The Steel Guitar Forum

Posted: **22 Sep 2011 11:57 am**

For the sake of the topic here it might help us non-members to understand the process - it might even shed a few rays of light why a guy like Paul or other great pedal steel players have never won the award. There are approx. 6000 members from 40 countries that are voting members if the writer I quoted below is accuarate. Even though they have some sort of affiliation with the "concept" of country music, it strikes me as having plenty of potential for average Joes and Janes to indeed be a part of the voting process. They might not be the same sort of average Joe that is pulling up to the local Waffle House with Trace Adkins emanating from their truck speakers, but I would think it's pretty safe to say that many of them have no idea what purpose a knee lever serves on a pedal steel guitar. This is from Stephen Betts of the Boot website from November, 2010:

Here's a popular question we get from readers every November: Who votes for the CMA Awards?

While a quick analysis of applause, whoops and hollers during the live telecast might be a tip-off as to which artist will take home an award, the long journey to the winners' circle starts more than one year earlier than the big night.

But just who's doing the voting? That task falls squarely on the shoulders of the nearly 6,000 music-industry professionals (in 40 countries) who are members of the Country Music Association. Individual CMA members may join the organization as either a "Regular" member (one who is directly and substantially involved in the country music industry) or a "Sterling" member (defined as one who works full-time and earns their income primarily from the country music industry). Organizations, such as record labels, are also eligible for membership. All memberships carry with them a number of benefits and perks, not the least of which is the opportunity to recognize and honor one's peers in the music business.

The current membership of the CMA includes everything from record-label executives, music producers, disc jockeys and songwriters to your favorite keyboard player in your favorite artist's band, your favorite artist, and, yes, even music journalists!

The CMA voting process officially begins with the first round of voting. Each CMA member may nominate one act in each category, with the top 20 qualified vote recipients in each category becoming official nominees on the second ballot. One exception: the top 15 qualified nominees in the Entertainer of the Year category advance to the second ballot.

On the second ballot, members vote for up to five nominees in each category. The results are then tabulated, with the top five vote-getters in each category becoming the final nominees and appearing on the third -- and final -- ballot.

In round three, CMA members vote for one nominee in each category to determine the winners who'll take home the award on the big night. Then the nail biting begins!

This year's awards were based on an eligibility period of July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010. The CMA Awards, by the way, differ from the CMT Awards and and the newly-created American Country Awards, which are both fan-voted. The ACM (Academy of Country Music) awards are primarily industry-voted but have incorporated a few fan-voted categories within the last few years.

Posted: **22 Sep 2011 8:27 pm**

Theresa Galbraith wrote:Nominee for CMA Award:
Sam Bush - Mandolin
Jerry Douglas - Dobro
Paul Franklin - Steel Guitar
Dann Huff - Guitar
Mac McAnally - Guitar

What happened to Brent Mason and how come guys like Greg Galbraith,Jimmy Capps, Hank Singer,Ron Elliot,to name a few never are nominated.
As a matter of fact How come I wasn't.

Posted: **23 Sep 2011 4:41 am**

Most members of this forum are eligible to be CMA members, and you could join and vote. As a biographer, I qualified and paid my annual membership fee.

The voting process begins with a blank slate, and members provide the initial nominations. I usually skip that round, due to not being able to remember what music I liked in the past year. In the second round, ten names are provided, and we vote for five. Most of the nominees I either have never heard of or I want to vote against them.

I will vote for Paul Franklin in the final round. You could, too, for the cost of the CMA membership fee.

Posted: **24 Sep 2011 5:37 am**

In my opinion, the majority of CMA voting fans do not know who played on the songs they like, so they will vote for a familiar name they see on a ballot. (Kinda like a government election) I also believe Bluegrass fans are different in that they know the names of every musician who played on their favorite artist tracks. For example Jerry Douglas, amoung Bluegrass fans his name is known to all, not just the musicians.

Posted: **24 Sep 2011 7:00 am**

If the other nominees were as proactive about their careers as Jerry Douglas, they would all, IMO, be just as well known to the general public.

Posted: **10 Nov 2011 2:58 pm**

To pick up where this one left off some time back, Jerry certainly is proactive about his career but I guess not proactive enough as Mac McAnally walked off with the award for the fourth consecutive year.

Posted: **10 Nov 2011 3:04 pm**

I stopped trying to 'get it' a long time ago.

Posted: **10 Nov 2011 3:24 pm**

Barry, I would rather see you get it than Mac, AGAIN (???)

Posted: **10 Nov 2011 4:51 pm**

If you want to understand how this works, study the Heisman Trophy award process in college football.

Posted: **10 Nov 2011 7:21 pm**

If they would put a big check with them bowling ball plastic iron glass trophies, you would see a whole different dimension.Who cares? To many people for one spot.

Leo J.Eiffert,Jr. & his CRAWFISH BAND with some PIGEONS on the ACM AWARDS SHOW 2012. WOW!

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 9:52 am**

They are all such great players...Paul is so deserving of this award...At the CCMA Awards in Canada it is set up differently.... they have the Musician Citation Awards for each category, Drums, Guitar, Bass, Steel, Fiddle, Piano & specialty instrument(mandolin, dobro, banjo etc)...makes a lot more sense, in my opinion, to honor all the players in each category vs: 1.. they all contribute so much to the making of great records & get very little recognition...I have been nominated 12 years Steel Player of the Year & never won the award till this year at the 2011 CCMA's...I was totally blown away....Truly an honor...Everyone in this years CMA Musican of the Year are winners..they are all such great players & congratulate them all....

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 11:42 am**

Perhaps the voting for instrumentalist of the year should be entrusted to to a category of voters who have vision, as opposed to commoners with very little background in basic knowledge of who's who in the picker's division of players. Reserving the award for strings only would eliminate a large percentage of the grief involved in the unfair practices. How could anyone take the results of past voters seriously, knowing that they've excluded such greats as Buddy, Paul, and Lloyd for so many years??

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 11:57 am**

Ho hUM!! What's the CMA anyway? Guess I'm really not up to date. Never heard of Mac Whatchamacallit. No disrespect but he ain't too famous down here in the Lone Star State. Darn 'always late' (Lefty did that one I know.) Just got an email that explained CMA---stands for Ciss My A$$. Teehee

phred

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 12:20 pm**

i've payed pretty close attention to players all my life. i know what paul and jerry and brent look like, but i wouldn't know mac if he were standing next to me. is he fat?

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 2:05 pm**

If award shows are so repugnant and few of us watch them, WHY DO THEY GET SO MANY POSTINGS??????

An award that is determined by a tight group of industry insiders is not going to be influenced by ANY NUMBER OF NON-MEMBERS of that fraternity.

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 2:27 pm**

Larry,

It's a sure bet that the CMA's current policies will fizzle out, much like other bogus contemporaries have experienced in recent times. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but NOT all of the people, all the time. So it has been said.

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 2:44 pm**

Bill, I'm confused as to what you mean in referring to the "current policies" of the CMA and what defines them as bogus.

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 2:46 pm**

Yeah, but why does anybody CARE?

We all know that Paul is a consummate pro. I don't really care what the CMA members think.

This is not that different from the SGHOF process -- it's an election from among members only with no popular input.

Again, why do we care? It's not an open election and we have ABSOLUTELY NO INFLUENCE.

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 3:00 pm**

Larry, I think your post begs the larger question of "why do we care about awards of any kind?"

If you like baseball, then you might have interest in which players win the Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards each year. I was excited when the San Francisco Giants finally won the World Series in 2010, but in terms of what it did for me as a benefit to my life and that of my family - it didn't do jack.

If you watch movies, you might have an interest in who wins the Oscars for Best Actor and Best Actress each year.

These people might be consumate pros in their professions as well, like a Paul Franklin, and if you follow the sport or go to a fair number of movies, then it might be interesting to you.

The winners and losers of these things will have pretty much zero effect on your own life so logically, there probably isn't any real strong reason to care, but people do anyway, don't they?

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 3:21 pm**

I guess I don't fall into the hero worshiping category, Mark, especially when the voting for who the heroes are is beyond my control or influence. It's kinda like bitching about the weather.

Don't get me wrong -- I'd love to see Paul win this year, Mike J win next year, then Russ Pahl, Dan Dugmore, Bruce Bouton, and all the other deserving steel guitarists who have dedicated their lives to making excellent music, but if they don't it doesn't really make me mad since I had no input in the process.

FWIW.

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 3:27 pm**

True enough about not having input into the process, so no good reason to sweat it.

But "hero worship" seems a little strong. I would find that pretty unlikely among just about anyone here that's participated in the discussion.

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 4:24 pm**

Mark,

Current policies could be defined as such; stepping on toes without paying the consequences would be a fair explanation. How much bona fide country music did you hear at the CMA Awards Show? I enjoyed the Glen Campbell tribute, and the kindness displayed more than the rest of the show. The visibility was lousy, and as for promoting the pedal steel guitar in than unforgivable din, it will never happen. When Carrie Underwood sang Randy Travis' "I Told You So", at another show, I was spoiled. It's too bad her performance was nonselective. More of the current policy by keeping potentialities in check.

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 5:20 pm**

Promoting the steel guitar or the country music of decades past is FAR from the goal of the CMA Awards show. It's all about the money and the stars who can make it for the musical-industrial complex. In their world, Allan Jackson and George Straight are yesterday's news -- has beens. Ray Price and Hank Thompson are ancient history most of the current stable of artists have never even HEARD OF.

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 6:19 pm**

So who won?

Posted: **11 Nov 2011 6:36 pm**

Mac McAnally

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Musician of the Year CMA Award!

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