What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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DECEMBER 29, 2019-JANUARY 4, 2020 WHAT'S UP! 3 Ringing Bells Across The Country Northwest Arkansas musicians see their names in lights # 5 Courtesy Photo Springdale native and fiddling powerhouse Jenee Fleenor accepts her award for Musician of the Year at the 53rd annual Country Music Association Awards ceremony in November. Fleenor became the first woman to be nominated, and subsequently win, the award. JOCELYN MURPHY & BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette I swear, I'm living in a dream world!" Jenee Fleenor enthused just days after the 53rd annual Country Music Association Awards ceremony. If the Cate Brothers are the iconic past of Northwest Arkansas music, Fleenor is one of the symbols of its current success and glowing future. Though she's been a bit of a celebrity here in Arkansas since joining local band Outside the Lines at the ripe old age of 16, the Springdale native has been getting a lot of national attention recently as the country music industry is finally beginning to recognize what her peers already knew: Fleenor is a true and sensational talent. In March, the fiddler was nominated for an Academy of Country Music Award (ACMA) for Specialty Instrument Player of the Year. Less than six months later, she nabbed a Country Music Association (CMA) award nomination for Musician of the Year. An aside — if it seems confusing why there are two separate organizations handing out such similar-sounding awards, all you need to know is both are official industry ceremonies dating back to the late 1960s, with different network affiliations and hometowns. Nashville-based CMA was actually founded first, in 1958, but did not begin bestowing awards until the year after the Las Vegas-located ACM handed out its first accolade in 1966. Voting members of both organizations elect the respective nominees. Fleenor's nominations for both ceremonies in 2019 are particularly notable because she made history with both. In March, Fleenor was the only woman nominated in the ACMA studio musicians field — comprising six categories and 32 nominee slots — and the first woman ever nominated for the specific award of Specialty Instrument Player of the Year. In August, Fleenor again became the first woman in her nomination category with the CMA nomination for Musician of the Year. She didn't snag the win at the 54th ACM Awards in the spring, but Fleenor made history a third time in November when she became the first woman to win in the CMA Musician of the Year category. "In years past, I was in bed before the show even ended," Fleenor reveals with a laugh. The fiddler and songwriter has spent the last several years performing with country superstar Blake Shelton's band, and occasionally will work with little names on the side — like Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. She's attended the CMAs before to play with Shelton — then, she was able to leave after their performance — but this year's three-hour ceremony was completely different for the musician. "I was up at 5 a.m. to be ready to be in makeup at 8. I played with Dolly [Parton] and Blake that morning with a call time around 10 or 10:30 a.m.," she recounts. "I had actually never played that fiddle solo with Blake until that morning — we ran through maybe two times before playing it live." After a wardrobe change, Fleenor and her husband walked the red carpet around 4:30 p.m., which she'd never done before, and her award was announced during the 6 o'clock hour. "It was the most amazing moment," Fleenor recalls. "A lot of the artists hadn't even moved into that room yet — Blake and Gwen [Stefani, Shelton's girlfriend] were still in their limo, and they Instagrammed about it. I just lost it. It was everything I'd ever dreamed of in that moment." Music, Art, Theater What's Up! looks back at top 10 stories of 2019 L ooking back at the year just past is a tradition — for everyone, not just the staff of What's Up! We do it in print because so much more happens in the arts and entertainment world of Northwest Arkansas in a year than any of us can imagine — or remember. So we remind not just ourselves but all of you. We have changed our thinking about one thing in the past couple of years, however. It's a lot more difficult to rank stories as far as their impact on the region than it used to be. One woman's No. 1 might be another man's No. 10. So this year, Jocelyn Murphy, Lara Hightower and I took the easy way out. We're numbering the stories from 10 to 1 — but they're just placeholders, not rankings. We hope you agree that all of these 10 things will continue to affect Northwest Arkansas in 2020 and beyond — in only the best ways, of course. 10. Silver Dollar City grows and glows. 9. Terra Studios says farewell to bluebirds. 8. Small museums have big impact. 7. Musical roots bear fruit. 6. Eureka Springs enjoying a renaissance in the arts. 5. Future looks bright for area musicians. 4. The Momentary adds another aspect to the arts. 3. Walton Arts Center making national name for itself. 2. Crystal Bridges Museum keeps redefining American art. 1. TheatreSquared a rare gem among regional theaters. Thanks for reading! — BECCA MARTIN-BROWN WHAT'S UP! EDITOR See No. 5 Page 4