The 26th annual International Country Music Conference, to be held May 21-23 in Nashville, Tenn. at Belmont University, will host a broad cross-section of panels and topics in the field of country music.
This year's ICMC will feature more than three-dozen panels on a variety of influential artists and subjects in all country-related genres, including Bluegrass, Americana, Western Swing, Country Rock, Honky-Tonk, Gospel and more. Notable artists to be profiled in selected presentations will include Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, Gram Parsons, Kitty Wells, Cowboy Troy, Charlie Louvin and Jimmie Rodgers, among others.
Renowned author and country music expert Don Cusic will co-host the panel "Defining Country Music: What It Is and Does It Matter?" His recent book, "Discovering Country Music," chronicles the evolution of the genre "from the fiddle to the Pop charts" and will be an ICMC Special Feature at this year's event.
"The history of country music is being preserved by these academics and journalists," says Cusic. "We treasure the present by honoring the past, and the International Country Music Conference demonstrates the impact country music has had, and is still having, on culture throughout the world."
Additional ICMC panels will cover subjects ranging from international topics ("Teaching Country Music in Australia: Teaching Australian Country Music" and "New Zealand Country"), regional interests ("A Cajun Music Mystery: Dr. James F. Roach, 'Song of the Crocodile,' and the First Commercial Recording of a Cajun Folksong") and political themes ("Barack Obama, Country Music Stardom, and a New Black American Narrative").
A number of panels will be packaged together and presented on specific themes, including the Bluegrass genre and artists Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers.
The Belmont University Book Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award and The Charlie Lamb Awards will also be presented at this year's conference.
Registration is $100 and checks should be sent to James Akenson, Box 5042, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN,38505.
The complete 2009 ICMC Program Schedule can be found here: www.internationalcountrymusic.org/schedule.html.
