The Country Music Association recently revealed its recipients for an array of international awards, including the Global Country Artist Award, International Artist Achievement Award, International Country Broadcaster Award, the Jo Walker-Meador Award, and the Wesley Rose International Media Achievement Award.

“Advancing Country Music around the world is at the very foundation of CMA’s mission,” said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “Being able to acknowledge the exhaustive efforts of our international and domestic colleagues outside of U.S. borders is very rewarding and central to our strategic objective of growing the business and developing new territories for Country Music.”

Award recipients in alphabetical order by category:

GLOBAL COUNTRY ARTIST AWARD – Morgan Evans
The Global Country Artist Award recognizes outstanding achievements by a Country Music artist originally signed outside of the United States – in both furthering the popularity of Country Music and bringing attention to the Country Music format in their foreign-based territory.

The winner of a record three Country Music Channel Music Awards this year, Evans was recently signed as a presenter, host, and ambassador for the Country Music Channel in Australia. He has toured with Country superstars including Alan Jackson and Taylor Swift, as well as headlining his own tours in Australia and New Zealand. Evans was recently signed to William Morris Endeavour Agency.

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST ACHIEVEMENT AWARD – Brad Paisley
Formerly the International Touring Artist Award, the CMA International Artist Achievement Award recognizes outstanding achievement by a U.S.-based artist who contributes to the awareness and development of Country Music outside the United States.

Since being the recipient of this award in 2011, Brad Paisley has remained dedicated to including the international market place in his schedule. In 2014, he headlined the C2C Festival in London and Dublin as well as recorded the special “Brad Paisley & Friends” for BBC Radio 2 before going on to headline shows in Norway and Sweden.

INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY BROADCASTER AWARD – Ricky Ross

The International Country Broadcast Award recognizes outstanding achievement by radio broadcasters outside the U.S. who have made important contributions to the development of Country Music in their country.

Singer/songwriter Ross, who regularly visits Nashville, presents the BBC Radio Scotland’s “Another Country.” With a mix of classics and new Country releases, Americana, and alternative Country, he has won two Sony Radio Awards, the first in 2011 and the second the following year.

JO WALKER-MEADOR AWARD – Scott Borchetta

Named for Country Music Hall of Fame member and longtime Executive Director of CMA, the Jo Walker-Meador Award recognizes outstanding achievement by an individual or company in advocating and supporting Country Music’s marketing development in territories outside the United States.

As the founder and CEO of Big Machine Records, Borchetta has supported artist development internationally early in artists’ careers. Borchetta previously won the Jo Walker-Meador Award in 2012.

WESLEY ROSE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ACHIEVEMENT AWARD – Bob Shennan

The Wesley Rose International Media Achievement Award recognizes outstanding achievements in the media, which contribute to the development of Country Music outside the United States. Radio, TV, print journalists, authors, editors, television writers, producers, and PR companies who reside outside the United States are eligible to win this award.

Since Shennan took over as Controller of BBC Radio 2 in 2009, he has driven exposure opportunities and was instrumental in bringing Country Music into the mainstream arena. Now Director of Music, Shennan chairs the newly formed CMA U.K. Advisory Group and serves on the CMA Board of Directors.

CMA International Awards are voted on by CMA International Membership as well as a panel of domestic U.S.-based industry members.

The timing of the announcement coincides with the return of the CMA Songwriters Series, and the third C2C London event (March 7-8), which is presented by AEG Europe and SJM Concerts in association with the Country Music Association.

Lee Ann Womack will offer a limited edition 12″ vinyl release, titled Trouble In Mind, on Record Store Day, April 18. The singer-songwriter and husband/producer Frank Liddell discussed the possibility of a one voice/one instrument project, to offer unadorned versions of a few handpicked compositions.

Womack then teamed with Richard Bennett (Mark Knopfler/Steve Earle), who brought in several vintage guitars. The duo recorded several tunes in one afternoon, and picked three for Trouble In Mind.

“I think independent record stores are so important,” Womack says. “It’s the last temple of music you can take home… A place where people come looking for the rare, for the special or even just the record they have to buy one more time. But I love the idea of people selling records, talking about what’s on them, getting turned on to cool music. I wanted to be part of Record Store Day last year, but we couldn’t get it together in time. So this year, we started early. I got to have Richard Bennett, who is one of those musicians who can get so much heart and tone out of his guitars, come to the house. It was just the two of us, and it was awesome!”

The three songs are the blues classic “Trouble in Mind,” Roger Miller’s semi-obscure “Where Have All The Average People Gone?” and Ralph Stanley’s bluegrass gospel song “I’ve Just Seen The Rock of Ages.” The project is engineered by Chuck Ainlay and mastered by Paul Hamann at Suma Recording Studio.

Trouble In Mind is just the latest in a string of interesting collaborations Womack has taken part in during recent months. She co-hosted the International Bluegrass Music Awards with bluegrass stalwart Jerry Douglas, participated in a CMT Crossroads taping with John Legend, recorded with Ralph Stanley, and more.

The Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) has announced the selections for the Gibson Music Documentaries for the 46th Nashville Film Festival, slated for April 16 – 25 at Regal Green Hills Cinema.

“These music documentaries bring music lovers surprising stories they have never heard. This is a remarkable collection of world, southeast and Tennessee premieres, that cross many music genres,” said Brian Owens, NaFF Artistic Director. “There is truly something for everyone—from blues, country, and gospel to disco and rock.”

Details at www.nashvillefilmfestival.org.

Here’s the list:

• Austin to Boston, Featuring Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett and narrated by Gill Landry this documentary is about a modern tour, done the old-fashioned way.

• Buskin’ Blues, About Asheville, N.C. street musicians.

• Country: Portraits of an American Sound, The history and culture of country music through the lens of the photographers Les Leverett, Leigh Weiner, Henry Horenstein, Henry Diltz, Raeanne Rubenstein, David McAlister and Michael Wilson. Cast: Rosanne Cash, Roy Clark, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, Charley Pride, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Rogers, Tanya Tucker, The Band Perry, Keith Urban. World Premiere.

• Heartworn Highways Revisited, A new community of singer-songwriters whose work is heavily influenced by the “Outlaw” artists presented in the 1976 documentary Heartworn Highways. Cast: David Allan Coe, Guy Clark, Bobby Bare Jr. Shelly Colvin, Andrew Combs.

• How Sweet the Sound – The Blind Boys of Alabama, Filmed over the course of 10 years. World Premiere.

• Imba Means Sing, About the Grammy-nominated African Children’s Choir.

• Made in Japan, The story of Tomi Fujiyama, the world’s first Japanese country music superstar.

• My Voice, My Life, A group of under-privileged students undergo six months of vigorous training to produce their first stage musical.

• Orion: The Man Who Would Be King, About Jimmy Ellis, who masqueraded as Elvis back from the grave in a scheme concocted in the months after Presley’s death.

• The Record Man, Henry Stone catapulted the Miami sound into the mainstream with TK Records (KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight,” Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell”).

• Revival: The Sam Bush Story. Cast: Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Chris Thile, The Avett Brothers, Bela Fleck, Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, John Oates. World Premiere.

• Sweet Micky for President, Pras Michel of the Fugees, returns to his homeland of Haiti to mobilize a presidential campaign for Haiti’s most controversial musician: Michel Martelly (aka Sweet Micky). Cast: Pras Michel, Michel Martelly, Wyclef Jean, Ben Stiller