weekly August 24, 2026, Issue 1026
ACM Honors: Legacy Act
The 19th ACM Honors brought the country music industry to The Pinnacle in Nashville Wednesday (8/19) for a night that put songwriters, advocates, executives and institutions alongside the artists they support. Carly Pearce returned for her sixth year as host, joined by first-time co-host Parker McCollum, as the Academy of Country Music recognized a wide-ranging class of special honorees, along with its Artist-Songwriter, Songwriter, Industry and Studio Recording Award winners. Songwriting supplied several of the night’s most emotional moments. Dolly Parton, accepting the ACM Poet’s Award by video, said “songwriting has always been the most important part of who I am creatively.” Fellow Carly Pearce & Poet’s Award recipient Brett James was Parker McCollum honored posthumously by longtime friend and co-writer Dierks Bentley, who performed “I Hold On.” The song, written about Bentley’s father and holding on to pieces of the past, took on new meaning as he sang it for the man who helped him write it. The Carter Family also received the Poet’s Award, with Brenda Lee on hand for the tribute. Lee briefly commandeered the proceedings, asking the crowd for its favorite hymn, answering one suggestion with “we’re not doing that one,” then turning the room into a “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” singalong before joining assembled Carter family members for “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By).” John Carter Cash put the family’s legacy in perspective: “A thousand years from now, most of our names will appear in small type. The Carter Family will be in bold.” Legacy was also central to Mike Curb’s Icon Award remarks. Recalling meeting award namesake Cliffie Stone at the Capitol Records Bill Anderson & building in Los Angeles, Curb noted Stone was Mike Curb among those fighting for country music there and said, “We all stand on the shoulders of these people.” Ever the promoter, he also plugged performer Dylan Scott, noting Scott was working on his eighth No. 1 (continued on page 3)
I’m Gonna Love UT: Warner/CoJo/WRN’s Cody Johnson in Knoxville. Pictured (l-r) are WCYQ’s Matt Copper, WIVK’s Rich Bailey, Johnson, WXBQ/Johnson City, TN's Nikki Thomas and the label’s Justin Newell.
Brooks Launches In Indy
Garth Brooks’ Blame It All On My Roots Arena Tour kicked off last week with four shows in at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Video from the first two nights shows the concert opening with a countdown, and a piano rising from the stage played by a man in a hat meant to look like Brooks. The star himself then rises out of the center of a piano, launching into his opening number, “The Old Stuff.” A more than two-hour, hit-heavy set follows, ending with final encore “Standing Outside The Fire.” Tall LED screens dubbed “the halo” surround the stage, and the drummer is encased in a throwback enclosure from a ’90s tour known as the “drum pod.” There are no Garth Brooks opening acts. (continued on page 3)
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