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Ahead Of The CMAs, Country Music Community Struggles With Gun Issues

(Left to right) Roy Clark, Ricky Skaggs, Charlie Daniels, Dwight Yoakam, Charley Pride, Carrie Underwoiod, Randy Travis and Brad Paisley perform during the 50th annual CMA Awards at the Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 2, 2016 in Nashville, Tenn. (Rick Diamond/Getty Images)
(Left to right) Roy Clark, Ricky Skaggs, Charlie Daniels, Dwight Yoakam, Charley Pride, Carrie Underwoiod, Randy Travis and Brad Paisley perform during the 50th annual CMA Awards at the Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 2, 2016 in Nashville, Tenn. (Rick Diamond/Getty Images)

The biggest night in country music is Wednesday: the CMA Awards. The country community comes together to celebrate just a month after the tragic events in Las Vegas, where dozens were killed in a mass shooting during a country music festival. Last week, the Country Music Association announced that reporters would be banned from asking questions at the CMAs about guns or politics. After backlash, they reversed the decision.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Don Cusic, professor of music business at Belmont University in Nashville, about how the country industry is reacting, its views on guns and other times in history when politics have intersected with country music.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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