Arts and Entertainment

NEW YORK (AP) — Carrie Underwood brought the Academy of Country Music Awards to church. Maren Morris won two honors, including song of the year. Miranda Lambert performed three times and held on to her record as the most decorated winner in ACM history. And Mickey Guyton, the first Black woman to host the awards show, gave a powerful, top-notch vocal performance.

Though female country stars didn’t compete for the night’s top prize – Luke Bryan was named entertainer of the year – they owned Sunday’s ACM Awards.

A couple of years ago, The String profiled Nashville’s Colin Linden. He was a chunky little white kid growing up in Toronto and New York in the 1960s who got struck by the blues as if by a benevolent lightning bolt. When he was 11, he approached his hero Howlin’ Wolf in the quiet hours before a show and struck up a long, life-changing conversation. I thought of this epiphany while taking in the story of Curtis Salgado.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne)  --  No date has been set for reopening applications for federal pandemic grants specifically directed at entertainment venues.

The grants were much anticipated by Nashville’s many live music venues devastated by the health crisis.

However, users trying to access the online portal beginning last Thursday reported serious errors. The registration website was shut down almost immediately.

National Public Radio quotes the federal Small Business Administration saying that no applications were completed or approved.