Jimmie Allen has become a part of the change of country music. The singer became the first Black artist to be named the new male artist of the year at the 56th Academy of Country Music Awards.
He revealed to an outlet about being unsure about getting to this position in his career as a Black man. The songwriter revealed that he grew up listening to country music and he loved every minute of it. He said his father listened to only that and he used to wish that his son would become a country singer.
Jimmie shared, “My dad was like, ‘Well, you should be a country singer,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, Nah, they’re all white. I don’t know if they let people like me even sing country music.'” He further shared the story as he said that his father played him the song Kiss an Angel Good Morning. The singer added, “Then he played me a song. It was “Kiss an Angel Good Morning,” and I was like, ‘I like this song, it’s nice, but what’s the difference?’ And he showed me a picture of Charley Pride and that changed my life.”
Jimmie has already witnessed the impact his success has had on younger Black fans of country music. He received the honor of being a black man on such a massive scale in an industry that is white. The songwriter shared the messages he receives on Instagram and Twitter from parents of his fans.
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“I feel like representation is so important…”
They tell him how much it impacted their children and expressed their gratitude towards the artist. He said, “I get messages on Instagram and Twitter from parents that tell me and thank me for getting into country music because their son or their daughter see me and they say I remind them of them.”
Jimmie shared how he feels representation is important and to see artists coming to this genre is something he loves to see. He said, “I feel like representation is so important, so to see artists like Mickey Guyton doing her thing, Kane Brown, Darius Rucker, Willie Jones, Breland, Brittany Spencer, Tiera — it’s just so many that are starting to come to this genre of music, doing it their way, having their own sound, And I love to see it.”
The songwriter has always been wanting to win this award since he was a kid. He is still adjusting to the fact that it actually happened. The Makes Me Want to singer recalled watching the ACMs while growing up. He shared that he would give his acceptance speech when the winner of the category won. The singer shared this is something he has been wanting for quite a while.
Jimmie’s father passed away in 2019 but the songwriter admitted that he was still the first person he tried to dial after his win. “I actually tried to call my dad, but my dad died in 2019,” he says. “And as soon as I started calling, it hit me. I was like, ‘Yeah, let me hang up.'”
He shared that he called his mother and fiancé and told them. The singer shared how he tried to tell his son but he is 6 and does not care. He also told his band and his friends from college.
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