Jimmie Allen: 'BET Stands for Black Entertainment Television'

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Jimmie Allen, one of the few Black singers in contemporary country music, has enjoyed a couple of hits at country radio and performed at the CMA Festival last week singing the National Anthem at the Nissan Stadium show on Sunday night (6/9).

Before he took the stage, Jimmie shared his thoughts with us about BET not including country music in their coverage of artists, "BET stands for 'Black Entertainment Television,' not hip-hop, not R&B, nothing... it's black entertainment. So, if I'm a black entertainer it doesn't matter if I'm singing gospel, rock, jazz, hip-hop, country... I feel like it should be represented on BET."

He continued to explain, "The last thing I want my son to see, as a black man in America, is for him to see a network that's supposed to represent us and pigeon hole him to just two genres of music. That's not how I want my son to see us as black people. Like, 'No son, we do all kinds of music.' And I feel like as a black man it's my responsibility to reach out to BET whether it's run by black people, whether it's run by whites or Mexicans, it doesn't matter, it still stands for 'Black Entertainment Television,' so that channel is a representation of us and I feel like it's my obligation to do anything I can to expand the exposure of music that is done by black people on BET."

Allen took to the CMA Fest ball pit after speaking with us. He posted to Instagram, "B.A.L.L.S"

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-Nancy Brooks

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Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media GroupEditor

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.