And the CMA Award for Song of the Year goes to There was a pause as country singer Darius Rucker opened the envelope Over You by Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton 1 The crowd erupted in cheers and applause as Lambert turned to Shelton and buried her face in his shoulder Then she collected herself and they made their way to the stage to accept their award Lambert already sobbing gestured to Shelton to make the speech I lost my brother in a car wreck when I was 14 years old and later in life when I decided I wanted to be a country singer my dad always told me Son you should write a song about your brother And I lost my dad in January and it’s so amazing 8 CONTEMPORARY LIVES BLAKE SHELTON Country music has its roots in Appalachian Mountain fiddle players who made recordings in the early 1900s But it wasn’t until the 1920s that country music was recorded and listened to by a wider audience Most music historians believe country music started in 1927 with artists such as Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family Country music also includes the country western genre It uses syncopated rhythms steel guitars and bigger bands Mainstream country music is simpler and uses fewer instruments HISTORY OF COUNTRY MUSIC ABD_ECL_SHEL_FPGS indd 810 10 14 10 59
A NIGHT OF AWARDS 9 Although Shelton won other awards at the 2012 CMA Awards winning Song of the Year with Lambert meant the most to him ABD_ECL_SHEL_FPGS indd 910 10 14 10 59
to me that tonight even after he’s gone he’s still right I just needed the right person to write this song with and the right person to sing it 2 The song’s lyrics which sound similar to a romantic breakup song actually refer to Shelton’s older brother Richie who died in a car accident on November 13 1990 The lyric about seeing it in stone is where the song shifts meaning This is the line where people who thought this was a song about a love gone bad realize it’s about someone who died says Lambert 3 The song was written by Lambert and Shelton and recorded by Lambert It reached Number 1 on the country music charts selling enough to earn platinum certification Winning 2012 Song of the Year may have seemed like the highest point Shelton could reach but it was not the only award he won that night 10 CONTEMPORARY LIVES BLAKE SHELTON Shelton and his brother were very close The guy was my hero Shelton says Talk about worship he was the coolest guy on earth 4 His brother took him fishing and gave him his collection of old country music records When Richie died one of the most heart-wrenching things for Shelton was that Richie’s girlfriend and her four-year-old son died as well RICHIE SHELTON ABD_ECL_SHEL_FPGS indd 1010 10 14 10 59
Shelton was also awarded Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year The awards were another step along the way for a country music career that took Shelton from the tiny town of Milburn Oklahoma to Nashville and then to Hollywood California COUNTRY MUSIC AND THE VOICE Shelton is one of the most popular country singers with eight best-selling albums in just 12 years That would be enough for most singers but not Shelton Since 2011 he has also been a coach on A NIGHT OF AWARDS 11 Record albums that sell certain numbers of copies become certified as gold platinum or diamond According to the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA an album that sells 500,000 copies earns gold certification If it sells 1 million copies it becomes a platinum record With new methods of selling music first with CDs and now downloads music has become more widely available People were buying more albums so a new category was created the diamond award This award is for albums or singles that sell more than 10 million copies 5 ALBUM CERTIFICATIONS ABD_ECL_SHEL_FPGS indd 1110 10 14 10 59
