COUNTRY ICON RANDY TRAVIS TO BE HONORED WITH PRESTIGIOUS ASCAP FOUNDERS AWARD AT 2019 ASCAP COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS
Awards to be Held Monday, November 11 in Nashville
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (September 9, 2019) – Amid a galaxy of country music stars gathered in downtown Nashville for its annual awards shows, industry VIPs will celebrate one of the brightest when Country Music Hall of Fame member Randy Travis receives the prestigious ASCAP Founders Award at the 57th annual American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Country Music Awards. The exclusive, invitation-only gala, which celebrates the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP’s most-performed country songs of 2018, takes place on Monday, November 11 and will include special guest performances to honor Travis.
“Randy Travis is the seminal country artist of a generation,” said ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams. “His meteoric rise to the top of the country charts was fueled by that unmistakable baritone and a talent for traditional country music that spoke to everyone. As a new artist, Randy garnered international attention at a time when such exposure for country artists was reserved for an iconic few. His music and devotion to classic country sounds are a cornerstone in the genre and it is an honor to present him with this year’s Founders Award.”
The Founders Award is one of ASCAP’s highest honors and is presented to songwriters and composers who have made pioneering contributions to music by inspiring and influencing their fellow music creators. Each recipient is a musical innovator who possesses a unique style of creative genius, which will enrich generations to come. Previous recipients include Rodney Crowell, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Ricky Skaggs, Jackson Brown, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty and Neil Young, among others.
An ASCAP member for almost four decades, North Carolina-born Randy Travis is an unsuspecting trendsetter who influenced the future of country music. With more than 25 million albums sold, he has collected every major music award including seven Grammys, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards, 10 American Music Awards, eight Dove Awards, five Country Music Association awards and two People’s Choice Awards. Travis has racked up 22 No. 1 singles including signature hits like “On the Other Hand,” “Forever and Ever, Amen,” “Diggin’ Up Bones” and “I Told You So,” “Look Heart, No Hands,” and “Whisper My Name.”
By the early 90s, Travis was earning roles in major motion pictures and television series including multiple episodes of “Touched by An Angel.” By the turn of the century, he focused on gospel music, immediately scoring a No. 1 Christian and country hit, “Three Wooden Crosses.”
A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1986, Travis was inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016 and has been honored with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville. The Music of Randy Travis Tour begins on October 16 in Indianapolis, with guest vocalist James Dupré and Travis’s longtime touring band Steve Hinson, Dave Johnson, Lance Dary, Bill Cook, Joe Van Dyke and Herb Shucher, rejoining “Hoss,” as they affectionately call Travis, on the road for the first time since his stroke in 2013. Tickets can be purchased at randytravis.com/tour.
About Randy Travis
With lifetime sales in excess of 25 million, Randy Travis is one of the biggest multi-genre record sellers of all time and a recent inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame class of 2016. His honors include seven Grammy Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music statuettes, 10 American Music Awards, two People’s Choice awards, seven Music City News awards, eight Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association and five Country Music Association honors. In addition, three of his performances earned CMA Song of the Year honors: “On the Other Hand” (1986), “Forever and Ever Amen” (1987) and “Three Wooden Crosses” (2002). To date, he has 22 No. 1 singles, 31 Top-10 smashes and more than 40 appearances in feature films and television shows to his credit. Four of his albums are Gold Records. Four are Platinum. One has gone Double Platinum. One is Triple Platinum and another is Quintuple Platinum. In 2004, Randy was honored with his own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is honored on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville, TN. He has been a member of the cast of the Grand Ole Opry since 1986. In 2017, Randy was honored with a wax figure at Madame Tussauds™ Nashville. Since his near fatal stroke in 2013, with the help of his wife Mary and rigorous physical therapy, Randy continues to make improvements in his speaking, walking, and yes, singing. With the help of author Ken Abraham, he released his critically-acclaimed memoir in 2019, Forever and Ever, Amen. For more information please visit RandyTravis.com.
About ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP’s mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world’s best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business – from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 720,000 members representing more than 11.5 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook.
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