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Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

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James Otto thanks his wife at CMAs

BETHANY WOO, HERALD STAFF WRITER

Country singer James Otto got a second chance Wednesday to thank his wife.

Otto, who grew up in Benton City, won a Country Music Association Award for co-writing the Song of the Year, In Color, along with Jamey Johnson and Lee Thomas Miller.

It was a night for many new stars to shine, including delivering trophies into the hands of Taylor Swift for Entertainer of the Year and Darius Rucker for New Artist of the Year.

"What was really unreal was the big, big, big stars got nothing," said Otto's father, Jerry of Benton City, who watched the awards on TV. "When you talk about Rascal Flatts and the folks that normally get it, none of them got it. I think it means that country music is changing."

In Color is about how old black and white photographs sometimes don't tell a story as well as they might in color. Otto drew on his family history, including his father who is a veteran and his grandfather, a Korean War veteran.

The song became Jamey Johnson's first Top 10 country hit.

"Jamey Johnson was struggling with the song ... and James happened at the time to have some time when he wasn't on tour and they sat down and finished the song in one night," Jerry said Thursday. "They had no idea the song was going to be so popular."

Earlier this year, In Color won Song of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards. That's when Otto forgot to thank his wife, Amy, when he accepted the award.

Wednesday night, he made sure he took care of that first.

"I want to thank my wife because I forgot to last time," Otto said with a laugh.

On Thursday, Otto's dad said, "I'm very happy for him. He's worked so hard through the years and to finally see success coming together is amazing."

For this hometown hero, life looks pretty sweet -- and you don't need to see it in color to know that.

For more information, go to www.jamesotto.net.

-- Bethany Woo: 582-1465; blee@tricityherald.com



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