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Greetings ! With our last edition for 2011 I must sincerely thank all our readers for their support and the Country Update team for brilliant work in a difficult year. I think each issue has surpassed the previous one and ‘done us proud’. Of course there would be nothing to report without the terrific artists, promoters and crew who give us the music, concerts, tours and festivals we love – thank you first and foremost. Good luck to all the Golden Guitar nominees and may your Awards night be golden! Judging from news this quarter, many individuals are already winners, as several acts have won major prizes and grants of amounts significant enough to assist and elevate careers. Congratulations, and all praise to the organisations offering these incentives in recognition of Australian talent. Speaking of Awards, while we lament the loss of the telecast of our own Golden Guitar Awards in January, it was great to see a real upswing in quality in the American CMA Awards this week. With innovations too numerous to mention suffice to say it was a superb, glamorous and ground-breaking show. The production was massive but the moments large in my memory were the intensely human ones, the wit and camaraderie between hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, and the moving tribute to Glen Campbell by Vince Gill, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley and Jimmy Webb could not have been more perfectly executed. The most laudable aspect was the obvious attention to profiling new talent and the future. Every New Talent nominee got a full spot with equal production to the stars, plus many of the stars performed duets with lesser or unknown acts, right down to two students from the Music Academy in Nashville. This issue Country Update welcomes two new contributors – Ara Jansen, music writer for the West Australian, and Pete Denahy who shared some ‘deep and personal’ insights - and we hope he will again. There is much excitement building re the Tamworth Country Music Festival’s big 40th birthday and we are looking forward to January and the trek south to share the fun. We hope you enjoy our special preview section. Also, check out the Giveaways page and don’t miss the opportunity to win a holiday to Norfolk Island next May for their festival, tickets to all sorts of great events, gold passes to the Awards and for holiday reading, two beautiful books. Best wishes for the festive season, and I hope Santa brings lots of CDs to chillax and enjoy great country music with whatever you do in the holidays. Cheers, Denise |
