"We've
worked long and hard to make our business big and now that it is, it
isn't fun anymore."
-Joe
Talbot, former CMA President and Chairman of the Board
"Elephants
will be nesting in trees before I do anything for the Country Music
Association."
-Don
Gibson
In 1958, with
firmly
established as the King of Rock ‘n' Roll, rebellious
rock's disc jockeys, seeing the need for organization amid the chaos,
held
court at what became the genre's first annual convention.
The idea that disc jockeys
should organize did not originate with the rock
jocks, however. Back in 1952, the 35-member member Country Music Disc Jockey
Association was formed, after it dawned on
the nation's top
country & western, or country-western, disc jockeys, as they
were known at
the time, that they didn't know each other. They decided to remedy that.
Rock's popularity was well on
the way to killing country music. Harry
"Hap" Peebles, whose Hap Peebles Booking
Agency
was country-music's largest and best-known talent supplier, complained
in the
June 16, 1958 issue of The Music Reporter, that
after booking a
three-week tour featuring some of country's biggest stars, he "dropped
slightly over $20,000. I averaged about a thousand dollars a day loss
on the
tour." Peebles added that he and other country-music promoters were
ready
to quit the business.
Once bookings dived, country
would be lucky to sell 50,000 records and it
became a chore to spin platters for smaller audiences of listeners.
When the c
& w records weren't being heard, they didn't sell and the
prospects for the
future of country music seemed no brighter than two years earlier when
felt the financial
necessity to rock ‘n' roll. At
the urging of Starday Records' Pappy Dailey, George recorded "Rock
It" b/w "How Come It" on the Starday label. Jones was billed on
those releases and on "Dadgummit," as "Thumper" (as in the
rabbit from the movie, "Bambi") Jones, in order to disassociate
himself as much as possible from the rock recordings.
Even as
CMDJA members feared for their livelihoods (the Association itself was
officially
having financial difficulties though there was talk of internal theft),
they
knew that they'd miss the camaraderie, should country music continue
its
downhill spiral and these men decided to do something about it.
The CMDJA
members got the attention of other industry leaders who, according to
W. D.
"Dee" Kilpatrick (who was at that time the director of WSM's Artist
Services Bureau) and Len Ellis (then a CMDJA member) had already
discussed
forming an organization that would have a broader base than the CMDJA.
According
to the October 27, 1958 issue of The
Music Reporter, as early as the spring
of 1958, a steering committee of temporary officers for what later
became the
Country Music Association was formed. Acuff-Rose President Wesley Rose
was
elected president, Hubert Long Agency President Hubert Long served as
secretary
and Kilpatrick was chosen as treasurer for the unnamed coalition.
The men
had but one purpose: to determine if they could preserve and enhance
the
popularity of the music that they loved. Unfortunately, their efforts
were not
enough to prevent yet another casualty of rock's assault on country:
The
financially-ailing, nearly-dormant Country Music Disc Jockey
Association
decided to disband not long after a June 27, 1958 Dinner Key Auditorium
benefit
show for the Association during its convention in Miami.
who headlined the show, did not
sell enCMAough tickets to
resuscitate the organization; at least to the satisfaction of its
members.
Following
the benefit, Kilpatrick, Rose, noted broadcasting entrepreneur and
promoter
Connie B. Gay and Doyle Wilburn met in a room at the
concert raised about $3,000 for
the CMDJA. When the CMDJA disbanded, that
money was given to the
A series
of meetings continued throughout the summer of 1958, further convincing
the
participants that there just might be strength in numbers. The idea for
the
Country Music Association may have originated in
On August
14, 1958 the caretakers' committee met at the Hermitage Hotel, where it
officially decided to form the Country Music Association. CMA began
with 50
charter members (who paid $100 each for their lifetime memberships) in
nine
membership categories: These groupings represented disc jockeys,
artists,
musicians, managers, promoters, booking agents, songwriters,
publishers, print
and broadcast media and record company personnel, not to mention
"ballroom
operators" and the catchall category, "Non-Affiliated."
(According to the CMA's current Executive Director, Ed Benson,
Kilpatrick and
Ellis indicate that it was at the August 14th meeting that Rose was
tapped as
chairman and Hubert Long as acting secretary.)
The
efforts of Stapp, Denny, Long and the other faithful were rewarded
when,
following the signing of an Application for Charter at a September 26th
committee meeting at Acuff-Rose Publishing, the Country Music
Association was
chartered in the state of Tennessee that same day, as a not-for-profit
mutual
interest membership organization duly recognized under the provisions
of IRS
Code Section 501 (c) 6.
On
October 1st the caretakers' committee met again at Acuff-Rose. On
November
20th, at the same location, they convened the first of what would
become yearly
meetings scheduled as a preliminary event to the annual Disc Jockey
Convention.
(Now known as the Grand Ole Opry Birthday Celebration, the gathering
was held
November 21-22, 1958.)
Following
meetings of the caretakers committee (at the Cross Keys Restaurant on
October
9, 1958 and at the Hermitage Hotel's City Club November 6), a meeting
was held
on November 13, for the purpose of previewing speeches to be made at
the what
would the first of CMA's annual meetings.
On
November 19th the caretakers joined the bylaws committee at the City
Club to
formulate the bylaws.
The
Country Music Association's first formal organizational meeting, on
November
20, 1958 at WSM Radio's Studio C, featured speeches made on the
organization's
pluses. A founding Board elected at that time chose Wesley Rose as its
chairman.
In its
October 27, 1958 issue, The
Music Reporter suggested that "Full
participation of tradesters... can make and keep the new association
fully
democratic and guard against straying into possible political
ventures."
By the
time the Country Music Association opened its offices at 604 Exchange
Building
on December 8, 1958, CMA had a membership of 233 industry executives
and
artists. Its nine directors and five officers. These included such
industry
standard-bearers as Chairman of the Board Wesley Rose, CMA President
Connie B.
Gay (who had been elected by the Board during its election of officers
on
November 21, 1958) and Director-at-Large Jack Stapp.
One
crucial addition was that of an office manager: Mrs. Charles F. (Jo)
Most
importantly, the Country Music Association became the first trade
association
of its kind established with the purpose of promoting a musical genre.
Given
this goal and the fact that CMA's founders had nothing to lose,
coexisting with
demon rock 'n' roll didn't seem quite so impossible, especially
following the
response to the CMA's ad/open appeal for members appearing in the
February 8,
1959 issue of The Music
Reporter.
In fact,
by late 1959 it seemed country's efforts at rebounding might be
assisted by
rock music's appearing to be sowing the seeds of its own destruction:
The
front-page headline of The
Miami Herald's November 25, 1959
edition ("Booze, Broads and Bribes" by Dan Brown) said it all: the Herald had gotten word of the
excesses occurring during the second annual rock 'n' roll disc jockey
convention and quicker than you could say Alan Freed or Dick Clark, the
U.S.
House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight scheduled payola hearings
in
February, 1960.
While the
convention of rock jocks spent November of 1959 getting drunk,
consorting with
call girls, partaking of alcohol and making shady deals, the year-old
Country
Music Association experienced a growth spurt, increasing its board to
18
directors and its officers to nine.
Meanwhile,
back in Nashville CMA Executive Director Harry Stone, who had assumed
his
position in February, 1959 left his post later that year, most likely
due to a
combination of ill health and the fact that the cash-poor CMA couldn't
afford
to pay both his salary and Jo Walker's.
Funds
were so scarce that during at least one board meeting, the hat was
passed in
order to pay Walker, who, after Stone left, assumed the executive
director's
responsibilities for some time before she ever received the job title.
Walker
(now Jo Walker-Meador) realized early on the necessity of the trade
association's upgrading country music's "hayseed" image at a time
when more than the music's integrity was questioned. At that time,
country-music performers would think nothing of showing up late for
performances, running out on stage disheveled, drinking or even being
drunk on
stage. (It would take a few years but, by the late '60s, CMA had a
voluntary
code of ethics in place. Among the signatories were Roy
Acuff, Johnny
Bond, Johnny
Darrell, Sonny
James, Hugh
X. Lewis, Webb
Pierce,
Not even the Country
Music Association could
legiislate
respectibility, but by 1961 the CMA's
Board of Directors had
established the Country
Music Hall of Fame in order, not merely to dignify, but to
immortalize
country music's greatest contributors.
In 1961, Tex
Ritter (who would be elected president of the
Country Music
Association in 1964) hosted CMA's first sponsored luncheon for
advertisers in
The Hall of Fame's first
(1961) inductees, Jimmie
Rodgers, Fred
Rose and Hank
Williams, as well as Roy
Acuff, Tex
Ritter, Ernest
Tubb, Eddy
Arnold, Jim
Denny, George
D. Hay and Uncle
Dave Maconwho were the next to so honored,
were inducted before
the Hall of Fame even had a presence on Music Row. (Ironically, as the
CMA
before it, the Country Music Foundation, which oversees the Hall of
Fame and
Museum, was also born in Miami; during the Country Music Association's
1961
Board meeting.)
It wasn't until 1967 that the
building housing the Country Music Hall of
Fame and Museum, operated by the Country Music Foundation, was erected.
By 1967, the CMA was ready to
host its first awards banquet and show, but
the inaugural gala, hosted by Sonny
James and Bobbie
Gentry and highlighted by Eddy
Arnold's selection as the CMA's first
Entertainer of the Year, was
not ready for prime time.
Even the first televised CMA
Awards in 1968 were taped by NBC-TV for
rebroadcast on the
The first live broadcast of
the CMA Awards followed in 1968; the year Johnny
Cash won a record five trophies setting the
stage for his ABC-TV
network series that would bring country music its first surge of
national
pre-Urban Cowboy coolness.
When
I arrived in
By the time I returned to
make
And while I feared my
beginner's journalism credentials were insufficient to
establish, for purposes of membership qualification, that I was making
a living
in country music, by April,1976 a $15 annual CMA membership was mine.
(I was
told "off-the-record" that as long as my "money was
green...")
In short, if you wanted to be
a part of the country music, the Country Music
Association was not only glad to have you, they were grateful for your
interest.
It's hard to say at what
point bureaucratic bloat, arrogance and secrecy set
in. Certainly the organization was already thinking international when
it
decided to hold its first quarterly Board meeting of 1967 in
But at some point this
98-pound weakling named CMA that kept getting sand
kicked in its face grew into Charles Atlas
and decided it
would and could, at will, kick sand in everyone else's faces.
The first CMA membership
meeting I attended would also be my last. It seemed
as though the organization was top-heavy with chiefs, there being so
few
Indians and seemingly so little opportunity to contribute in a
meaningful way,
let alone advance to a position of leadership, that I reluctantly let
my
membership lapse.
For there's always been an
aura of secrecy and lack of accountability about
CMA.
Take the voting procedure for
Hall of Fame members: An anonymousgroup
of "industry leaders" forms a Hall of Fame nominating committee who
nominate a slate of 10 to 20 candidates. From these names another five
nominees
are chosen by an anonymous panel of
roughly 300 electors.
CMA documentation states that
qualified electors must have
"participated actively" in Country Music for at least 10 years and
must "merit respect and recognition for their accomplishments and/or
knowledge of one or more aspects of Country Music."
The documentation omits the
fact that these anonymous
electors must also be CMA members.
Similarly. the selection of
inductees to be immortalized in the Country
Music Walkway of Stars is not, as one would assume, merit-based. Stars
can be
"bought" by enterprising fan clubs, though if the assumption is that
these stars are merit-based neither the CMA nor the CMF does anything
to
discourage that perception.
The Country Music Association
established its "Journalist of the
Year" award in 1982, awarding it to journalists who "promoted"
country music. (CMA's stated mission being "the attainment of positive
publicity for Country Music in important newspapers, magazines and
media all
over the globe.")
One of the earliest
"Journalist" award winners
"promoted" her candidacy to the extent that she hired a publicist to
help her emerge victorious (so central is CMA's seal of approval to any
entertainment journalist's continued ability to make a living that,
ironically,
apparently, ethics be damned).
Whether it was because of the
ensuing resentment, or CMA's sudden awareness
that it is not a journalist's role to "promote" anything, CMA's
"Journalist" award has been renamed the "Media Achievement
Award."
The renamed award has changed
its focus and broadened its scope as it
"recognizes print journalists, authors, editors, syndicated radio
personnel, television writers or producers whose work significantly
broadens
the visibility and awareness of Country Music."
Some
artists do not need CMA's approval. Waylon
Jennings and Ricky
Van Shelton have had run-ins with the Country
Music Association. LeAnn
Rimes has denounced 1998's CMA Awards nominees
selection process
as being "political," while Marty
Stuart says that CMA is an acronym for
"Country, My
Ass!"
Even Reba
McEntire, who has repeatedly received CMA
awards, was upset by the
way she was treated at the 1985 CMA Awards show. According to Ralph
Emery, who is represented by Bill Carter,
McEntire's
manager in 1985, McEntireand
Carter "politely registered their grievances with the CMA, giving the
organization plenty of time to work out other arrangements for its next
winners' press conference [but) the CMA didn't change its plan. It
instead
reacted negatively to Reba
and her candor."
Emery himself characterizes
the CMA's actions the following year, when CMA
refused nominee McEntire
a backstage pass and backstage parking, as "petty."
"Petty"
seems to sum up my feelings about being
blacklisted by CMA ever since the 1993 publication of an article titled
"Nashville's Power Women," in Country Fever, a
fan
publication that folded not long after the article's publication.
The approximately 1,900 word
article (available on this site, click here),
which focused on almost a dozen female music executives' views on the
concept
of the glass ceiling, contained my
observation that "women
are grossly underrepresented on the Country Music Association and
Country Music
Foundation Boards." Statistically this remains true in 1998: The only
woman among CMA's 24 officers is Connie Bradley.
CMA has 38
directors of whom only four are female. Similarly, of the CMF's 25
officers, 3
(including, once again, Connie Bradley) are women and among its other
17 board
members there are also only 3 women.
My other apparently
objectionable assertion was a statement of personal experience
that occurred years before Ed Benson was
ever employed by the
Country Music Association.
I wrote of applying for a
full-time job at CMA, after having free-lanced for
the organization. I added that my request for a "promotion" was met
with the observation that I would not be considered "only because we
would
rather have a man."
Why Ed Benson had any
reaction to the article is unclear. Why, having had a
negative reaction, he did not seek a retraction from Country
Fever,
Benson refuses to say to this day.
Instead, Ed Benson's response
was to retaliate for the perceived wrong by
denying me credentials to CMA events.
As Benson wrote me on August
18, 1994, "I will reiterate... that
compromising your credibility with erroneous allegations about CMA in Country
Fever caused us to withdraw your privilege a a member of the
media for CMA
events. I cannot say when, if ever, you can regain that credibility. We
have
not, nor will [we] attempt to adversely affect your status in the
industry. It
is my opinion that you require no assistance in this regard."
Benson's remarks might be
taken at face value, were it not for an
observation by Entertainment Express' Walt
Trott.
Trott wrote in the publication's June, 1993 issue that "the CMA's
latest
tactic of 'circulating a list to label and indie publicists of 70
people whom
it has denied credentials for the June 7-12 festival,' as reported in Billboard,
may be a blunder of major proportions.
"This, in effect, notifies
labels and P.R. agencies that those on the
CMA 'blacklist' are not deemed worthy enough to warrant professional
standing.
As a result, it could mean loss of both advertisement revenue and
artist
accessibility for future features."
The recurring problem for
journalists stems from the fact that CMA controls
coverage of its events by controlling access to them in an arbitrary
fashion,
rather than having circulation or ratings requirements in place. Ed
Benson says
as much, indicating "I would like to make it clear that members of the
media invited and/or credentialed to cover CMA events are selected at
our sole
discretion."
Rather than continue to fight
with CMA receiving over full Fan Fair
credentials, including parking passes given to "key" media, Trott and
another veteran country-music journalist, Bill Littleton
have
simply stopped applying for Fan Fair credentials.
Another journalist credits
her continuing to be credentialed for CMA events
and positive standing with the organization with "having as little to
do
with them as possible."
One writer is upset that "Ed
Benson is nice to me because he thinks I'm
important," while another is resigned to the futility of expecting CMA
to
be responsive to his needs. He acknowledges "Yes, it's a travesty, but
as
we all know the CMA does whatever it feels like, foolish or not. Many
times
they don't even know they are looking like fools."
This may be because, unlike
any other trade organization, CMA has a free
ride from media who are under constant threat of having their
credentials
pulled, should they do anything other than parrot and assist in CMA's
promotional goal of "dissemination of facts and figures that evidence
country music's considerable popularity."
Media does not question Ed
Benson's refusal to allow CMA staffers to be
quoted without his permission nor that Benson appears only on forums of
his
choosing. None of these forums are confrontational in nature and Benson
makes
regular appearances, strictly in a promotional capacity, in advance of
Fan
Fair, the CMA Awards and various other CMA events.
Because
of its tax status, CMA's records are, by law,
available for public inspection. Apparently, I am the first reporter
who has
asked to see them, because CMA's reaction was to stop just short of
denying me
the opportunity to review its 990s for the tax years 1994, 1995 and
1996. (I
was told these records are available from the IRS.)
When, in June of 1998, I
insisted on an appointment with CMA to view the
records at its offices (CMA says it filed an application for extension
and that
its 1997 return would be ready in October), it was necessary for me to
bring
blank copies of the 990 form since CMA wouldn't allow me to photocopy
its
records.
I also brought a fellow
reporter, in whose presence, CMA's senior director
of operations, Tammy Genovese assured me
that I would receive
responses to questions raised by the returns, including the following:
When I did not receive
answers to these questions I contacted CMA's
attorney, R. Horton Frank, III. In a
letter to me (with copies
sent to Ed Benson, Tammy
Genovese, CMA Board
President Tim Dubois and Board Chair Donna
Hilley),
Horton admitted that while my questions "go to a wide range of matters
related to the business operations of CMA... CMA has no obligation
whatsoever
to provide you with the information you have requested and respectfully
declines to so."
CMA similarly refuses to
answer questions ranging from whether members of
its "Country Club" fan organization were reimbursed following the
demise of the group to why it refuses to provide written policy for the
issuing
and receiving of press credentials. (CMA first denied the existence of
the
Country Club. When confronted with evidence - in the form of the
existence of a
press kit produced at the club's inception in 1990 and a December 2,
1992 Nashville
Banner article announcing the revival of the club - Tammy
Genovese
apologized for the "incorrect information" CMA's public information
department supplied, explaining that CMA has both a new receptionist
and new
communications department staffers and that Tammy would attempt to
answer my
questions about the CMA Country Club. She has yet to do so.)
CMA prides itself on its
oft-stated international focus, yet, typically,
CMA's entire, exaggerated international presence consists of the small
Perhaps CMA should establish
an office in
No international incidents
were reported following this ethnic slur. Indeed,
nothing short of an international incident would seem to have any
impact on
CMA, nor the journalists who cover it, in terms of demanding some
accountability for this one-of-a-kind organization, lest they receive a
letter
similar to the second one - a scathing one and one-half page of vitriol
- I
received from R. Horton Frank, III.
In anticipation of this
article the CMA's legal counsel wrote me on
September 17, "While CMA has elected to provide you with certain
background and historical information in response to some of your
questions,
your request for answers to other questions now and in the future will
be
regarded as harassment."
Home | Music Row Report | Music Reviews | Book Reviews | Paid Content | Contact