The 1975 CMA Awards

I flew to Nashville for the first time in honor of being nominated for the song of the year. I had already been honored by NSAI (Nashvile Songwriters Association Int’l) for my work, which the late Buddy Killen picked up for me. It was such a surprise for me because I was still astonished that my song had gone Country, as it was about a guy walking the streets of Broadway, in NYC. I was to learn later that the title, that I overheard at some cocktail party in Hollywood, was an endearing term describing such singers as Hank Williams and Hank Snow, who were dressed by the famous image designer Manuel, then of Nudies in L.A. I flew there with Herb Eiseman, president of the publishing company I had signed with before writing, and originally recording the song which Glen heard on the radio. However, I found out that the reason I had been nominated, was not because of Glen’s record which had not been released during the time period required by the CMA, but because Loretta Lynn had recorded it in an album. I heard that she was upset that the CMA rule was going to exclude my song, and recorded it herself to get the song nominated. I was so surprised when I won, that I was not ready with a good acceptance speech..but to have Johnny Cash and Roy Clark give me my award was something beyond wonderful. Later, as I stood on stage between keyboard man, ‘Pig’ Martin, who won for musician of the year, and the great Ronnie Milsap, both blind, about to be photographed with all the winners of the night, I offered some humour, saying..’I guess you guys won’t be remembering me after tonight’..we all laughed. It was a great night.

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