BILL MACK TO RECEIVE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
FROM ACADEMY OF WESTERN ARTISTS
Hall
of Fame DJ Hosted Late Night Show Beginning in 1969, Welcomed Hundreds
of Singers and Songwriters Into His Studio Over The Years
Bill
Mack, known to millions for his late-night show which welcomed hundreds
of music guests over the years, will receive the Academy of Western
Artists Lifetime Achievement on Thursday, March 15, at the 22ND
Academy of Western Artist’s (AWA) annual Awards show and dinner at the
Brown Lupton Ballroom on the campus of Texas Christian University in
Fort Worth, Texas at 6 p.m.
Mack
has been closely associated with the truckers and millions of other
listeners via his radio programs out of the Fort Worth-Dallas Metroplex
since 1969, broadcasting during the wee hours of the morning and keeping
the world company with his music and chit-chat. He has hosted “Country
Crossroads” and is a member of the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and
the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame in Nashville. As a songwriter, Mack
penned LeAnn Rimes’ first hit, “Blue,” which won him a Grammy for
Country Song of the Year in 1996. He also wrote “Drinking Champagne,”
recorded first by Webb Pierce and then George Strait.
The
AWA recognizes entertainers in Western, Western Swing and Pure Country
music categories. The organization also recognizes the authors, cowboy
poets, cartoonists, radio personalities and men and women who work in
the arts side of the west, including saddle makers, bootmakers and bit
and spur makers.
This
is the only awards show that presents awards in multiple genres of
music, as well as awards to artisans who are a part of the culture that
the singers and songwriters write and sing about.
A complete list of the top five nominees in the music categories follow:
MUSIC AWARDS
Wyatt Aleman
Hailee Nixon
Abby Payne
Jack Phillips
Leah Sawyer
PURE COUNTRY MALE
Gary Ash
Chuck Cusimano
Bobby Marquez
Jake Penrod
Jeff Woolsey
PURE COUNTRY FEMALE
Leddy Bragg
Loraine Chavana
Janice Maynard
Myra Rolen
Cathy Whitten
PURE COUNTRY DUO/GROUP
Rocky King Band
Brady Honeycutt Band
Landon Dodd/Dancehall Drifters
Jeff Woolsey/Dancehall Kings
Will Banister/Modern Day Ramblers
PURE COUNTRY ALBUM
Teea Goans – Swing, Shuffle And Sway
Steve Griggs – Fort Worth To Bakersfield
Richard Lynch – Mending Fences
Leslie Tom – Leslie Tom
Justin Trevino – A Salute To Ray Price And The Cherokee Cowboys
PURE COUNTRY SONG
Will Banister – What A Way To Live
Brad Howard – Girls From The Liquor Store
Dennis Ledbetter – Tell Me I’m Wrong
Jay Parr – Coming Soon
Cathy Whitten – Please Blue Moon
WESTERN SWING MALE
Doug Boggs
Bobby Flores
Billy Mata
Leon Rausch
Paul Schlesinger
WESTERN SWING FEMALE
Susie Blue
Leddy Bragg
Cheryl Deseree
Stacey Lee Guse
Kristyn Harris
WESTERN SWING DUO/GROUP
Rocky King Band
Bobby Flores/Yellow Rose Band
Brady Bowen/Swing Country
Western Flyers
Rick & The All Star Ramblers
WESTERN SWING ALBUM
Hot Texas Swing Band – Off The Beaten Trail
Kim Blakey – Dancin On Daddy’s Boots
Rick & All Star Ramblers – Welcome To Our Vermont
Bret Raper – Somewhere Near Austin
Leon Rausch – Time Changes Everything
WESTERN SWING SONG
Gary Ash – Swing Me Back Home
Hot Texas Swing Band – Ain’t Dead Yet
Kim Blakey – Bucket List
Susie Blue/Lonesome Fellas – A Thousand Good Nights
Cherokee Maidens/Sycamore Swing – Longing For Tulsa And You
INSTRUMENTALIST
Jake Hooker
Junior Knight
Joey McKenzie
Rose Sinclair
Hank Singer
WESTERN MUSIC MALE
Rex Allen Jr
Dennis Jay
Bob Marshall
Rick Pickren
Matt Robertson
WESTERN MUSIC FEMALE
Almeda Bradshaw
Mikki Daniel
Kristyn Harris
Carol Markstrom
Jeneve Rose Mitchell
WESTERN MUSIC DUO/ GROUP
Junction 5 -12
High Country Cowboys
Hanson Family
Sisters Of The Silver Sage
The Cowboy Way
WESTERN MUSIC ALBUM
High Country Cowboys – Cowboy
Dan McCorison – Montana Moon
Donnie Poindexter – Cowboy Life
Matt Robertson – Makin’ History
Cowboy Way – Cowboy Way
WESTERN MUSIC SONG
Panhandle Cowboys – Coyote Swing
Dennis Jay – A Cowboy Tune
Dan McCorison – Montana Moon
Gary/Jean Prescott – He Always Rode Good Horses
3 Trails West – Silent Trails
AWARD WINNERS – WESTERN ARTISTS AND GEAR MAKERS
(These awards will be presented during the awards show and dinner)
ARTIST –Teal Blake, TX
CARTOONIST– Jim Lisk, WA
BIT/SPURMAKER –Jeremiah Watt, CA
ENGRAVER –Wes Griffin, TX
BRAIDER –Clint Haverty – TX
BOOTMAKER –Alan Bell – TX
SADDLEMAKER –Jessie Smith – CO
DON KING AWARD –Eddie Books, NV
CHUCKWAGON– Breakaway Chuckwagon, Wilbur & Anneette Wilson, TX
MASTER LEATHER ARTISAN –Jim Jackson – WY
POET – MALE –Andy Nelson – WY
POET – FEMALE –Carolyn Dufurrena, NV
RADIO STATION –KSSL, Lubbock, TX
DISC JOCKEY –Ann Harwood Lucas, KCMW Radio, P O Box 447, Hondo, TX
ELMER KELTON BOOK
Fiction:Patrick Dearen “Dead Man’s Boots”
Non – Fiction: Nancy Draves “A Promise Fulfilled: The Kitty Anderson Diary and Civil War Texas, 1861”
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Bill Mack