CMT News

Country legend Tammy Wynette will receive the Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music. She is the first posthumous recipient of the special honor established in 1968 to recognize outstanding achievement in the field of country music. A special tribute to Wynette will be included in this year's ACM Awards show, broadcast live by CBS from the Universal Amphitheatre on May 3, 8 p.m. ET. Trisha Yearwood, The Judds, Patty Loveless, Martina McBride and Country Music Hall of Fame member Dolly Parton are scheduled to participate. Parton also will host the three-hour show. Wynette, whose "Stand By Your Man" has become a country anthem, grew up poor in Mississippi and worked as both a waitress and hairdresser before landing a record deal in 1966. She first gained fame for songs such as "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and "I Don't Want to Play House" before making an indelible mark with her then-husband and singing partner, George Jones. Wynette died in April 1998, just months before being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.