On the eve of the fan-centered CMA Fest, Billboard put the focus on country’s movers and shakers with a June 3 Country Power Players party that saw five artists and executives honored with awards that recognized both a new generation of talent and the predecessors who set the table for them.

Tucker Wetmore received the rising star award during the event at Category 10 in Nashville. Red Clay Strays took the groundbreaker award, Riley Green earned the hitmaker award, and The Neal Agency founder Austin Neal collected executive of the year. Miranda Lambert received the icon award.

The hand-me-down nature of the format, which sees the music evolve as new classes of artists and business people emerge, was most evident in Neal’s emotional acceptance of his honor. His father, retired WME partner Kevin Neal, handed off the executive trophy to Austin, acknowledging that Kevin’s own father, the late Bob Neal, was Elvis Presley’s first manager.

As a third-generation construct, The Neal Agency started as a boutique agency, but with a roster that includes Green, Morgan Wallen, HARDY and Ella Langley, Kevin noted, “it’s no longer a boutique agency.”

Green received his hitmaker hardware from Clint Black, a key figure from a previous generation who Green cites as one of his strongest influences. Like Black, Green writes the bulk of his own material while remaining firmly rooted on the traditional end of country’s spectrum. Appropriate to tradition, he paid a nod to his grandparents at the podium.

HARDY hailed Wetmore as a hard-working man reaping the benefits of his dedication, and comedian Matt Rife introduced Red Clay Strays’ mix of country, rock and blues as “a timeless sound that sends us back to music’s golden age at a time when the world sometimes feels like it’s lost its soul.”

Red Clay frontman Brandon Coleman paraphrased another comedian, Eddie Murphy, while embracing their improbable rise: “It’s not a row boat, it’s a sailboat. We’re not looking at a destination and just being like, ‘I’m going to go there and I’m going to achieve this.’ We’re just in a sailboat going where the wind takes us, just trying to be honest and authentic along the way.”

Songwriter Tom Douglas (“The House That Built Me”) celebrated Lambert as an artist who’s “rugged enough to weather whatever this town brings and generous enough to let the young ones stand on her shoulders.”

Lambert confirmed her desire to share her knowledge.

“I’m trying to lift up the next generation,” she said, “because country music is my life. It’s what I’ve dedicated my entire adulthood to.”

Go here for the Country Power Players list.

25 Years Ago

Once Upon A ‘Twice,’ Kenny Chesney Made A Youthful Run At No. 1

The Country Music Hall of Fame member’s single referenced another Hall member’s chart-topper

Most people fall in love more than once during their lifetime, but one thing holds true for everyone: Falling for the first time can only happen once.

That’s the gist of Kenny Chesney’s “Don’t Happen Twice,” which took him to No. 1 for the fourth time in his career on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart dated June 9, 2001. Young romance was definitely a thing for Chesney in that part of his career — 1995’s “Fall in Love” became his first top 10 single, and his early successes also included “Me and You”; his first No. 1, “She’s Got It All”; and six-week chart-topper “How Forever Feels.”

Songwriters Thom McHugh (“Holdin’ Heaven,” “Life Goes On”) and Curtis Lance drew the opening line of the “Don’t Happen Twice” chorus — “We sang ‘Bobby McGee’ on the hood of my car” — from Lance’s own romantic memories. They paid homage in the process to Kris Kristofferson, whose “Me and Bobby McGee” rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after it was covered by Janis Joplin.

“Don’t Happen Twice” followed “I Lost It,” which peaked at No. 3 on Hot Country Songs, as the two new singles pulled from Chesney’s Greatest Hits, which emerged as his first package to lead Top Country Albums on Oct. 14, 2000. Chesney has amassed 23 total No. 1s on Hot Country Songs to date and sent an additional 10 titles to the summit on Country Airplay. He joined the Country Music Hall of Fame last October — that’s another thing that just don’t happen twice.