CMT News

International Country Music Conference Celebrates 25th Anniversary

The International Country Music Conference (ICMC) observes its silver anniversary this week with its annual meeting at Nashville's Belmont University. The annual gathering brings together country music scholars from around the world to present papers on many topics and to share opinions in forums and discussions. This year's Belmont Book Award for best country music book of 2007 will be presented to Holly George-Warren for Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry, her biography of the late music and screen star. The Charlie Lamb Awards for journalism will go to Beverly Keel of The Tennessean in the contemporary category and entertainment industry veteran Barry McCloud in the lifetime category. The conference runs Thursday-Saturday (May 22-24).