Issue #87: A review of SNL’s country music past

(there is very little to study, as it so happens)

Copyright: 2017 NBCUniversal Media, LLC

By Marissa

This weekend, Saturday Night Live celebrated its 50^th anniversary with a special that I haven’t yet watched (sorry, I have kids and all my TV watching time outside of parenting has been dedicated to Severance). But I grew up with SNL and love it like any 80’s baby, with a particular sweet spot for Dana Carvey as the Church Lady and Eddie Murphy’s James Brown celebrity hot tub party. And though many SNL musical performances have been pivotal to not just my own cultural understanding but the culture in general, I’ve always had a bit of a bone to pick with one particular aspect of the show’s booking habits: namely, the lack of country artists. With some exceptions, the show has done a generally dismal job at tapping into what’s exciting in the country/Americana world, or, at best, been very late to the game. There are even entire seasons with not one rep from the genre (I only went back so far, but season 36 and 39 are among them, but don’t worry - Imagine Dragons got to play).

This year, season 50, boasted two country artists – Shaboozey and Jelly Roll. At this point in the season, that’s actually more than normal (the show tends to hover around one country artist and one Americana-ish artist per season, from my rudimentary study). I love Shaboozey (and so do my kids) so no complaints there, but Jelly Roll was uninspired, like booking for an algorithm of country music. No one was more talked about last year in country music than Lainey Wilson, so why not her? Or why not Sierra Ferrell, Jason Isbell, Tyler Childers, Billy Strings, Zach Bryan (and you know it pains me to say this)? What about Allison Russell, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The War and Treaty or Charlie Crockett? Will we ever see Eric Church on there? Why not a second appearance from Sturgill Simpson as Johnny Blue Skies? (attention SNL bookers – the list of names above is your cheat sheet for next season). I contend that Sturgill’s “Call to Arms” was one of the greatest performances the show has ever seen, so it feels ridiculous he’s only been on once. Watch for yourself:

It’s never much better, and it still feels like SNL refuses to fully embrace country as a legitimate genre worthy of true critical appreciation, while, thankfully, other late night shows have started to come around (no one could beat Letterman, though). Last season, the only country representation was from was Kacey Musgraves and Chris Stapleton – both are great, but both have been on the show before (actually, it was the third time for each). Meanwhile, the music bookers had no problem finding new talent in other genres, with Ice Spice, Boygenious, Tate McRae, Noah Kahan, Reneé Rapp, Raye and Sabrina Carpenter all making debut appearances. Country artists on the show are generally confined to an appearance after they have blown up or one big awards, not when they are on the rise – Sturgill in 2017, four years after he should have been, Kacey in 2018. Her performance of “Rainbow” from that appearance is still my favorite she’s done on the show. Pretty exquisite, and imagine if she had gotten to do “Merry Go ‘Round” back in 2014:

The outlier was Margo Price in 2016, which was SNL actually doing what it should be – exposing exciting new artists to a bigger audience and building credibility with audiences along the way. Naturally, a lot of men gave Margo shit for “cutting in line,” the same men that think 10 up and coming neo-traditionalists from Texas probably deserve a shot. But I digress. Here’s a video of that moment. While there may have been some angry dudes, I guarantee there were way more people out there thrilled to see some quality twang on their Saturday night:

The pickings are slim from there. Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash both hosted and performed in the eighties. The Chicks were musical guests in 2003, though I strangely can’t find decent video of the appearance, only this TikTok video. I was excited and surprised to see Kelsea Ballerini get an overdue booking in 2023. Brandi Carlile finally got her first spot in 2022, and returned the next year to play “The Story” - which felt like a sly little way to say, I actually should have been on the show to play this song when it came out, at least in my view of it. Maren Morris was a guest in 2016, in the same season as Sturgill (and HAIM), which makes that by default one of my top years for the show I guess?

Mostly country artists are only allowed their slots when they are either men who have enough radio play and visibility to cross over into the mainstream, or women who have transitioned into pop. I often talk about how we get stuck in this endless cycle - coastal media or whatever you want to call it ignores or stereotypes country music because of a myopic view, and that myopic view helps keep it that way. Chicken or the egg kind of scenario adhering to the country music is for hicks and not New Yorkers type of stuff (this always-a-New-Yorker-in-my-heart can tell you, it very much is for us). And while the show is great at reading the pop zeitgeist, it stinks when it comes to doing the same for country music.

Here’s to a season 51 with a much broader look at country and Americana - I’ll be hoping for that list above, with a strong emphasis on a Sierra Ferrell appearance (four Grammys better earn you a spot!). Who are you hoping to see? Let us know in the comments.

At least we always have Reba…ish?