Ohh thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate y’all singing too. That was nice. Country music’s been real good to me and. I fell in love with it.

When I was a young man. I really love the instruments are steel guitars and the fiddles and. Things like that, that gave it such a unique character to me and made it its own. And I love the lyrics and the songs and the artists and the melodies and the harmonies and. It’s just a real American Music to me and I.

Ohh. One night watching this television. And this movie came on. About the life of Hank Williams and. It just really inspired me and. And I.

I came to Nashville with nothing. Gary’s talking about 3 chords in the truth. Mine was more like 3 chords and a prayer. Put out but hung in there. Prayer got answered a little bit, but anyway.

Ohh. So. I’ve just been such a fan. Of his music. And I wanted to come to Nashville and try to carry it on, the kind that I loved and. It’s the. Thank you now.

That’s my Mama would say it. I’m so blessed and I have been so blessed, and I’ve had a great. Team around me my whole career that that have helped me and great songwriters and. Just I’ve been so fortunate to have all that to help me get this far and I can’t thank everybody it’s been in my life all these years. But I do have to say.

Thanks to my wife Denise over here somewhere in. We started out as teenagers and. She’s hung in there and rode this roller coaster ride with me for 40 something years now and. I’m probably not always easiest person to love, but she’s a she’s hung in there and helped me through hard times and and we shared great times. The good and the bad, the happy and the sad. We’ve survived a lot. And.

And I just want to thank her because she’s held me up all these years and she’s my best friend and she gave me a wonderful family over there. So. Thanks again to the CMA and. All the wonderful fans I’ve had all over the world. Appreciate y’all. Radio and all the parts of country music that have been so good to me all these years. I’ve I’ve definitely lived the American dream and let me have that award, yeah.

And I’m still living that honky tonk dream y’all.