Industry Ink: CMHOFM, Scotty McCreery, Max McNown, Shane Stevens & Sara Evans, More

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Country Music Hall Of Fame & Museum Welcomes Home Its National Medal Of Arts Medallion

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young and the museum’s board chair Jody Williams pictured with museum staff. Photo: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum recently celebrated the arrival of its National Medal of Arts medallion with staffers. Museum CEO Kyle Young gathered staff in the Ford Theater to thank them for their contributions and acknowledge the many individuals and entities who supported the museum’s educational mission through the years.

The newly-engraved Medal was placed on display in the museum’s galleries along with the accompanying White House Citation. The museum was recognized with the prestigious honor last October during a ceremony at the White House, which is the highest honor in the arts given by the U.S. government.

 

Scotty McCreery’s ‘Damn Strait’ Becomes ‘Jeopardy’ Question

Scotty McCreery. Photo: Jeff Ray

Scotty McCreery was part of the $1,000 answer last week on an episode of Jeopardy on Feb. 21. The answer was “A Scotty McCreery country megahit puts together a cuss word and the last name of singer George for this title.” The question, of course, was “What is ‘Damn Strait’?”

 

Max McNown Makes TV Debut On ‘Kelly Clarkson Show’

YouTube video

Max McNown recently made his TV debut on The Kelly Clarkson Show with a performance of his radio hit “Better Me For You (Brown Eyes),” from his recently released sophomore album Night Diving. Just last month, host and singer-songwriter Clarkson covered McNown’s breakout single “A Lot More Free” on her show.

 

Shane Stevens & Sara Evans Perform ‘I Can’t Quit’ During Opry Appearance

Shane Stevens and Sara Evans backstage at The Grand Ole Opry

Shane Stevens and Sara Evans celebrated the release of their new single “I Can’t Quit” on Feb. 22 with a live performance at The Grand Ole Opry as part of the Opry’s 100th anniversary celebration. The song was co-written by Stevens and released on Feb. 21 on all major streaming platforms via Melody Place.

 

Pam Lewis Makes National Museum of Women in the Arts 2025 Honor Roll For Advocacy

Pam Lewis

Pam Lewis has been honored by The National Museum of Women in the Arts with inclusion in its 2025 Honor Roll, recognizing her dedication to promoting and supporting women artists. This honor reflects her contribution to the museum’s ongoing mission to highlight the achievements of women in the arts and address gender disparities in the art world. The #5WomenArtists campaign, launched by NMWA, encourages people to name five women artists, a challenge that underscores the historic lack of recognition women have received in the field. The initiative aims to bring greater visibility to female artists while fostering awareness and dialogue about equity in the arts.

 

Country Music Hall Of Fame Hosts ‘In-Law Country’ Discussion With Author Geoffrey Himes

Rodney Crowell, Geoffrey Himes and Paul Kingsbury, the Museum’s Senior Director Of Editorial. Photo: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum hosted a discussion last weekend with author Geoffrey Himes about his recently published book In-Law Country: How Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, and Their Circle Fashioned a New Kind of Country Music, 1968–1985. Himes was joined by Rodney Crowell, who is featured in the book. P

ublished by the museum’s CMF Press, In-Law Country is about the musical community that grew up around Harris, Cash and their collaborators and friends. The book explores the lives and influential works of Harris, Cash, Crowell, Guy Clark, Gram Parsons, Ricky Skaggs, Clarence White, Townes Van Zandt and others from this fruitful movement. Himes has won awards for writing about music in the New York Times, No Depression, Rolling Stone, Washington Post and other publications since 1975.

Lorie Hollabaugh
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