The award for the best good boy goes to…
You may have missed the nominations for the CMT Music Awards earlier this week. And I know what you’re thinking: CMT Awards? Are those just the awards for the best episode of “Last Man Standing” or “King of Queens?”
No, the annual CMT Awards are a fan-voted awards show that recognizes the best music videos or televised performances.
And in this year’s nominations, you had all the usual suspects. Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson led the pack with three nods each, so not really any surprises there.
But the biggest surprise that you may have missed? A dog was nominated for his work as an assistant editor.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet your newest (and first) CMT Award-nominated pup, Pancho.
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Look at that good boy. Just give him the award already.
Pancho Villa(lobos) is the good boy behind the video for Justin Moore and Priscilla Block’s music video for their #1 single “You, Me, and Whiskey,” which was nominated for Collaborative Video of the Year. And yes, he’s on the official credits as an editor:
Pancho is a 1-and-a-half year old brown Portuguese Water Dog that belongs to Cody Villalobos, who is the manager for Justin Moore and has directed several videos for Justin, including “You, Me, and Whiskey.”
And he played a major role in helping Cody get the video ready to debut – despite only being 4 months old at the time:
“As any production team knows, music video creation takes a lot of time and effort to pull off. The long hours after production can sometimes be just as exhausting as the shoot itself, if not more. The various steps of editing, coloring, approvals, revisions, opinions flying, can become stressful by the end of it all.
So what better stress relief exists than a 4 month old puppy? From potty breaks (or accidents), to walks outside, to very intense frisbee chasing, Pancho created the perfect balance between manic computer sessions and a necessary breath of fresh air.”
Sounds like Pancho earned his pay.
So when it came time for Cody to submit the credits for the video, it was only right that Pancho get the recognition that he deserves (and some extra treats of course).
“I thought, what better way to thank Pancho for keeping my sanity, and add a little humor to the end of a stressful project, than to include him in the credits. Surely someone would catch my DOG being credited as an editor, and make me revise the slate…”
Spoiler alert: They didn’t, and Pancho ended up in the final credits of the video…which is now nominated for a CMT Award.
Now, while it was nice to hear from Cody, we really wanted to talk to the star of the show and get a statement from Pancho too on the experience of working on his first music video:
“The fwisbee throws could’ve been better. But if I hadn’t made a few accidents inside, dad would’ve never left his desk.. Video could’ve been better, could’ve used some more dog-versity in my opinion. Specifically a brown Portuguese Water Dog, would’ve really made the video pop!
Can’t complain though, first edit and got my first nom. Maybe he should’ve had me edit his other videos, would’ve got him a nom a lot sooner. Your welcome dad.”
Sounds like all this attention’s already going to his head…as it should.
Cody said that Pancho is enjoying his first nomination – although now that he’s an award-nominated pup, his demands have gone up:
“He has since big-leagued me and demands extra treats and frisbee time due to his new-found fame and recognition.”
Perfectly reasonable if you ask me.
Of course you know we’re big dog people here at Whiskey Riff. We also have a dog on our team, and have partnered with organizations that help out man’s best friend. So obviously you know who we’re rooting for on this one.
And I know what you’re thinking: Aren’t you supposed to be an objective journalist?
No, of course not. We’ve never claimed to be objective, or journalists. We call it like we see it. And as we see it, dogs deserve all the awards.
So if you want to help Pancho win his first CMT Award, go vote for Justin and Priscilla’s music video for “You, Me, and Whiskey.” You can vote here, and you can vote up to 10 times per day.
Let’s win one for the good boys out there.
I mean, just look at that face, how could you not give this guy all the awards?
And of course, check out Pancho’s editorial debut with the video for “You, Me, and Whiskey.”
