The CMA Needs To Hang Its Head In Shame Over Its Treatment Of Morgan Wallen
Full disclosure. I’ve won a CMA Award. I therefore have lifelong voting privileges. I don’t always exercise them. I didn’t this year. I will never NOT do that again, if for no other reason than by not voting, I forfeit my right to complain. Now that’s out of the way. First, congrats to all the winners of last night’s awards. What I have to say next is in no way a criticism of any of them or their achievement. All have worked hard their whole lives for that moment. You earned it.
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR … Lainey Wilson
SINGLE OF THE YEAR … “Fast Car” – Luke Combs
ALBUM OF THE YEAR … Bell Bottom Country – Lainey Wilson
SONG OF THE YEAR … “Fast Car”
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR … Lainey Wilson
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR … Chris Stapleton
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR … Old Dominion
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR … Brothers Osborne
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR … Jelly Roll
Outside of “Entertainer of the Year” and “Album of the Year” (we’ll get to those, trust me), the only beef I had last night was with “Song of the Year.” Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” had just won “Single of the Year.” No issue. It was a smash. Luke Combs sang the hell out of it. Uber popular. Cheers. -BUT- “Song of the Year” is a songwriter’s award. By giving that one to “Fast Car,” what is essentially being stated to the brilliant country music songwriters is, “Sorry guys, in the last 12-18 months you didn’t compose anything better than a song from 1989.” Just say that out loud. IKR? Ridiculous. Maybe I’m just old school and I didn’t get the memo on new criteria for “Song of the Year.”
Deep Breath.
“Entertainer of the Year” and “Album of the Year.” Again, let me state this off the bat: I LOVE LAINEY WILSON. I love everything about her. She’s a star who is only going to get bigger and brighter. There’s an honesty in her writing that combines with a tangible passion in her performance that is intoxicating. However, at this time, at this point in her career, she’s not even on the same planet with Morgan Wallen in the metrics that I’ve always believed “Entertainer of the Year” to be about. Those are very simple. 1. Who puts the most a**es in the seats? 2. Who sells the most albums/singles/downloads/streams/whatever? When you look at these two, what are we talking about here? I will now quote an executive of a MAJOR Nashville record label who responded to my dismay on Facebook this morning.
“Biggest album on ALL of music. ALL formats. Sold out stadiums all summer long.”
Which leads me to “Album of the Year.” I’ve been involved with country music, day in/day out for more than thirty years now. I’ve seen some big albums back-to-back from the biggest names in the business during that time. I’ve never seen ANYTHING like “Dangerous” and “One Thing At A Time” from Morgan Wallen. Both are double albums (NEVER seen any artist in any genre do that-btw) that have produced nothing but the biggest songs in the country industry. Oh, and both have 6-8 songs that will never be singles and are (IMHO) better than the ones released. Musically speaking, both albums are other-worldly achievements.
So, where’s the love? Why isn’t Nashville ALL OVER this guy? In a word: fear. Cancel Culture came calling for Morgan Wallen a couple of years ago after a drunken incident captured on video (google it). I’m not arguing this, nor defending it, just saying it happened. At that time, “Dangerous” was really selling and Morgan’s career was blasting off. His record label “suspended him.” However, his record label did not suspend making every cent they could off an album that dominated the charts following the incident and its fallout. I’m always amused when Nashville takes a pious moral high ground on anything. Please, spare me. I’ve seen too much. I find hypocrisy among the most distasteful things in life. I would have thought there’d been enough water under the bridge since all that. I would have thought Morgan Wallen was on the industry’s forgiven list and was more than deserving of another chance. After all, “One Thing At A Time” has proven to be beyond a worthy follow-up to “Dangerous” in all aspects. Apparently, I could not be more wrong. I’m shaking my head. And Nashville needs to hang theirs in shame.
If I’m Morgan Wallen at this point, I say “Screw it, who needs em.” I would REALLY lean into the whole industry outlaw thing. Go ahead, issue a statement congratulating all winners but respectfully asking never to be included on a ballot again. Say something like, “There are so many others more deserving of my slot.” Then, NEVER grace any of these farcical award shows with your talent again. Ride out your current record deal then do your own thing, just like Eric Church. Shoot, the two of you need to do a modern-day outlaws record and tour ala Waylon and Willie (google them, too <g>).
Okay, I’m off my soapbox now. How about I leave you with what I consider to be THE moment of last night’s CMA Awards. Kelsea Ballerini’s stark, haunting, acoustic performance of “Leave Me Again” left me awestruck.
CMA's 2023 Entertainer of the Year Nominees
