2020 …The Year We Zoomed

Google wants you to use Google Meet. There’s also Skype, the old Apple Facetime, Cisco Webex and the king -- Zoom! It’s like anything that can bring us together without bringing us together, like we all live in various parts of the universe. Look but don’t touch! Star Fleet Command talked with Captain Kirk on videoconference back in the ’60s. We are living in sci-fi like times.

Brad Paisley just put out the first Zoom-based international music video. It is great fun to watch. Thirty countries and 225 folks are represented in “There Is No I In Beer.” Tim McGraw, Peyton Manning, Los Angeles Dodger Clayton Kershaw, the A-Rod and so many others all Zoomed by with a beer.

This week, Captain Garth Brooks held a Zoom news conference to tell us he would like to opt out of the CMA Entertainer of the Year race. He’s won seven times and says that’s enough.

Fans of several artists screamed foul after he won last November. One tweet suggested he move aside and let the next generation have their turn. That one little tweet hit the G spot.

Trouble is, the CMA Awards balloting rules are what they are. The voters nominate and vote. The one with the most votes in the end wins. There is no procedure for the CMA to remove a nomination. Steve Wariner and Blake Shelton jumped on social media shortly after Garth’s announcement and called him the Entertainer of the Century and a legend.

Garth Brooks is the best entertainer of his generation, and maybe in Country music history. The masses and the industry have spoken on this issue time and time again. When you stand in front of a million people rockin’ with him in New York’s Central Park, you will never doubt Garth’s power. His shows are revivals, drawing young and old, all races, ages and backgrounds.

Plenty on Music Row do fantastic shows, but they do not have whatever it is that the G Man has. You have to see a Garth show to judge him. The shows, sales, stats, and awards speak for themselves. The way Garth treats his fellow musicians, fans, and the media -- some come close but Garth is in a class by himself.

Who will win CMA EOY this year? Maybe not Garth, but then again maybe he just might.

So, 2020 is a bust. Three Country award shows are just ahead. I guess they will all be virtual. I don’t know about you, but Zooming for work is one thing. Zooming in a music video right now is cool. Watching a Zoom award show does not sound like a ratings winner to me. But what choice do they have? Zoom awards for three hours? Snooozeeeeee.

Can’t wait to see a Merle Haggard bio film from Amazon Studios starring Sam Rockwell. What a story custom made for the movies. It’s got everything. Who in Country ever had a life like the Hag?

One Country song rings out from the catalogue of great songs, “Behind Closed Doors.” No one knows what goes on away from the Zoom camera.

Very sad hearing Eddie Stubbs sign off from WSM-AM/Nashville. Let’s see what else can happen in 2020. Please increase your bandwidth and fasten your seat belts.