News
TIMELESS: Garth Brings Home Six Awards, Including Single of the Year, at the 1991 Academy of Country Music Awards
As the 61st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards show draws closer on May 17, we’re looking back to the 26thAnnual ACM Awards show in 1991. It was a watershed event in Garth’s career. He walked away with six trophies for Entertainer of the Year, Top Male Vocalist, Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Song of the Year, and Top Country Video, riding a wave of success from No Fences that laid the foundation for Ropin’ the Wind.
Garth set a record for the most ACM wins in one night, and we’re doing a story on each award, in the order it was presented. This is the second story, Single of the Year.
Garth had already received the award for Top Country Video for “The Dance” and performed a medley of four of his #1 hits when “Friends in Low Places” was named Single Record of the Year.
After accepting the award from Lisa Hartman and his hero, Buck Owens, Garth thanked the songwriters, Dewayne Blackwell and Bud Lee, “for a wonderful song and for letting me have it.” He also thanked country radio for continuing to play the song, even though they were probably “tired as hell” of it. And he dedicated it to all his friends in low places.
“Friends in Low Places” was the first single released from No Fences in 1990, and it quickly drove the album to platinum status. During the recording session, Garth told the musicians to play like they were in a bar band doing their last set of the night, and he packed the studio with his closest “friends in low places” to sing on the chorus.
“Friends” is the singalong everyone knows and can identify from the first four notes in the intro. It’s part of the soundtrack at athletic events, tailgates, dive bars, parties, and yes, even wedding receptions. Garth calls it “the anthem of the underdog” and named his and Trisha’s entertainment complex on Lower Broadway after this signature song.
