(16 May 2024)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Frisco, TX – 16 May 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) George Birge, recording artist
"I’m really looking forward to seeing Jason Aldean. He’s a, huge influence on me, and obviously he’s doing a Toby Keith tribute. I did a lot of years touring with Toby Keith. He taught me more than probably any other artist about country music. And so to see a tribute to one of my heroes from one of my heroes, it’s going to be a special part of the night."
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jake Worthington, recording artist
"They said, that was going to be a strong female vocal on there, but, I didn’t know who. And whenever I said it was Reba, you know, I flipped a wig over that. You know, I think it’s, incredible to think that there’s gonna be history there to go show my kids one day that I got to do that. You know, Reba’s one of the greatest to ever do it, and still is."
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Blanco Brown, recording artist
"We started country music. Why wouldn’t we listen to ourselves? So just got to tap and get back to the storytelling and get into the love and the passion of the words, and just let it linger in your heart."
Reporter: "But do you think country music is set up to, to attract and keep?"
Brown: "I think people got to be attracted or whatever they want to hear. It ain’t on the music it is for the people to consume and be open heart edand open minded to go listen to something outside of rap and R&B."
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Prana Supreme, recording artist
"We’re so lucky that people like Darius Rucker and Mickey Guyton. Even Charley Pride way back when, lay a lot of the groundwork and kind of were on the front line so that people like ‘O.N.E. The Duo,’ Brittney Spencer, Tanner Adell, Reyna Roberts can now be here and have people look at us and embraces with open arms as opposed to being like, ‘Well, what are you doing here?’"
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Mac, recording artist
"I feel like I’ve been in Nashville 12 years, so I’ve really seen it go from what it was to what it is now. I feel like we I have a group of friends, we’re all LGBTQ artists, and I feel like we’re just like rising with the tide together. And it’s just really cool to see the genre open up to us and give us a platform and give us a seat at the table just to, like, be who we are and share our stories."
Reporter: "So I know you said you faced backlash. Do you feel supported now and whatever by the industry?"
Mac: "Yeah. I mean, there’s always going to be people who don’t like what you’re doing. But I do feel the change happening that we’re that we’re moving forward and it’s it’s inspiring and beautiful and I’m just happy to be here."
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jesse Fischer, recording artist
"I think country globally is just becoming so big. And we’ve had a lot of big country Canadian artists that maybe a lot of the US folk don’t know. But there’s been so many big artists that stay in Canada, but they’re played all over Canadian radio. So it’s like the top 40 of country in Canada, even though it might not cross over to the States. So a lot of Canadians grew up on big country records, just might not have really heard it south of the border."
7. SOUNDBITE (English) MacKenzie Porter, recording artist
"Oh my gosh. I grew up on a cattle and bison ranch , and so it was like bred into me. But I think it’s so rural there. And like so many farm kids and ranch kids that it’s kind of like – it’s the best genre."
Reporter: "So it’s extremely relatable."
STORYLINE:
Many posed on the arrivals carpet, greeted friends and spoke of who they were most excited to see perform.
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