Monday, May 20, 2013

Thirty Years of ICMC

Category:  News

The annual International Country Music Conference (ICMC) will be held this week in Nashville at Belmont University.  This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the three-day event, which began in 1983 in Meridian, Mississippi as a commemoration of the anniversary of Jimmie Rodgers' death.  The conference occurs annually on the week prior to Memorial Day.

This year's conference will include an opening presentation by author, educator and ICMC co-chair Don Cusic on Roger Miller.  Other presentations will feature lectures on Norman Blake, Merle Haggard, the effort to preserve Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Arkansas, southern California's country music scene in the 40's and 50's, and the winner of the best title this year:  "Hank's Yoko:  Audrey Williams on the Radio."  

The 2013 ICMC book of the year award will be presented to Diane Diekman for her biography of Marty Robbins, Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins.  The panel discussions for this year center around the legacies of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline, and Friday night at Studio B will be highlighted by a panel discussion on the 100th anniversary of the Georgia Old-Time Fiddlers' Convention.

I will tweet the conference on Twitter (@KFRaizor) again this year.  The entire line-up for the 2013 conference is available at ICMC's web site.

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