The Academy of Country Music honored George Strait with its Artist of the Decade Award for the 2000's....the all-star concert and tribute was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 6th, 2009 (with thousands of his fans in the audience) and broadcast by CBS Network during a 2-hour tv special in May of 2009....here are some highlights of that important evening in George's career.....
George makes his first appearance on stage after being introduced by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and waves to his adoring fans....below George and Tim shake hands......
Many artists performed George's hit songs but one particularly touching moment was Jamey Johnson's duet with Lee Ann Womack of a song he wrote (Give it Away) which became a #1 single for George and both ACM and CMA Song of the Year....after the performance Jamey asked George to sign his guitar and he obliged.....
Garth presents George with the Artist of the Decade Award.....
George looked overjoyed as he hoisted his Trophy for all to see....the HUGE smile on his face was wonderful to watch.....
After thanking everyone from his organization, fans, family and friends, George sang "Ocean Front Property"....during his speech he first thanked "God...for giving me a voice to sing and for pointing me towards country music to sing...."....yes George...Strait fans everywhere thank God for that too....:) !!!
Before singing "Troubadour", George invited all the artists who had performed for him earlier to join him onstage for the finale.....it was a fitting end to a wonderful evening....
After the taping was completed, George did several interviews...including one for GAC for a future television special that included comments from the artists who sang for him on this special night....here's two photos with lucky Suzanne Alexander talking with George....he said, quote: "I'm a loss for words right now" when asked how he felt...LOL...however, he did say he was "feeling the love out there" on stage....the tv show was on GAC Nights several times in June, 2010....
