CMT Blog: Blue County

Hi everybody on the CMT Blog! Adam Black from CMT Outsider here, sharing some of my thoughts from Country in the Rockies here in Steamboat Springs, Colo. And let’s begin with this thought: For some people, skiing means cutting a path in new fallen snow. For me, skiing means cutting my face on a rock when I’ve newly fallen.

I thought skiing on snow wouldn’t be much different than skiing on water. After all, they ARE the same basic element — H20. However, I should have realized I was in trouble when they didn’t offer “wake or knee-board” as a rental option at the ski lodge. You see, because I told CMT that I was an expert skier, they decided to enter me in the “celebrity” ski race at Country in the Rockies, a benefit to raise awareness and money for leukemia research. Skiers included Darryl Worley, Montgomery Gentry, Lucy Angel, Blue County — and me. Oh, I know what you’re thinking: “Wait, Adam’s not a celebrity!?” And if you’re thinking that, you are wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! The Latin for celebrity is “celebrate,” and I am someone who celebrates, so I am absolutely a celebrity. The other Latin meaning is “celibate.” And, I don’t know about Darryl, but my wife wouldn’t be too happy if THAT were the case.

So, celebrity I am, and on the slopes I stood. But not for long — no sooner had the starting pistol fired that Darryl whizzed by me, knocking me off balance. I toppled over and did a pitiful cartwheel just 10 feet down the slope. Part of my problem is that the only thing I really learned in ski school was “snowplow to stop.” Well, YOU try to snowplow while turning a cartwheel. It’s quite ineffective. So, that was my afternoon. Laid out on the snow. Jeering laughter filling my ears.

By the way, I didn’t make the trial cut. Darryl’s team is in, though — even though I KNOW he knocked me over on purpose. But I can’t be too mad at him. He and the other artists and guests have already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in cancer, leukemia and AIDS research for the T.J. Martell Foundation. Tomorrow, Darryl and I are going snowmobiling. I’ve never been snowmobiling before. Should be fun.

One more thing! After the ski race, we all headed off to the big concert. Got some cool shots behind the scenes, before there was some kind of misunderstanding and the guard threw me out face first into the snow. I’m thawing the right side of my body as we speak. In fact, I had to type this whole blog with my left hand only. I’m sure the feeling will return to my right side by morning, though. Yeah, I’m sure it will. Talk to you again later!

The nominees for the 41st annual CMA Awards will be announced Thursday (Aug. 30) in Nashville and New York, and I’m ready to make a bold prediction: Brooks & Dunn will be nominated for vocal duo of the year. And, to give you even more insider information, don’t be at all surprised if they win in that category when the awards show takes place Nov. 7 in Nashville. They’ve having a good year, you know.

The truth is, of course, that Brooks & Dunn have won the vocal duo prize for 14 of the past 15 years. Montgomery Gentry’s win in 2000 must have given the champs a strong dose of reality. After that happened, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn got serious again and started making some of the best music of their career.

The nominees in the vocal duo category are generally the same ones who were on the previous year’s list — give or take a name. In addition to Brooks & Dunn, last year’s nominees included Big & Rich, Montgomery Gentry, Van Zant and the Wreckers. Despite the success of the Wreckers’ debut album, some folks in Nashville are always a little suspicious (if not downright resentful) when a pop artist decides to delve into country. And now that Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp have announced plans to put the Wreckers on hold while making solo albums, it will be interesting to see if CMA voters take them seriously enough to grant them a second nomination.

In addition to those artists, there have been a lot of vocal duo nominees since 1992, the year Brooks & Dunn edged out the Judds at the awards show. The first name that always comes to mind is the Bellamy Brothers, whose humor and financial security allow them to joke about never winning, despite numerous nominations. But do you remember some of the other vocal duos who have been nominated during Brooks & Dunn’s reign? That list includes Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Baillie & the Boys, the Kinleys, Sons of the Desert, Brother Phelps, John & Audrey Wiggins, the Lynns, Thrasher Shiver, Baker & Myers, Darryl & Don Ellis, Orrall & Wright, the Raybon Brothers and Blue County. I have to admit that I’d forgotten about several of those, myself. But I’m sure if you asked any of them, they’d tell you it’s an honor just to be nominated.