, the Bakersfield Sound exhibit includes more than 100 artifacts and a generous overlay of audiovisual treasure.
"We are incredibly excited to explore the Bakersfield Sound story," said Museum Director Kyle Young. "It's an epic tale, born in the Great Depression, set two thousand miles from country music's epicenter, and populated by a remarkably talented and tight-knit community of musicians who came together to invigorate and reinvent country music as they knew it. These colorful artists infused their work with an aural intensity and independent spirit, in the process creating a sound that reverberates through country music to this day.
"We are grateful to all of the artists, musicians and families who shared their knowledge, memories and artifacts with us," Young continued. "An exhibit of this scope and magnitude would not have been possible without their cooperation. We would also like to thank Dwight Yoakam for his participation: Dwight is an iconoclast whose rich musical catalog embodies the Bakersfield Sound tradition; he's also a historian and fan who reveres the bedrock of this genre. I can't think of anyone better than Dwight to guide our visitors on the Bakersfield journey."
Grand opening weekend will be highlighted by a Saturday, March 24 panel discussion featuring Dallas Frazier, Don Maddox, Rose Lee Maphis, Buddy Mize, Country Music Hall of Fame member Jean Shepard and Red Simpson. Later that afternoon, all of the panelists will participate in a concert, headlined by Simpson, backed by West Coast bandleader and guitarist Deke Dickerson and other noted musicians from Tennessee and California. Other opening weekend programs include a Bakersfield Sound book talk, a film screening and an instrument demonstration (see complete details below).
The exhibit will also be accompanied by a richly detailed, lavishly illustrated, 96-page companion book, titled The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and California Country. Published by the Museum's Country Music Foundation Press and exclusively distributed by the Hal Leonard Corporation, the volume will include essays by California-based music journalists/historians Scott B. Bomar, Randy Poe and Robert Price. Also included are dozens of archival photographs and beautiful color images of many of the artifacts included in the exhibit. The book will be available in the Museum Store and at www.countrymusichalloffame.org.
