CLEVELAND, Miss. (CelebrityAccess) — Three-time Award-winning country music legend Charley Pride will be the first recipient of the Grammy Museum Mississippi’s Crossroads of American Music Award.
Established by the Museum’s Board of Directors, the Crossroads of American Music Award is intended to honor an artist who “has made significant musical contributions influenced by the creativity born in the cradle of American music.”
“I’m honored to be the first recipient of this award from the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi,” said Pride. “And thankful to the many great American music artists before me that helped to pave the way for my success. I applaud the Museum for celebrating those artists and championing the importance of American music.”
Pride will be feted at the museum’s 2019 Gala, which takes place on Nov. 1st at the Grammy Museum in Mississippi.
“We are thrilled to recognize the great Charley Pride as the first-ever recipient of our Crossroads of American Music Award,” said Emily Havens, Executive Director of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi.
“As a native of Mississippi, Charley has had a significant impact on American music with his uncompromising honky-tonk country music. Charley broke new ground in the ’60s when he emerged as one of the most successful black country artists at that time. It’s an honor to recognize Charley Pride as the inaugural recipient of our Crossroads of American Music Award,” she added.
Later this month, Pride will be featured in an encore broadcast of PBS’s “American Masters – Charley Pride: I’m Just Me” a documentary detailing Pride’s rise from a poor sharecropper’s son in segregated Mississippi to one of the biggest names in country music. Pride is also featured on Ken Burns magisterial 8-part series “Country Music” which is currently on NPR.
