Brooks & Dunn, Lambert, Musgraves, McBride take ACM honors

Honorees will be celebrated on Aug. 21 in Nashville during the 13th annual ACM Honors, an evening dedicated to recognizing the special honorees and off-camera category winners from the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards. The Academy of Country Music Special Awards are voted on by the ACM Board of Directors for specific achievements.

ACM Cliffie Stone Icon Award - Brooks & Dunn and McBride will received the award presented to a country music artist, duo/group or industry leader who throughout their career has advanced the popularity of the genre through their contributions in multiple facets of the industry such as songwriting, recording, production, touring, film, television, literary works, philanthropic contributions and other goodwill efforts.

ACM Gene Weed Milestone Award - Lambert. This award is presented to a country music artist, duo/group or industry leader for a specific, unprecedented or outstanding achievement in the field of country music during the preceding calendar year. Lambert made history at the 2018 ACM Awards, becoming the all-time most awarded artist in Academy history with her wins for "Tin Man" as Song of the Year and her ninth consecutive Female Vocalist trophy. She currently has received 32 ACM awards including five Album of the Year awards 10 Song and Single of the Year awards (as either an artist or songwriter) and the first-ever ACM Merle Haggard Spirit Award.

ACM Jim Reeves International Award - Musgraves. The award is presented to an artist or industry leader for outstanding contributions to the acceptance of country music throughout the world. Musgraves' Oh, What a World: Tour led her around the globe in 2018. In addition to being the first country artist to play the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, Musgraves played Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Musgraves headlined the C2C: Country to Country festival in early 2018, then returned in the fall to perform at Wembley Arena in London. Musgraves collected her first ACM Female Vocalist of the Year award in April.

ACM Poet's Award - Rodney Crowell, Kye Fleming and Billy Joe Shaver. This award is presented to a country music songwriter for outstanding and longstanding musical and/or lyrical contributions throughout

Crowell's catalogue includes "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried" and "She's Crazy for Leavin'," as well as Rosanne Cash's "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me," Crystal Gayle's "Til I Gain Control Again," Highway 101's "Somewhere Tonight," Waylon Jennings' "I Ain't Livin' Long Like This," Tim McGraw's "Please Remember Me," Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper's Dream)," the Oak Ridge Boys' "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight," Bob Seger's "Shame on the Moon" and Keith Urban's "Making Memories of Us." As a recording artist, Crowell was named ACM Top New Male Vocalist for 1988. He received a Grammy for Best Country Song and an ACM Song of the Year nomination for "After All This Time." He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003.

Fleming's songwriting helped define an era of country music through radio-friendly material recorded by Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap and Sylvia in the 1970s and 1980s. Fleming grew up in a Navy family and toured as a folk artist before turning to professional songwriting. Following a move to Nashville in 1977, she teamed up with songwriter Dennis Morgan for cuts like Mandrell's "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool," "In Times Like These," "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" and "Years," as well as Milsap's "Smoky Mountain Rain" and "I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World." Morgan and Fleming also co-wrote Sylvia's No. 1 hit, "Nobody," which received an ACM nomination for Song of the Year. \

Shaver has embodied the Outlaw spirit of country music from the start, placing cuts in the 1970s with Johnny Cash, David Allan Coe, Tom T. Hall, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Shaver met Jennings at a guitar pull in Texas. Shaver tracked Jennings down in Nashville to pitch some songs. True to his word, Jennings took a break from his recording session and listened to Shaver sing the material -- and subsequently recorded an album almost entirely composed of Shaver's songs, 1973's "Honky Tonk Heroes."

Tex Ritter Film Award - A Star Is Born. This award recognizes an outstanding television movie, series or feature film released during the preceding calendar year, which prominently features country music. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe award for co-writing "Shallow," both turned to Nashville songwriters to convey the characters of troubled rock singer Jackson Maine and budding songwriter Ally. Early in the film's development, Cooper contacted producer Dave Cobb to help create Maine's edgy, yet earthy, sound. Cobb introduced him to music by Jason Isbell, who crafted the song "Maybe It's Time" after conversations with Cooper about the character's struggles with redemption. Gaga co-wrote "Always Remember Me This Way" with Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsey, and Lori McKenna, while "I'll Never Love Again" is a collaboration with Gaga, Hemby, Lindsey, and Aaron Raitiere.

ACM Songwriter of the Year Award - Previously announced winner Shane McAnally. This award is presented to an individual known predominately as a songwriter, selected by a Professional Panel of judges composed of songwriters, publishers, producers, and performing rights organization representatives. This is McAnally's second ACM Songwriter of the Year award.

McAnally has 40 number ones under his belt. His compositions have been recorded by Kenny Chesney, Kelly Clarkson, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert and Old Dominion. In 2017, Sam Hunt's "Body Like A Back Road," which McAnally co-wrote, broke records by spending 34 straight weeks at number on" Golden Hour."

ACM Gary Haber Lifting Lives Award - Gayle Holcomb. This award is presented to a country music artist, duo/group or industry professional who is devoted to improving lives through the power of music, has a generosity of spirit, and is committed to serving others, voted on by the ACM Lifting Lives Board of Directors.

Holcomb, a Partner at WME and Director at Large on the ACM Board, has been an advocate for ACM Lifting Lives, the Academy's charitable arm. Holcomb helped launch ACM Lifting Lives in 2009, guiding the vision for the charity in its early stages, then continued her support by serving as chairman.