NASHVILLE, Tenn. (November 12, 2019) – Monday night, at the 57th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards, American music icon Randy Travis was presented the prestigious ASCAP Founders Award. Performing two of Travis’ biggest hits were Garth Brooks, singing “Forever and Ever, Amen,” and Carrie Underwood, singing “Promises.” The duo then joined ASCAP President and Chairman, Paul Williams, in presenting the award, which will join the top shelf of Travis’ award room alongside a Country Music Hall of Fame plaque, a Grand Ole Opry member trophy, seven GRAMMY Awards, 11 ACM statuettes, five CMA honors, 10 American Music Awards, two People’s Choice awards, eight Dove Awards and many more honors.
“This man saved country music single handedly…. I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for Randy Travis,” said Garth Brooks as he welcomed Randy to the stage.
“Your music became a symphony to the lives of millions,” Mary Travis said to her husband. “The songs that you left us before your stroke six-and-a-half years ago will remain the soundtrack of our lives Forever and Ever, Amen.”
These awards celebrate the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP’s most-performed country songs. Travis joins the ranks of Rodney Crowell, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Ricky Skaggs, Jackson Brown, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty and Neil Young, among others, as a Founders Award recipient. This particular award is one of ASCAP’s highest honors, which is presented to songwriters and composers who have made significant contributions to music and inspire and influence the music community.
About Randy Travis
With lifetime sales in excess of 25 million, Randy Travis is one of the biggest multi-genre record sellers of all time and a recent inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame class of 2016. His honors include seven Grammy Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music statuettes, 10 American Music Awards, two People’s Choice awards, seven Music City News awards, eight Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association and five Country Music Association honors. In addition, three of his performances earned CMA Song of the Year honors: “On the Other Hand” (1986), “Forever and Ever Amen” (1987) and “Three Wooden Crosses” (2002). To date, he has 22 No. 1 singles, 31 Top-10 smashes and more than 40 appearances in feature films and television shows to his credit. Four of his albums are Gold Records. Four are Platinum. One has gone Double Platinum. One is Triple Platinum and another is Quintuple Platinum. In 2004, Randy was honored with his own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is honored on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville, TN. He has been a member of the cast of the Grand Ole Opry since 1986. In 2017, Randy was honored with a wax figure at Madame Tussauds™ Nashville. Since his near fatal stroke in 2013, with the help of his wife Mary and rigorous physical therapy, Randy continues to make improvements in his speaking, walking, and yes, singing. With the help of author Ken Abraham, he released his critically-acclaimed memoir in 2019, Forever and Ever, Amen. For more information please visit RandyTravis.com.
About ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP’s mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world’s best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business – from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 720,000 members representing more than 11.5 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook.