Moving Announcement: After six years at Nashville’s City Winery, CMT is moving the Next Women of Country event on Nov. 12 to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
What started in 2013 as a way to shine a spotlight on country music’s next generation, CMT’s Next Women of Country campaign has grown to become an annual event during the week of the CMA Awards. And today (Nov. 7), it was announced that Brandi Carlile will be honored with this year’s Impact Award.
On Nov. 12, at the 7th annual celebration — co-hosted by Martina McBride and CMT’s Leslie Fram — Carlile will accept the award for outstanding achievements and contributions to women in the country music, while impacting songwriting, recording, radio airplay, record sales, streams, media impressions, awards and touring in country music over the past year. And Carlile’s past year has been full of making an impact on the music world: the singer, songwriter, performer and producer’s By The Way, I Forgive You album won this year’s Grammy for best Americana album, and she also took home Grammy awards for best American roots song and best American roots performance for “The Joke.”
This year’s Impact Award will be presented by singer-songwriter Lucie Silvas and Change the Conversation co-founder, Tracy Gershon.
“Not only is she one of the greatest performers of our time, she’s an incredible advocate and champion for her fellow female artists, lending her support and star power to up-and-coming artists in the genre,” said Fram, Senior Vice President, Music Strategy & Talent at CMT. “We are truly thrilled to celebrate her monumental achievements, both as a solo artist, producer, and as a member of the groundbreaking group The Highwomen with this Impact Award.”
Past Impact Award honorees include Maren Morris (2018), Kelsea Ballerini (2017) and Brandy Clark (2016).
CMT first launched its Next Women of Country campaign back in 2013 — when the genre was starting to become dominated by male artists — in an effort to support and expose female talent, both signed and unsigned. In addition to the November event, there have been five CMT Next Women of Country Tours with headliners like Jennifer Nettles, Martina McBride and Sara Evans, and smaller showcase events throughout the year to let the next class of country music women share their stories and their songs.
For updates and to join the conversation, visit NextWomenCMT.com, follow @CMT on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and use #CMTNextWomen to join the conversation.
