1983 Was A Year Of Diversity In Country Music

There were some years in country music history where one particular artist would sweep the awards for the year.  One artist who had that banner year, winning everything from song of the year to album of the year to entertainer of the year.  Took all the hardware home.

1983 was not that year.

It could be argued that 1983 was the year of country music diversity.

At the CMA Awards Show that year, many of country music's greatest artist's walked up the stairs and onto the stage to accept an award.

Male Vocalist? Lee Greenwood.

Female Vocalist? Janie Fricke.

The winner's read like a 'Who's Who' of 1980's country music...Merle Haggard, Chet Atkins, Ricky Skaggs.

The 'Song of the Year', an award given to the writers, went to 'Always On My Mind', a song that has since become a signature song for Hall of Famer Willie Nelson.

Now, while 'Always On My Mind' garnered 'Song of the Year', in this year of country music diversity, the 'Single of the Year', an award that goes to the artist, well...I'll bet you sing along to this one every time you hear it, even to this day.  And you can now, too, sing along with John Anderson.

The ultimate CMA award is, of course, 'Entertainer Of The Year'.  And even with all those great artist's already mentioned, no...that top award was given to one of country music's all-time greatest group's, Alabama.

Alabama also won 'Album of the Year' for 'The Closer You Get'.

All in all, 1983 was one fantastic year in country music!