Highs And Lows At Country Awards

Kasey Chambers won four Golden Guitar trophies at the 39th Jayco Country Music Awards of Australia Jan. 22.

Her wins, from seven nominations, included single and song of the year for “Little Bird” and female artist of the year.

For her fourth win, for vocal collaboration of the year with Kevin Bennett, Chambers rang Bennett from the stage to tell him, “Hey Kev, it’s Kase. We won, mate!”

Veteran crooner Jimmy Little, when accepting the lifetime achievement award, told the 5,000 fans and execs at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment & Conference Centre that he was retiring from performing because of ill health.

There was an embarrassing moment when best album was announced as Lee Kernaghan’s Planet Country. Event organizers Country Music Association of Australia apologized and revealed the winner was actually Graeme Connor’s Still Walking.