The Best of 1991: The Ballot
1991 is the year that multiple Country Universe writers fell in love with country music. One look at the ballot and it’s easy to see why.
Ronnie Milsap
CMA Flashback: Entertainer of the Year
Our CMA Flashback series concludes with the biggest honor of them all: Entertainer of the Year.
CMA Flashback: Male Vocalist of the Year
Our CMA Flashback series continues with the Male Vocalist of the Year category.
CMA Flashback: Single of the Year
Here’s a look back at CMA Single of the Year, starting with this year’s nominees.
CMA Flashback: Album of the Year
Here are all of the nominees and winners for CMA Album of the Year, starting with a look at this year’s contenders and stretching back to the first ceremony in 1967.
Single Review: Artists of Then, Now & Forever, “Forever Country”
What should be little more than an exercise in nostalgia is the most unexpectedly moving country recording in recent memory.
2014 Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees: Hank Cochran, Ronnie Milsap, and Mac Wiseman
Good news for three legends of the genre, one of whom we lost to cancer only four years ago:
CMA Awards: Entertainer of the Year (1967-2013)
Since its inception, the top honor an artist could be given at the Country Music Association awards is this one: Entertainer of the Year. Originally a revolving door of winners, the winner in early years was often not even nominated the following year. In 1981, Barbara Mandrell became the first artist to win the award twice. Alabama succeeded her with a three year run from 1982-1984. Fourteen years later, Garth Brooks became the first artist two win four times, a feat later matched by Kenny Chesney in 2008.
Here’s a look back at the award from the very beginning, along with some facts and feats about the category and its nominees.
1967
- Bill Anderson
- Eddy Arnold
- Merle Haggard
- Sonny James
- Buck Owens
One year after being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Eddy Arnold was named the very first Entertainer of the Year at the inaugural CMA awards in 1967. Don’t assume it was a sympathy vote. Arnold had three #1 hits in the twelve months leading up to the ceremony, as he was in the middle of his impressive mid-sixties comeback, a period best defined by the 1965 classic, “Make the World Go Away.” He remains the only member of the Hall of Fame to win this award after being inducted.
Single Review: Zac Brown Band, “Sweet Annie”
Zac Brown Band’s laid back approach can make it easy to miss when they are actually digging deeper with their lyrics.
Their music often sounds designed to fade into the background, particularly on their radio singles, which usually land somewhere between faceless and mildly interesting, but rarely compelling in any meaningful way.
100 Greatest Men: #41. Ronnie Milsap
100 Greatest Men: The Complete List
A first class musician with R&B roots, Ronnie Milsap brought contemporary pop sophistication to the country music of his time, and it made him a superstar.