Reba McEntire, Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, Tom T. Hall and the late Hank Cochran are early winners from the Academy of Country Music.

Reba McEntire has received Career Achievement Award.  Taylor was honored with the Jim Reeves International Award for helping country music be accepted throughout the world. It might be hard to imagine Garth Brooks as a country music pioneer. But, he’s sharing the ACM’s Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award with Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers. And the Poet’s Award goes to Tom T. Hall and Hank Cochran.

“Country Strong” has been chosen for the Academy of Country Music’s Tex Ritter Award. It goes to a movie that features or uses country music. The ACM singles out the storyline. And it praises the movie’s four leads for their “strong performances” on the soundtrack: Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester.

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