Before we leave 2004 behind, let's take a look at some high and low points that took place last year in the world of country music:
TOP ENTERTAINERS: The Country Music Association picked Kenny Chesney as its 2004 Entertainer of the Year and honored Martina McBride as its Female Vocalist of the Year and Keith Urban as Male Vocalist of the Year.
The International Bluegrass Music Association picked The Del McCoury Band as its Entertainer of the Year, Rhonda Vincent as Female Vocalist of the Year and Larry Sparks as Male Vocalist of the Year.
NEWCOMERS: Gretchen Wilson, known for her single (I'm a) Redneck Woman, beat out heavily favored Josh Turner (Long Black Train), Big and Rich (Save a Horse/Ride a Cowboy) and Dierks Bentley (What Was I Thinkin'?) for the Country Music Association's Horizon award for hot newcomers.
My bet is that Ms. Wilson, 31, who moved to Nashville, Tenn., in 1996, will be gone from the charts in a couple of years and that Big and Rich ("Big Kenny" Alphin and John Rich) will still be around. Their debut CD, Horse of a Different Color, is one of the best debut efforts I've heard in a long time.
BEST ALBUMS: The CMA picked Mr. Chesney's album, When the Sun Goes Down, as its Album of the Year, while the International Bluegrass Music Association picked The Del McCoury Band's It's Just The Night, as its best album. The 2004 Grammy Awards picked Livin', Lovin', Losin' - Songs of the Louvin Brothers, recorded by various artists, as its Best Country Album.
HONORS: Record producer Jim Foglesong and singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson were voted into the Country Music Association's Hall of Fame. Mr. Foglesong signed Terri Gibbs, of Grovetown, to MCA Records when he was MCA Nashville division chief . The International Bluegrass Music Association picked Curly Secler and Bill Vernon as its Hall of Honor inductees. Mr. Secler performed live on Augusta radio stations in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
GOODBYES: We lost some good ones in 2004, including Roy "Pop" Lewis, March 23, at age 98; Ray Charles, June 10, at 73; Charlie Waller (founder of The Country Gentlemen bluegrass group), Aug. 18, at 69; Skeeter Davis, Sept. 19, at 72; drummer Kenny Buttrey (who played on Bob Dylan's great Nashville albums), Sept. 12, at 59; and Grand Ole Opry member Roy Drusky, Sept. 23, at 74.
Three noncountry losses I mourn are Captain Kangaroo star Bob Keeshan (whom I interviewed in Augusta), Jan. 23, at 76; movie producer Russ Meyer (who walked three flights up to my Savannah, Ga., apartment to return a book he borrowed from me), Sept. 18, at 82; and film star Janet Leigh (whom I danced with to the song Heard in a Love Song during a visit to Los Angeles), Oct. 3, at 77.
DON RHODES HAS BEEN WRITING ABOUT COUNTRY MUSIC FOR 34 YEARS. HE CAN BE REACHED AT (706) 823-3214 OR DON.RHODES@MORRIS.COM.
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