All-Star Tribute to Late Country Music Legend Buck Owens at the 41st Annual ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS

BURBANK, CA (Academy of Country Music) - World-famous artists from all walks of popular music will join together to salute the late Buck Owens in a special performance, it was announced today by the Academy of Country Music. The tribute will air as part of the 41st ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, Country Music's Biggest Party of the Year, which will be broadcast LIVE from MGM GRAND in Las Vegas. The event, which honors country music's top talent as well as the industry's hottest emerging talent, will air on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 at 8:00 PM ET/PT on CBS.

Dwight Yoakam, ZZ Top guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons, Brad Paisley, Buddy Alan (son of Buck & Bonnie Owens), original Buck Owens & The Buckaroos steel guitarist Tom Brumley, Chris Hillman (The Byrds) and blink-182/+44 drummer Travis Barker will all play together in the tribute. Vince Vaughn will introduce the segment.

Buck Owens, a country music legend who had twenty-one No 1 country hits during the course of his remarkable career, passed away on March 25th of this year. The tribute at the 41st ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS will salute not only Mr. Owens' rich catalogue of hit songs, but his status as a true ambassador of country music.

Mr. Owens was the Academy of Country Music's very first Top Male Vocalist winner, in 1965; he was also honored with the Academy's most respected honor, the Pioneer Award, in 1988.

"Losing Buck Owens was a real blow to this community, and we wanted to do something special to show the world just how important he was to country music," said Bob Romeo, Executive Director, Academy of Country Music. "We've gotten some fantastic artists together, from all different musical genres, and they're going to honor the man with a musical performance you will never forget."

The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 with a mission to support, promote and enhance the advancement of the country music industry worldwide. The Academy, which is comprised of more than 4,000 professional members and more than 35,000 associate members, is headquartered in Burbank, Calif. For more information on the ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS and the Academy of Country Music, please visit https://www.acmcountry.com.

The ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS is produced for television by dick clark productions. The show is executive produced by Allen Shapiro and R.A. Clark, and produced by Barry Adelman. The executive in charge of production is Bob Bardo, and the executive in charge is Fran LaMaina.
The ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS will be broadcast LIVE from the MGM GRAND on CBS Tuesday, May 23, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.