Nation’s Capitol Embraces Country
Reports from the the CMA board meeting, currently underway in Washington DC, have been very positive, with Story Tellers and Story Keepers: Creating and Preserving Country Music, a day-long program for the CMA Board at the nation’s library, garnering some very positive press in today’s (3/10) Washington Post.
The day concluded with a special concert for Washington bigwigs that featured the music and storytelling of country stars Kix Brooks, John Rich and Lorrie Morgan, along with songwriters Victoria Shaw and Bob DiPiero and producer/musician Randy Scruggs. Commenting on the show, the Post’s Chris Richards said, “these men and women certainly know how to serve their country,” and noted that “there was confident stage swagger to spare.” Richards continued, “It’s also the latest event in what feels like a growing institutional embrace of country music in Washington. The Kennedy Center held a star-studded country festival in 2006, and the Obama administration has included country in its continuing genre-specific White House Music Series.
You can read the entire Washington Post article here.

CMA donated a leather-bound DVD collection of four decades of CMA history to the Library of Congress' archive. (l-r) CMA Board President Steve Buchanan, Library of Congress Music Division Chief Sue Vita, Librarian of Congress Dr. James H. Billington, and CMA Board Chairman Steve Moore. Photo: Mitchell Layton
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All well and good. Maybe some day the CMA will recognize the role my grandfather, John A. Lomax, uncle Alan and aunt, Bess Lomax Hawes, have played in the preservation and promotion of country music over the last 100 years, beginning with the publication of COWBOY SONGS in 1910.
But I’m not holding my breath.