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Country Kings of the Castle

Nashville descends on Castlebar as part of the World Fleadh... By Angela Sammon - 12/08/09

Top stars from the world of country music descended on Castlebar last week for the 2009 ICMA Awards.

The Irish Country Music Awards (ICMA) is affliated with the Country Music Awards (CMA) Nashville and are the only National Country Music Awards

in Ireland.

They were held this year as part of the World Fleadh at the Royal Theatre & Events Centre, Castlebar.

A star-studded line-up of stars from Ireland and the international scene included Randy Travis, Georgette Jones, Hal Ketchum, Margo and Mike Denver.

The awards are voted on by the public and are highly respected within the country music industry.

American star Randy Travis was the big attraction on the night, going home with the Best International Act.

The “Forever and Ever, Amen” singer performed for industry heavyweights before returning to the stage the following night for a full capacity audience.

But it was Margo who received one of the biggest cheers of the evening, when she received the “Lifetime Achievement Award”.

The Donegal star was presented with her award by Fr Brian Darcy before performing two tracks.

Georgette Jones was in town to accept the “Hall of Fame” award on behalf of her father George Jones. The singer, daughter of Jones and Tammy Wynette, also took to the stage to show off her country pedigree.

Other big winners on the night included Hal Ketchum (Services to the Country Music Industry) and Mike Denver (Best Life Country Act).

Producer of the ICMA Awards, Eric Cunningham said it was time Ireland honoured its country stars.

"Many countries honour their greatest country stars annually at a national awards ceremony. Until now the same couldn't be said about Ireland. The ‘Irish Country Music Awards' will fill this void and honour annually our greatest Irish country music artists along with a number of special guest country acts from outside of Ireland.”

Mr Cunningham said he hoped to honour Irish and international country music stars year after year within a number of nomination classes, where all styles of country music are acknowledged.