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.

The CMA's Entertainer of the Year award is one of the biggest honors an artist can get in country music, next to being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Country icon Dolly Parton won the award in 1978. 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Willie Nelson won the honor from the CMA in 1979. Other superstars that won the CMA's highest honor were Reba McEntire in 1985 and 1986 and The King of Country Music himself, George Strait, who won Entertainer from the CMA three times, the first in 1989.

The last woman to win the CMA's Entertainer of the Year was Taylor Swift, who won in 2009 and in 2011. Shania Twain won Entertainer of the Year in 1999, and The Chicks (then called The Dixie Chicks) won the honor in 2000. If Lainey or Carrie wins this year, it will be the first female to win Entertainer in twelve years.

This year's Entertainer of the Year nominees from the CMA have all had great years in country music, selling tickets, making records, and entertaining fans all over the world with their own style of country music.

The first person to ever win the CMA Entertainer of the Year award was Eddy Arnold in 1967. Loretta Lynn was the first female to win Entertainer in 1972. Barbara Mandrell was the first person to win the Entertainer of the Year award twice from the CMA in 1980 and 1981.

The CMA Awards on Wednesday (11/8) will be hosted by Peyton Manning and two-time Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan.

As we await the result of who will be the next Entertainer of the Year tomorrow night (11/8) when the CMA Awards will be broadcast live on ABC TV.  We take a look at this year's cream of the crop in country music, the five nominees for 2023 Entertainer of the Year, Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood, and Morgan Wallen.

Last year, when Luke won the Entertainer of The Year for the second year in a row, he joined an elite group of artists to win the honor twice or more from the CMA, which includes Garth Brooks, Luke Bryan, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, and Kenny Chesney. Having sold out stadiums all over the country and in Australia and Europe in 2023, he has a good chance of winning the trophy for a third time in a row, which has only been done by Chesney. Garth has the most Entertainer wins of all time from the CMA with seven wins, but not three in a row.

While Chris has not won the CMA's Entertainer of the Year, he did win the 2023 Entertainer of the Year honor from the Academy of Country Music in May. When he won, he said he felt he didn't deserve the honor because of all the talent in the category. There's a good chance the CMA will repeat Stapletpn's win for the top honor as he continues to thrive in country music and push the genre to new heights with his songwriting and singing skills, which are hard to match by anyone. His Super Bowl 2023 performance was one of the most talked about National Anthem performances in sports history.

While Entertainer has eluded Carrie for the CMA, she has won the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year three times, in 2009, 2010, and 2020. in 2009, her first win in the category, actor, and country music lover Matthew McConaughey gave out the honor, when Carrie was nominated against Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Keith Urban, and Brad Paisley. Underwood cried, accepting the award for the first time in her career.

Morgan has had numbers for record sales, streams and ticket sales that no one else in country music matched in 2023. He sells out three-night stints at stadiums all over the country on his current "One Thing At A Time." A win for Entertainer for Wallen in 2023 would not be a surprise or an upset of any kind. He could very well be the 2023 CMA's Entertainer of the Year.

If we predicted one of the five nominees to win this year, it would be Lainey Wilson. Her year in country music has been epic, and she has worked her tail off to be on top of country music today. Some artists through the years are award nominees, and some are winners; according to the award shows so far in the last few years, Lainey is a winner.

She told us of getting the Entertainer nod so early in her success, "To be considered for Entertainer of the Year, it's like, 'Oh my gosh, how did that happen?' But when you think about the amount of shows that we have played this year and last year, we have played a lot. We started playing a club tour at the top of the year. We went out with Luke Combs and did a stadium tour. And we are out on the road with HARDY right now. Every fair and festival in between, we have done it, so with the amount of people we have entertained, then I guess it's not that crazy."