Dear IBMA,
Please stop asking the most accomplished artists in our business to read corny lines from a teleprompter, or to engage in cringe-inducing banter for the sake of a light-hearted awards show. Last night’s production made Hee-Haw look like high art.
Nashville is lousy with writers and show business professionals. I know that money is tight, and that a volunteer production staff works very hard to pull off a tightly-paced presentation with appeal for a wide audience, but folks… it’s just not working. It’s long past time to bring in professionals with a proven record of producing successful shows.
Picking is easy; comedy is hard. Let’s try and preserve the dignity of our music and its top practitioners by placing them in a position to shine rather than shrink on this, our biggest annual stage.
Your friend,
John
