What is it all about

The International Country Music Conference (ICMC) provides scholars an opportunity to share their work in all aspects of country music. ICMC broadly defines country music to include variants which share common historical and cultural roots ranging from Americana, alt.country, Bluegrass, Cajun, Country Rock, Crossover, and Honky Tonk to the Nashville Sound, New Traditionalist, Old Time Country, and Western Swing. ICMC is truly international with scholars from Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, and the United Kingdom participating.

Conference Schedule 

​

2020 conference was canceled due to COVID-19. Past programs can be found here.

 

The deadline for ICMC 2020 proposals was Friday, 25 October 2019. Proposals submitted before the 25 October 2019 deadline are appreciated and help in the publicity and scheduling processes.  You may send your proposal to James Akenson (jakenson@tntech.edu) with title, abstract, participant name(s), institutional affiliation(s), and contact information. 

Call For Nominations

The Rolling Stone Chet Flippo Award for Excellence in

Country Music Journalism

​

Rolling Stone in association with the International Country Music Conference is pleased to request nominations for the 6th annual Chet Flippo Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism. The Chet Flippo Award will be presented Friday, 4 June 2021 in the Frist Lecture Hall of the Gordon E. Inman Center of Belmont University (Nashville) during the International Country Music Conference. The honoree will receive $1,000 from Rolling Stone.

 

Open to nominations from throughout the world, the Chet Flippo Award will honor a piece of writing on Country Music published during 2020 in a newspaper, magazine, website, or other appropriate channel distinct from academic books, reference works, and academic journals. Nominations will be evaluated by the committee based on the work's significance of content, clarity of writing, and impact.

 

Nominations must be received by Friday 12 March 2021 and include the nominee's name, email contact information, and a link to the work for which the nomination is made. Writers of any employment status may be nominated. Self nominations are welcome. Stories published in Rolling Stone and stories written by Rolling Stone Staffers are ineligible.

 

Please send nominations to James E. Akenson at jakenson@tntech.edu.

For a PDF of this announcement for sharing click here.

​

2019 Awards

Brain Ward and Patrick Huber will be honored with the Belmont University Country Music Book of the Year Award for A&R Pioneers: Architects of American Roots Music on Record. Emily Yahr is the honoree for the Rolling Stone Chet Flippo Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism.

Conference Journal

The International Country Music Journal (ICMJ) 2019 is now available and edited by Dr. Don Cusic of Belmont University. The 2019 ICMJ features a wide variety of articles. Although an official function of ICMC, the ICMJ accepts manuscript submissions from scholars and others from throughout the world regardless if they have attended and presented at ICMC or not. ICMJ is available from Amazon. Persons interested in submitting manuscripts for ICMJ should contact Don Cusic (don.cusic@belmont.edu) for guidelines.