Jimmy Wayne says this picture was taken "somewhere in nowhere New Mexico, on US 60 West." Photo courtesy of artist.

At this time a year ago, Jimmy Wayne was putting in a bit of lat-minute training as he made plans for a journey that had all kinds of potential pitfalls he could not completely anticipate. He announced just before Christmas 2009 that he intended to walk halfway across America — from Nashville to Phoenix — to raise awareness for the issue of homeless teens.

Jimmy did indeed set off on his Meet Me Halfway walk on New Year’s Day with Middle Tennessee windchills appropriately in… the teens, and his excursion became one of the most unusual pursuits of 2010. It stands at No. 8 as GAC counts down the one dozen top country news stories of the past 12 months.

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Carrie Underwood took home the 2010 ICM Video of the Year Award for "Temporary Home"

The 16th Annual Inspirational Country Music Awards Show (ICM Awards) were held this past Thursday, October 14, 2010 here in Nashville. The annual ICM Awards are dedicated to honoring and showcasing the biggest names and emerging talent among artists who perform Christian and Inspirational Country music.  The show took place at the Trinity Music City USA Auditorium and was hosted by GAC’s very own Stormy Warren and “Inside Edition” host Megan Alexander.

Here’s a list of the night’s big winners:

• Entertainer of the Year – Point of Grace
• Male Vocalist of the Year – Tommy Brandt
• Female Vocalist of the Year – Mary James
• Vocal Duo of the Year – The Roys
• Vocal Group of the Year – CrossCountry The Band
• Mainstream Country Artist of the Year – Craig Morgan
• Mainstream Inspirational Song of the Year – “This Ain’t Nothin’” by Craig Morgan
• Video of the Year – “Temporary Home” by Carrie Underwood
• Christian Country Song of the Year – “Cowboys Love Jesus, Too” by Russ Murphy
• Songwriter of the Year – Russ Murphy
• Legend/Pioneer Award – Dan Cowart of Last Light Band
• Musician of the Year – Dennis Agajanian
• Music Evangelist of the Year – Greg McDougal
• New Artist of the Year – Laura Dodd
• Comedy Act of the Year – Johnny Lee Cook
• Youth in Music Award – Renee Spencer
• Inspirational Bluegrass Artist of the Year – Ricky Skaggs
• Faith, Family & Country Movie – The Blind Side
• Radio Personality of the Year – Rich Miller
• Radio Station of the Year -  WCWV Summersville, WV
• Television Network of the Year – TCT Networks

Click here for more about the 2010 ICM Awards »

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Tim McGraw photo courtesy of timmcgraw.com.

Tim McGraw has quite a nice side career going. He’s dedicated to keeping music his top priority, yet he keeps finding his way into films, including Friday Night Lights, Four Christmases and The Blind Side, where he formed a friendship with co-star Sandra Bullock.

He’s averaged one movie a year since 2004, which is a pretty good pace for someone who tours a lot, makes albums and still spends time with his family. But the motion-picture opportunities keep coming, and Tim keeps taking the handful that actually make sense.

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Tim McGraw photo courtesy of timmcgraw.com.

With his work in The Blind Side, Friday Night Lights and Four Christmases, Tim McGraw has set himself up nicely as an actor if the music thing should ever fall by the wayside.

The music is, he continues to say, his primary interest. But the acting allows him to channel the same sort of creative energy that informs an album into a completely different medium.

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Ryan Bingham photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

The Golden Globe Awards are often hailed as the movie industry’s warm up for the Oscars, and it certainly worked that way for Ryan Bingham.

When “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)” won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song in January, Ryan was off chatting at the bar, leaving co-writer T Bone Burnett to deliver a somewhat bewildered acceptance speech.

Ryan learned an important lesson for Oscar night: stay in your seat. And he did exactly that on Sunday, until “The Weary Kind” won again. Ryan and T Bone shared the podium at the Kodak Theatre, though Ryan did most of the talking, including a sweet dedication to his wife, Anna Axster.

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Tim McGraw and Faith Hill arrive on the Red Carpet for "The 43rd Annual CMA Awards," on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009, live from the Sommet Center in Nashville on the ABC Television Network.Photographer: Jim Hagans / CMA.

The much-talked-about movie The Blind Side, in which Tim McGraw plays the husband of Sandra Bullock, finally hits theaters on Friday. Tim was at first reticent to get involved in a film that would have him play the father of a high school football player. That is, he reasoned, the same kind of role he had in the picture Friday Night Lights.

But when Tim read the script and realized how powerful the movie could become, he changed his mind. It certainly helped that he felt a kinship to his character, whose wife has the same kind of strength that Tim’s wife, Faith Hill, exerts in his real-life family.

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Tim McGraw photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of Curb Records.

There are five Southern voices in the home of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and it looks like that’s the limit. Tim, who occupies the cover of the newest edition of People magazine, originally had more kids in mind, but with three girls already in the family, there’s not much thought of expansion.

“We talked about it once,” he says in the story. “We even have names for boys. I would love to have a boy also, but if we start again now, we’re going to be old when they’re gone. We started out wanting five [kids], and life just…got busy.”

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Tim McGraw photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of Curb Records.

After Tim McGraw earned his first hit 15 years ago with the novelty “Indian Outlaw,” he took a 180-degree turn with his next single by releasing the almost-morbid ballad “Don’t Take The Girl.”

That approach has since become a minor signature in his career: Tim followed the pleading ballad “Please Remember Me” with the playful “Something Like That”; balanced the heavy message of “Live Like You Were Dying” with the goofy wordplay of the next single, “Back When”; and contrasted last December’s alcohol-fueled “Nothin’ To Die For” with the flip follow-up “It’s A Business Doing Pleasure With You.”

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Tim McGraw photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of Curb Records.

If football is on at the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill household, don’t even think about changing the channel. Tim is a lifelong football fan. He performed on Sep. 10 during the NFL’s Kickoff Party before the first regular season game at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field, when the Tennessee Titans played the hometown Steelers. Faith’s NFL ties are strong too – she sings the opening theme for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, ”Waiting All Day For Sunday Night.”

When Tim recently visited the GAC studio, he answered a few questions from fans. Julie from Idaho wanted to know what advice Tim would give to football-hating wives married to football-loving husbands.

“Learn to love it — at my house, it’s the only choice you’d have!” he said, laughing.  “I’m a football fanatic – but my wife is also, so that’s great. Continue Reading

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Tim McGraw photo courtesy of Curb Nashville.

Fans who’ve seen the trailer for Tim McGraw’s next movie are likely noticing a similarity between The Blind Side and his very first motion picture, Friday Night Lights.

In both cases, Tim plays the father of a high-school football player. Tim wasn’t necessarily looking to reprise the earlier role, but The Blind Side script proved irresistible. It’s built around the life of Michael Oher, a poverty-stricken Memphis kid who was adopted by a wealthy suburban family. Michael became an All-American college player and was a first-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens, and that reversal of fortune kind of roped Tim in.

“It’s a great story,” he told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. Continue Reading

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