39th Annual International Country Music Conference 

What is it all about

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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 

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The 2022 conference can be found here.

Past programs can be found here.

 

The deadline for ICMC 2023 proposals is Friday, 28 October 2023. Proposals submitted before the 28 October 2022 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. 

2022 Awards

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Stacy Chandler is the honoree for the Rolling Stone Chet Flippo Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism. Chandler will be honored for "Violent Verses: Modern Musicians Grapple with the Legacy of Murder Ballads".

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The 2022 The Belmont University Curb Music Industry Award for Country Music Book of the Year honoree is:

Rural Rhythm: The Story of Old-Time Country Music in 78 Records

by Tony Russell.

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The Belmont University Curb Music Industry Award for Country Music Book of the Year honors one book published per calendar year. For books published in 2022, please email don.cusic@belmont.edu to get your book in the running for the 2023 award.

Conference Journal

The International Country Music Journal (ICMJ) 2022 is now available and edited by Dr. Don Cusic of Belmont University. The 2022 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 and on the ICMC website here

 

Persons interested in submitting manuscripts for ICMJ should contact Don Cusic (don.cusic@belmont.edu) for submission, guidelines can be found here.