Issue #31: CMA Awards and Grammy Noms Slack Throwdown

"Delta Dawn, what's that shower you have drawn?" - Morgan Wallen, perhaps

It’s been a big week for award shows: first, we had Country Music’s Biggest Night since the last eight award shows, the CMA Awards! If you missed our glorious subscriber-only open thread, you can see our full Slack conversation throughout the show, where we track Lainey Wilson’s reign, the absolutely bizarre Joe Diffie tribute and just how close the CMA’s allegiance to country radio actually is. And since we’re already deep in Slack mode, we decided to also tackle the Grammy nominations, which were unrelieved last week: from the surprises to the snubs and everything in between (country music wise, at least). Now, on to the show….

Credit: Getty Images

The CMA Awards

Natalie: Some opening reflections from the red carpet: the harsh juxtaposition between the celebratory tone of Jelly Roll's red carpet interview — "I've got a song at No. 5 at country radio right now and will have five no. 1s," he told the interviewer who was gushing over his rapid rise before adding a quick "God willing." — and the scrambling interviews with Ashley McBryde and Carly Pearce who, of course, have no recent radio traction to speak of...despite being at it for way longer.

Marissa: If you’re not on country radio, you don’t exist – the sad truth everyone from the voters to the red carpet interviewers like to prove.  

Natalie: "What makes you pure bred country music? For the folks at home..." they asked K. Michelle....yikes!!! Luke Bryan on diversity in country music (not really but): "Some years there are a lot of cowboy hats, some years there are a lot of baseball hats...now we even have some tattoos! (heavy wink to the camera at Jelly Roll)." Stapleton and Morgane telling the interviewer that "bubblegum pop" makes people feel something just as much as their music does, bless them.

Marissa: Oh lord - I just had the Circle TV (?) livestream on as I cook dinner and the interviewer asks Colbie Caillat, who just released a country album, if she might have a country album in the works?! Love an expert moment.

Natalie: On my channel, the red-carpet interviewer has asked basically every Black person about what "makes them country" - he asked Darius "How did you know Nashville was the place for you?" and he was like, "I didn't, I took a risk."

Marissa: The pre-show thought I have top of mind today is how Tyler Childers had maybe 59 adds on country radio for "In Your Love," a massive tour and all kinds of bonkers streaming numbers, and CMAs do nothing to get him here. It's so myopic, the view of country music that makes up this award landscape. Imagine Tyler singing "In Your Love" on this show - now that would be something. It just continues to boggle my mind that this show makes no place for some of the genre's biggest stars, just because they aren’t on the radio or refuse to play the game. Anyway, now I have Paula Abdul on my red carpet stream, which kind of makes sense in that American Idol birthed like half of the artists here.

Natalie: lol that is a good point that of course the interviewer did not bring up. I just learned that Morgan Wallen and Post Malone are performing together....heaven help us... 

Marissa: Why is that the definition of an imaginative pairing? At least the Grammys get that right sometimes. Morgan Wallen and Posty together is like saying, hey these sprinkles might be good on that ice cream. Same section of the store.

Natalie: Also the fact that this is like country's nod to diversity: (white) guys with face tattoos.

Marissa: I still think about Eric Church and Rhiannon Giddens. Or Stapleton and that other guy (Team Britney). I miss those moments.

Natalie: No slight to Jelly but how easy is it that he's the "rebel”? Anything we can do to keep "outlaw" defined as white men…

Marissa: No truer words. Ok, here we go – show is starting! Starting the CMAs in a church...appropriate. Can't believe it's been two minutes and we already got a gospel chorus.

Natalie: It does not sound like this Jelly Roll-Wynnona duet got a ton of rehearsal time...though happy to see a legend getting a prime spot.

Marissa: Yeah I see no problems with Wy opening the show! Single of the year as a concept is just so depressing. Honestly get rid of this category so we can break free of radio's reigns.

Natalie: [Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” wins both single and song of the year. We do not actually hate this]. Wow, glad she got props and thrilled that she did not put herself through the CMAs.

Marissa: Imagine if they had to cut from Tracy Chapman to Luke Bryan.

Natalie: I mean that would show the farce of the whole thing even more obviously than usual

Marissa: Luke really leans into being a SNL parody of country music. Bless his heart.

Natalie: his dancing....help.

Marissa: I cannot think of something I want less than a Luke Bryan medley. It does him no favors as you truly realize how all his songs are the same songs. Is he wearing Lululemon’s? Just asking.

Natalie: I literally just had the same thought lmao, those are for sure in the "Jeggings" aisle. He does not have the stamina for this medley anymore (if he ever did).

Marissa: Again....the biggest songs in the country are Tyler Childers, Zach Bryan , Zach and Kacey Musgraves, and this is what we are getting? Why?

Natalie: Songs that are...over a decade old for the most part lol.

Marissa: Country music is HOT! Everyone loves country music now! It's the zeitgeist! Here is...Luke Bryan from 2013.

Natalie: Ashley McBryde sounded really good, an excellent Bryan palate cleanser — in general here for some stand and sing moments (although this Cody Johnson song is pretty snoozy).

Marissa: Yeah Ashley is a breath of fresh air, imagine if she got airplay to match the talent!

Natalie: A funny thing that Brothers Osborne always win this award but Dan + Shay are the ones who actually have songs on the radio...the gap between what Nashville thinks it is and what it actually is?

Marissa: [Morgan Wallen is singing with Eric Church]. Didn't realize until now that this Morgan Wallen song melodically rips off "Record Year" until Eric Church was actually on it.

Natalie: Lol yeah it definitely sounds similar...why on earth is Eric Church collaborating with him?! Christ on a cracker. Wallen sounds absolutely terrible, also. I feel like he actually had a good voice at some point? 

Marissa: [Stapleton is performing now]. Ah, Stapleton. Every time he has a performance it just transports straight to his live show.

Natalie: Yeah, as someone who literally just saw him it sounds identical...(although Morgane was sadly absent from the show I was at).

Marissa: But as my spouse also just pointed out - country music needs to learn to let people go away for a while. It makes no distinction between record cycles and not, when they show up and play every single year.

Natalie: But Stapleton is their only go-to "not all radio country" acts lol — without him all the rumors are true...

Marissa: Incredible he abides and still shows up and plays. He knows how he's needed.

Natalie: Luke Combs sounded good too, although the song is not my favorite...kind of hilarious that they had them back-to-back: Here are the big guys with beards and big voices.

Marissa: lol I know - it's telling that only occurs to us. To people in country music, there's no reason to space these things apart. Now if it were two women....you can't do that. That's Lady Tyme.

Natalie: And now Jordan Davis. It's just like country radio.

Marissa: And we're gonna get a Morgan Wallen double wide, too. [Old Dominion win group of the year]. Old Dominion will win this award when they are dead. They will just keep winning this award in the year 2937, granted we have a planet. Old Dominion winning this award will outlive the planet itself. Anyway, I remember when Jordan Davis was positioned as being revolutionary because of his beard. That aged funnily.

Natalie: On the red carpet they were all making it seem like Midland were like delinquent hippies lmao - like, they still showed up to the CMAs. Also they are extremely normal.

Marissa: Fun fact one time I interviewed Midland and we took their pink limo into the park and a daycare dad passed by on his bike and saw us and gave me this look of just, honestly, what the fuck. [Lainey Wilson is performing]. Feeling this moody western Lainey Wilson performance. Finally something interesting. A different key, a different melody. Thank you Lainey.

Natalie: Yeah, something outside formula (also no bellbottoms?!).

Marissa: Yeah totally feeling this performance for her. I want her to start saying no to everyone that is leeching on her. “No” is the most important word for women to learn, Lainey! [Now Dan + Shay is on]. I actually really liked how Dan + Shay opened their performance. They are bringing it. Refreshing staging, great energy, super vocals.

Natalie: They sound good.

Marissa: So does Kelsea Ballerini – damn. She connects emotionally so well. The War and Treaty are so very good but I do not think they are commercial country music and the tokenizing is showing hard.

Natalie: Kudos to them for profiting off the fucked system (hopefully greatly) but yeah - anytime you're introducing Black people as "putting the soul in country music" you're not making me feel less like we're time-traveling back to 1975 (when, of course, Charley Pride justly reigned so I guess we have to go back further).

Marissa: Whoa did not realize Zach Bryan was there. Now it’s extra insane he didn’t appear on stage. Side note, someone on the open thread just suggested Nate Bargatze hosts next year. Solid idea Julie!

Natalie: [Jelly Roll wins an award. Doesn’t matter which, there were several]. "Thank you to the labels" - something only a white man would say.

Credit: Getty Images

Marissa: Also I am sorry, I think Jelly has an inspiring story and good for him, but there is not something “poetic” to me about a white man achieving success in his late thirties, or forties or thirties or anytime. Something poetic would be a non-white person winning this award.

Natalie: A Buffett tribute that includes Alan Jackson and not "Five O'Clock Somewhere" is dumb sorry (I understand it's not Buffett's song, but it's the only reason there's a tribute to him at the CMAs....).

Natalie: I am not sold on Megan Maroney.

Marissa: Me neither. As someone on the open thread pointed out, it would be much better if they actually let her do “Tennessee Orange” or “I’m Not Pretty,” i.e. one of her own songs. Now it’s time for Album of the Year….

Natalie: The “sometimes woman category” if memory serves. [Lainey Wilson wins].

Marissa: ha yep. The only category we are comfortable giving to women because it doesn’t question radio - we are comfortable with saying a woman's body of work is good. Too dangerous to say a single or song is good.

Natalie: And so naturally we have Lainey Wilson putting a bow on her "only woman allowed at the top" era - heavy is the head that wears the crown etc. [Lainey also takes female vocalist of the year].  

Marissa: I very much like Lainey Wilson but I believe that Kelsea Ballerini was the vocalist of the year. Personally. And should have been nominated for entertainer of the year. Anyway…it's Morgan Wallen double wide time! This is the worst thing I have ever seen. [Morgan Wallen, Hardy and Post Malone are doing Joe Diffie songs]. You know shit is bad when Post Malone is by far the best country singer on the stage at the country music awards show.

[Tanya Tucker takes the stage]

Marissa: Tanya! Now this is good. Also amazing that clearly no one but like, Luke Combs and his wife know the words to “Delta Dawn.” Bless this camera operator for catching this gold. And now, for the last award: entertainer of the year.

Natalie: Tanya Tucker absolutely destroyed her performance (of course), and Little Big Town sounded great with her. Lainey ended the Entertainer of the Year lady drought, a bit of a surprise as far as the CMAs go. I wonder if Combs and Wallen split the bro vote haha.

Marissa: It's obviously great that Lainey won — that a woman won for a change. But it's also ok to talk about the fact that someone like Miranda Lambert has never won, and Kacey has not won, and Kelsea wasn't even nominated. It's very clear there are rules you have to follow as a woman to be in contention for this award.

Natalie: Totally — it's absurd that the specific confluence of luck and affability required has never hit for Miranda so far who...plays by those rules 90% of the time.

Marissa: even 10% stray is not acceptable!

Natalie: I really like Lainey in general (and did pre-bell-bottom era!! as we've discussed I think) but there is a cynicism to a lot of the marketing (which, of course, is what marketing is) that makes me a little sad. But, the CMAs checked their boxes: not ONLY men won the non-gendered categories lol.

Marissa: Then next year they can finally, safely, give the award to Morgan Wallen, and continue to do so for the next 10 years.

Natalie: I want to note that maybe I'm too corny for words but K. Michelle singing "Love can build a bridge, don't you think it's time" while pointing to members of the CMA crowd was moving to me — it was such an obvious and kind of cringe pull to have a Black person and a white person sing a song that can easily be applied to racism, but she really made the performance her own, I thought.

Marissa: yeah that was brilliant for sure, and I imagine not at all read that way by the people who actually need to...read it that way.

Natalie: Definitely not. Looking at the blank stares after that performance was...disheartening.

Marissa: It was. Shout out to Maren, Mickey and Brittney Spencer singing about the tree being already on fire the night before. The true CMA Awards pre-show.

The Grammy Nominations

Natalie: For sure — in more awards news, obviously the Grammy nominations came out last week, further elucidating the gap between the Recording Academy and the Country Music Association. What the difference is between "American Roots Performance" and "Americana Performance"...we may never know.

Marissa: Haha a great mystery! My major snubs: Margo Price. Amanda Shires and Bobbie Nelson.  Jason Isbell, Allison Russell, Brandy Clark, Kelsea Ballerini and Tyler Childers in the all-genre categories, and Brandi Carlile as producer of the year. I also was really gunning for Jess Williamson in best new artist. It will just never cease to irk me that country and Americana are so rarely given the opportunity to cross over into the "main" categories, except for the occasional country breakthrough (generally the truly excellent country record by a woman the country genre disposed of because of radio). There were so many contenders this year, and it was supposed to be "country's big zeitgeist year" or whatever.

Natalie: Yeah, it's definitely still the "I listen to everything but country" crowd as far as the non-genre stuff. Cool that Jessie Jo Dillon and Shane McAnally got songwriter nods, though. Amanda Shires and Bobbie definitely feel like an Americana layup, and very Grammy-y.

Marissa: Amanda and Bobbie was a huge miss for me, but there were some exciting moments for sure. I was very excited to see so much love for Brandy Clark. Also missing: Ashley McBryde.

Natalie: The country's zeitgeist year thing only really being reflected in the glut of Childers and Zach Bryan nods sort of shows the country radio disconnect with both fans and the music industry as a whole. It's not like these are niche artists, but they're getting more respect and accolades on every level outside of their ostensible home genre.

Marissa: Yeah all these nods make the CMA Awards look even more out of touch with anything but country radio - Tyler, Zach, Brandy, all absent on stage and from the award categories at CMAs. So what exactly are we rewarding here?

Natalie: Just this weird incestuous circle dedicated to soundtracking monotony, with the exceptions that prove the rule obviously.

Marissa: The Nashville Way. Side note, it is my lifelong dumb dream to get a Grammy nomination for liner notes, so artists, if you are listening, please let me write some and let's get the nominated, lol.

Natalie: Same!! Call us. I believe in country pop! But the in-group/out-group thing in Nashville is so tiring, and it is very dark that it largely falls on political lines. It feels like the ebb and flow of radio country being more imaginative and inclusive has been ebbing for a few years now...2014-2017 was kind of a flow time and now we're back to the same old. Stapleton is content to be the artistic lifeline for the commercial side of the genre, and they're content to let almost everyone else keep churning out versions of the same song.

Marissa: The Grammy awards can't always function to right the CMA's wrongs. Especially when the Grammy awards can't see country and roots as worthy of all-genre most of the time, except for one exception. Grammys are like country radio except instead of you can't have to women in an hour, you can't have two country or roots artists in the main categories (and this year, zero).

Natalie: Totally lol. Anyway, awards! Congrats to those who get them, and to those who don't: they don't matter (truly!).

Marissa: Ha, yes. Congrats to all of us who like to watch from our couch, also (me).

Natalie: Yeah, nobody would be stopping by the Don't Rock The Inbox square on the red carpet — we're not greasing the wheels enough. And that's how we like it!