Milton’s Jimmie Allen wins CMA New Artist of the Year award

By Craig Horleman
Posted 11/11/21

The hits just keep on coming for Milton’s Jimmie Allen — on and off the record charts.

The country music star and Cape Henlopen High School …

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Milton’s Jimmie Allen wins CMA New Artist of the Year award

Posted

The hits just keep on coming for Milton’s Jimmie Allen — on and off the record charts.

The country music star and Cape Henlopen High School graduate was named the Country Music Association’s top new artist during its annual awards held Wednesday night in Nashville.

Mr. Allen was openly tearful as he became the second Black performer to win New Artist of the Year.

“I want to thank my father who’s no longer with us for introducing me to country music,” Mr. Allen said.

His father, James Allen, died in 2019 at the age of 65.

Wednesday night, Jimmie Allen recalled spending the last of his money to be able to see pioneering Black country artist Charley Pride at the CMAs in 2016, then getting to perform with Mr. Pride on last year’s show. Mr Pride died of COVID-19 a month later.

“After 10 years of being (in Nashville), living in my car, living in a trailer, working every job, this is amazing,” he told the audience.

Darius Rucker in 2009 was the first Black artist to win the CMA New Artist of the Year award.

Always the hometown boy, Mr. Allen concluded his speech by giving a shoutout to Milton.

“Thank you country music. This is for my home town in Delaware. I love y’all,” he said.

The accolade follows last year’s win as New Male Artist of the Year in the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Area establishments flooded social media Wednesday morning with congratulations to Mr. Allen, including Surf Bagel in Lewes and the Bottle and Cork nightclub in Dewey Beach.

Despite his widespread fame, Mr. Allen has made frequent appearances at the Bottle and Cork over the last couple of years.

The last of which was a benefit on May 10 to help raise money for Delmar Police Cpl. Keith Heacook’s family in which he performed an acoustic show.

Cpl. Heacook, 54, was assaulted the morning of April 25 after being dispatched for a fight in progress. Three days later, the Delmar police officer was declared “clinically dead.” The man accused of attacking him has been charged with murder.

He has also played fundraisers for the Cape Henlopen Educational Fund. He played at the Rusty Rudder in Dewey Beach in 2018 and appeared virtually in December.

In August, he played before 6,000 people at Hudson Fields near Milton for the first Bettie James Fest.

The name of the festival was a tribute to his late father James and his grandmother Bettie Snead.

He was joined by Smyrna native and country star Chuck Wicks, J.J. Rupp Band, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Georgia rock group Hero the Band.

On the national scene, it’s been another whirlwind year for the 36-year-old musician.

Recently, he had been featured as a contestant on ABC’s hit show “Dancing with the Stars” although Monday he came to the end of the line. He and his partner Emma Slater were eliminated from the competition.

The singer, known for his No. 1 country songs “Best Shot” and “Make Me Want To,” was nominated for Best Country Performance at Wednesday’s awards for his duet with Noah Cyrus on “This is Us.”

Mr. Allen had two more high-profile duets this year with “Freedom was a Highway” with Brad Paisley and “Beauty In The Bones” from Elton John’s new album “The Lockdown Sessions.”

“Freedom was a Highway” is from Mr. Allen’s 16-track “Bettie James Gold” album, released in June, which features collaborations with Babyface, Keith Urban, Little Big Town and more.

On the small screen, he also serves as executive music producer on the Netflix unscripted football series “Titletown High,” where his tune “Big in a Small Town” is the theme song.

And if all that wasn’t enough, Mr. Allen received what may be his biggest prize on Oct. 17 when he and his wife, Alexis Gale, welcomed their second (and Mr. Allen’s third) child Zara James Allen.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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