“Nashville Scene” Abruptly Cancels 20+ Year Country Critics Poll

This story has been updated (see below).
For 21 years, the Country Music Critics Poll published in Nashville’s alternative newsweekly the Nashville Scene has been one of the leading indicators of critical consensus about a given year’s songs, albums, artists, and performers in the country music space.
Conducted by veteran journalist Geoffrey Himes, it compiled the opinions of scores of critics and journalists in a poll that helped both industry professionals and fans alike navigate the overcrowded music scene to sift through the noise and make sure the best stuff in a give year wasn’t overshadowed. Similar to the No Depression Readers Poll, it became an important year-end ritual.
Whether you agreed with the poll’s ultimate findings or not, it always gave you a good indication of what was best in a given year according to the top ears in the industry, and featured a good mix of both mainstream and independent artists from a more diverse background than country’s major award shows. It was one of the few places critically-acclaimed artists were highlighted on a national scale. The poll also came with a dedicated issue of the Nashville Scene with deeper takes about the results, and takes about the year in country music in general.
But unfortunately, the poll will not happen this year, and under circumstances that have many of the participating critics, and the readers who regularly anticipate the poll, quite frustrated.
The Nashville Scene‘s Music Editor Stephen Trageser sent out a missive to the scores of critics who participate in the poll each year on Wednesday evening (12-1), saying, “We’ve decided to go in a different direction in 2022. To be clear, that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the CMCP; it just won’t be appearing here…We will continue to have a special issue with its own particular take on country music—more details on the inaugural edition of that coming soon.”
However, the abruptness of the decision means that there will not be a critics poll—at least one conducted by Geoffrey Himes—anywhere in 2021.
“As you may have heard, the ‘Nashville Scene’ has decided to discontinue the Country Music Critics Poll,” Himes said to poll voters Thursday morning (12-2). “This sudden, unilateral decision was made against my wishes—even without an opportunity for me to argue on the poll’s behalf. This is a sad development for arts criticism in general and for country music criticism in particular.”
Geoffrey Himes continued, “I would have sent out this note earlier, but I was hoping to find a new home for the poll. Alas, I haven’t succeeded, though I will try again next year. For 21 years, the poll was a terrific arena for thoughtful and emotional arguments about country music. I hope it will have a second life, but its first life was pretty amazing.”
After receiving the email from Geoffrey Himes, Saving Country Music offered to run the poll in 2021, but with the complex weighted scale the poll uses and the sheer number of participants, it wouldn’t be possible to put it together properly for this year. “Knowing how much work is involved in the few remaining weeks, I’ve given up on doing a poll this year,” Himes replied.
Along with finding a new home for this important country music media institution, the next concern is what the Nashville Scene has planned in lieu of the annual poll. Their promise of having a “special issue with its own particular take on country music…” seems to indicate it will not be the wide and diverse polling of country music professionals that the Critics Poll was each year, but potentially include coverage along the same lines of much of the outlet’s daily coverage of country music, which recently has lacked nuance, context, counterpoints, or true country music knowledge, and instead has given voice to poorly-researched and terse Twitterverse takes put in print from a narrowing perspective.
What was so important and valuable about the Nashville Scene‘s Country Music Critics Poll is that it wasn’t just one journalist or outlet’s “particular take,” or even a host of select opinions from a certain segment of journalists. It was all of the opinions from the wide and diverse representation of country music aggregated into one place. It’s where all the opinions on country music could come together in an attempt to build consensus.
Whatever the Nashville Scene has planned, it’s unlikely to honor that tradition. And hopefully in 2022, the Country Music Critics Poll can find a new home that will.
– – – – – –
UPDATE: After the publishing of this article, The Editor of the Nashville Scene, D. Patrick Rodgers, reached out to clarify why they had chosen to not run the poll with the following statement:
“Following Geoffrey Himes’ Paste column on “Afro Americana” (which has since been heavily edited and redacted), we decided to part company with Himes on the CMCP, and told him he could take it elsewhere if he liked. The Scene will keep on championing quality country music.”
December 2, 2021 @ 12:33 pm
That’s too bad. I saw an article about brotox in a recent issue. You read that right. Brotox. Who knows what’s going on over there.
December 6, 2021 @ 4:12 pm
D. Patrick Rodgers is woefully inadequate for his job. He can’t even successfully manage an alt-weekly with a readership in the low thousands. Buzzfeed articles equating Keith Urban to non binary coal miners are more his speed.
December 2, 2021 @ 12:37 pm
Dang! We just can’t have nice things! 🙁
December 2, 2021 @ 12:53 pm
The Nashville Scene’s “different direction” will be light on the music and heavy on the singer’s race, sexuality, etc.
Racist, homophobic, xenophobes work at that shit rag.
December 6, 2021 @ 4:14 pm
Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! Staffing at the Scene is swirling down the toilet bowl. Any dreg with green hair and a Tom Waits record gets a job.
December 2, 2021 @ 1:31 pm
I just read the “Afro Americana” article and it’s good. Basically the music critic (Geoffrey Himes) lists eight black Americana artists he really likes (he calls Rhiannon Giddens & Charlie Crockett geniuses) and three he thinks are overrated.
Actually, I just realized I read an un-redacted version of the “Afro-Americana” article. The redacted version deletes the first couple of paragraphs, where Himes essentially says it’s great black musicians are getting into Americana, since (despite often being excluded due to racism, which I’d agree with…) they’ve always been part of the Tradition and it should lead to a lot of great new music, especially since hip-hop is getting pretty boring nowadays. (Hello Sam Hunt, Little Nas & Moneybagg Yo…). Himes also mentions that black Americana artists can suck just as badly as white Americana artists, and the proportion of good to suck seems to be the same whether you’re black or white. I think Himes is pre-emptively trying to defend himself from charges of racial-insensitivity (i.e. “here are eight albums I like and three I don’t, and I’m not a racist because I don’t like the last three…”), which didn’t work…
Then there’s a response article titled “The Insidiousness of Afro-Americana,” which while it has some good points about racism and racial constructs in country music, etc. etc., ultimately seems to be making the point that no white music critic can ever judge music by a black musician since they’re white. Which I personally strongly disagree with. As did Duke Ellington, if I remember correctly…
My best guess, especially after reading D. Patrick Rodgers’ flippant clarification to Trigger, is that the “Nashville Scene” had been looking for an excuse to get rid of Himes since he’s an actual music critic with knowledge and opinions, vs. the “Nashville Scene” which is devolving into the Twittererverse… And Rodgers used this “incident” as an excuse to get rid of Himes.
I’d never heard of Himes before but I bookmarked his column on Paste to read in the future, so that’s a plus at least…
December 2, 2021 @ 5:43 pm
Just to distill the situation here:
I have been a part of this Critic’s Poll for years. As a contributor to it, I received an email statement from the Nashville Scene Wednesday night saying they were discontinuing it, and then a followup email from Geoffrey Himes this morning. Both of these direct emails are what went into this article.
I have absolutely no problem with D. Patrick Rodgers, or the additional information he decided to convey to me shortly after posting the article. As soon as he did, I retweeted it on Twitter, and added that information here. It’s good context and insight. Why some on both sides of this issue have decided to take his statement as an attack on me or something, I don’t understand.
The problem I have is with the other Nashville Scene contributor Steve Cavendish, who attempted to undermine the entire article by saying I was obligated to reach out to the Nashville Scene for some sort of additional statement beyond the one they had just sent me less than 24 hours previous. That statement from the Nashville Scene is what instigated the entire article in the first place. I would have not known about this if they hadn’t issued a statement. I can only assume that since they issued such a statement, that statement included all the information they wanted to convey. So I had a statement from The Nashville Scene, and later a statement from Himes. That’s both sides. I then took that information, and posted an opinion piece—not a news story—lamenting how this 21-year-old poll would not happen this year.
The whole reason this became a blowup on Twitter is because Lorie Liebig said, “Interesting you chose not to report or comment on the reasons why they didn’t want to publish it anymore.”
Ironically, she has blocked me, so I didn’t even see this message until a few minutes ago. And obviously, I have no fucking idea why the Scene chose not to run the Critics Poll this year. And if they wanted to convey that information, they should have released it in their statement, which by the way, was sent specifically to critics and journalists who participate in the poll, so basically, the entirety of the media base of country music. You would think they would consider that what they said may end up in print, and put all the information they wanted to convey in there. Frankly, it appears they were unwilling to address the reason for ending the poll until Lorie attempted to call me out about it. And again, as soon as they did say why they chose to end the poll, it was published here.
Also, Steve Cavendish also asserted that I reached out for further comment from Geoffrey Himes, and not the Scene. This is untrue. I offered to publish the poll for Himes, and he responded he had decided it was too late to conduct it this year. I then added that additional and important information to the article.
Long story short, once again it was bunch of bullshit started on Twitter. And as opposed to answering the concerns I brought up in this article, as Twitter characters do, they instead attempted to undermine my credibility and reporting so they would not have to actually answer the tough questions and concerns presented in this article.
As for the “Afro-American” issue, I will likely address this, as well as post a follow up to the Critics Poll issue in the future.
December 2, 2021 @ 8:34 pm
Childish behavior by Liebig and Cavendish but that’s commonplace with them. I’ve seen more maturity in two year olds.
Usually the ones that try to “undermine someone’s credibility” are the ones lacking it. Kind of like how the ones always looking for racism where there is none are the most racist.
With apologies to Allen Iverson, “we’re talking about Twitter, man. Not the real world. Twitter.”
Piss on em. Let them live in the Land of Make -Believe that is Twitter.
We know you’re legit.
December 2, 2021 @ 1:53 pm
I love picking up stacks of the Nashville Scene to start bonfires in my backyard.
December 2, 2021 @ 1:57 pm
I smell Millenials.
December 2, 2021 @ 2:58 pm
“Then there’s a response article titled “The Insidiousness of Afro-Americana,” which while it has some good points about racism and racial constructs in country music, etc. etc., ultimately seems to be making the point that no white music critic can ever judge music by a black musician since they’re white.”
LOL figures. I looked up the writer of that article, Jake Blount, and he is a gay black man.
So to that, I say, Jake Blount can’t ever judge music by straight men and women of any color because he’s a gay black man.
December 2, 2021 @ 4:21 pm
Hello, I’m new here. But I Love REAL Country Music. I haven’t been to Nashville in about 3 years, but I love that town. My thinking is that if Country Music just emulates other music genres, then how is it special anymore? I will continue to seek out venues that support REAL Country Music and spend my $$$ there. But it’s getting harder and harder. The REAL Country Music genre is an endangered species, I’m afraid. Maybe I am too. Pity. Cheers,
December 3, 2021 @ 7:39 am
David,
Welcome to our crazy, sometimes dysfunctional SCM family!
December 2, 2021 @ 5:15 pm
I read the Blount article out of curiosity. He does make some good points, but also some I disagreed with. Here’s one:
“In Himes’s article, “Afro-Americana” seems little more than an excuse to pit Black artists (particularly Black women) against one another, often in cases where no legitimate musical comparison can be made. Himes laments the Grammys “honoring [Black Pumas] when someone like Charley Crockett is still woefully underappreciated,” but is a psychedelic soul band like Black Pumas really in competition with a country singer like Crockett?”
So that’s a quote from Blount. Well, this isn’t really the fault of Himes, it’s the fault of the ridiculous marketing term “Americana,” which is so broad as to be meaningless. He’s right that Black Pumas and Charley Crockett have little in common, but in fact both are considered Americana and have appeared on the AMA charts. So Blount – who accused Hines of not doing enough research before writing – should maybe take his own advice.
Then he follows with this:
“As I read through Himes’s piece, I found myself revisiting the same question time and time again: Why? The main thesis of the column seems to be that some Black Americana artists are bad, but he fails to cite anybody who argues that we’re all good. Why did he feel the need to so caustically refute an argument that no one is making?”
So that’s another Blount quote. Hey Blount – he could just cite you, because you’re basically making that argument. Himes points out a few black Americana artists that he doesn’t think are good, and Blount’s article basically says “you can’t do that.” But that he laments “who’s saying that we’re all good?” I mean, it’s a total contradiction.
December 3, 2021 @ 10:12 am
On the flip side, I thought Blount made a great point here:
“Of course, not everybody has to like everything. Himes is a music journalist. It’s his job to report honestly on what he sees and hears. It is also, however, Himes’s job to research the subject matter to be sure he understands it. His criticisms of Amythyst Kiah and Allison Russell make it clear that he has neglected this second duty. He finds their narratives and melodies insufficiently elaborate, but disconnected lyrical imagery and repetitive melodies have been considered hallmarks of Black music for hundreds of years.”
I decided to add this because it’s not that I think Geoffrey Himes is beyond criticism either. Actually, it’s impossible to really take a side in this dispute because the original Himes article has been so heavily redacted. But the way it reads now, Himes actually seems pretty excited and enthusiastic about black artists in the Americana space, he just thinks there are a couple of artists that are overrated. It seems more like a case where Himes kind of put his foot in his mouth, rather than Himes being racist or anything like that.
December 3, 2021 @ 10:37 am
Thanks for adding that. I was going to copy and paste it myself. It reminds me of a conversation I had with someone as we listened to Ben Harper’s gospel album where he collaborated with the Blind Boys of Alabama. We were both Ben Harper fans, but she didn’t like this album. She said something like gospel music should be reverent and not so showy. I said something like “That’s white gospel. This is black gospel.” And also it reminds me of the old adage that “blues is a feeling.”
I think Himes was a bit pompous (and maybe lazy) in his criticisms of Allison Russell and Amethyst Kiah, but he’s always been a bit pompous. And I personally think he’s all wet when he compares Kiah’s “Black Myself” unfavorably to Mickey Guyton’s “Black Like Me.” Kiah’s song knocks me out (particularly the Our Native Daughters version) and Guyton’s song, while worthwhile, is a pop song that may be more digestible to Himes. Still, to cashier him like that after his apparent long history with this poll…
December 2, 2021 @ 6:08 pm
If Blount were TRULY serious about helping Black Women, & this goes for EVERYONE in Nashville – Rhiannon Giddens would have awards coming out the wazoo.
“They’re Calling Me Home”
Get. On. It.
December 3, 2021 @ 7:59 am
I don’t agree with Jake Blount on a bunch of stuff (I didn’t read his article) but he is a genuinely well intentioned dude, and I’ve no doubt if he were on any awards panel he’d be a vote for Rhiannon Giddens. Good fiddler too.
Your statement is truth incarnate applied to pretty much anyone making noise about race in country music, I just wanted to defend Jake a bit cause I know him to be a good man (despite us falling on different sides of political fences) and has spent a bunch of time championing Rhiannon.
And the rest of y’all, if y’all don’t know Rhiannon Giddens, take Harris’s advice and thank her later.
December 3, 2021 @ 9:16 am
I found this on his presskit page:
“On top of being wildly intelligent and knowledgeable, he’s also a killer musician and it’s an incredible combo.” – Rhiannon Giddens
— RTÉ
That must be about his combo Tui, which, along with him personally, I hadn’t heard of until yesterday. Safe to say that Rhiannon’s profile in the roots music world is much larger than his. And so she’s more in a position to help him than vice versa.
December 2, 2021 @ 6:34 pm
That rag has gotten progressively worse as the Internet has taken their market. Seems like they care much more about music checking boxes than being worthwhile. The sooner their patron Bill Freeman pulls out the rug the better.
December 2, 2021 @ 9:14 pm
After reading the headline I half expected to read something like: “Poll cancelled because hierarchal lists are oppressive and actual violence.” But the fact that it was only cancelled for (it doesn’t really exist) cancel culture reasons, and Lie Big is using this post as political outrage clout on Twitter is equally as predictable and moronic. Oh well…your lists are mostly all I need. Because music.
December 3, 2021 @ 8:05 am
Liebig and her ilk hitch their wagons to identity politics because it’s the only thing that keeps them afloat in their fields. Journalism degrees are so devalued that they grasp to whatever they can to create a story.
It’s never about the music with them. It’s about the race, gender, sexuality, political affiliation, etc. of the artist.
December 4, 2021 @ 4:57 am
This is where we’ve arrived at in music and arts. The quality of the music/musician is not the main focus. It’s what they look like, who they screw, what they eat, their politics etc…
It’s not about their music anymore. And music suffers terribly. And what passes for “music” is truly terrible these days in the mainstream because of it.
Journalism is 90% dead. It’s all for click-bait and website traffic. And they’ve found out they can use “rage” to bring in more dollars. So being offended(or pretending to be) brings in money. And like a Pavlonian trick far too many millennials and zoomers have been conditioned like drones to fall for this.
December 4, 2021 @ 4:58 am
Pavlovian…caught that one too late.
December 2, 2021 @ 9:58 pm
Got curious with the update from the publisher. I’d never heard of Geoffrey Himes, but I looked up the offending article. It has a disclaimer at the top saying the problematic language has been excised.
Now I’m REALLY curious. Did the dude drop N-bombs or something?
December 2, 2021 @ 10:20 pm
“ Editor’s Note: Due to a breakdown in our editorial process…”
Possible translation: “We, the editors, didn’t even read the article.”
Or possibly:
“We read it and were totally fine with it until a few outraged people scared the shit out of us straight into submission.”
Pure speculation, of course.
December 3, 2021 @ 8:21 am
I’ve known about Geoffrey Himes since around the early ’90s. Back before the interwebs, one of my main main sources for album reviews was the weekend section of the Washington Post. There might be several albums reviews for artists coming to town in the next week. Geoffrey Himes seemed to be the main reviewer in the roots music realm. I had mixed feelings about him as a reviewer, because I thought sometimes his reviews would have know-it-all hot takes that he wouldn’t really back up. And he had his annoying hobby horses, like having to mention how Sam Bush couldn’t sing on numerous reviews of Sam’s albums. As far I was concerned, Sam Bush could sing just fine, even if he wasn’t John Cowan. And his voice did have its charm. But still, Himes was much better than today’s WaPo writer Chris Richards. And I have enjoyed him more as a feature writer. He wrote numerous articles in No Depression, including two that made it into The Best of No Depression book (one on Los Lobos and another on Kasey Chambers).
I had not heard of Jake Blount before. Turns out he’s a serious old time roots music artist specializing more in American black roots music (something this music fan could use a lot more of). And so not a journalist. He covers a lot of the same bases as Rhiannon Giddens, and like her, is a recipient of the Steve Martin banjo award. Also like her, he is biracial. I listened to about half of his 2020 album Spider Tales last night and it sounds pretty damn good to me.
December 3, 2021 @ 8:49 am
See, this is the great psyop.
I wrote an article lamenting the ending of a 21-year country music institution in the Nashville Scene’s Critics Poll, which pulled together hundreds of contributors to attempt to find consensus in country music. The primary thing Geoffrey Himes did with this poll was crunch the numbers. His opinion counted just as much as everyone else’s. That what was so cool about it.
But instead of anyone paying attention to how this poll won’t be happening this year, they have successfully made this issue about race, about Geoffrey Himes vs. Jake Blount, and you’re being asked to choose a side. Nobody’s even talking about the poll anymore, which again, was one of the few cultural institutions in country music where everyone’s voice counted. But see, that was the problem. There are people in country media now who don’t want every voice to count. They don’t want to have good faith arguments. They want to destroy and eliminate those arguing against them. All of a sudden, Saving Country Music is the outlet that is being criticized, not the Nashville Scene for not figuring out how to have this poll move forward under different leadership, or ensuring it could have continued on via a different outlet by being more timely and honest and respectful to Geoffrey Himes about their intentions.
Ultimately, the Nashville Scene removed Geoffrey Himes from conducting the critics poll because he exercised his duty as a critic. I don’t agree with some of the assertions he made in his “Afro-American” piece, or in other places. But I disagree even more with letting this poll falter because a few folks at the Nashville Scene want the control over it, so they can use to the annual country music issue to assert THEIR opinion, and their opinion only.
December 3, 2021 @ 9:20 am
See, this is the great psyop.
What? Why am I getting this particular lecture?
December 3, 2021 @ 10:49 am
Sorry Jack, I used your comment to speak to a deeper concern I have about how this situation is being digested.
The simple fact is there is an active movement to stifle opinion in country music through the use of fear so that only a select group of voices can be heard. I have been a victim of this, Geoffrey Himes has been a victim of this, and now this 21-year-old poll is.
December 3, 2021 @ 12:15 pm
Looking at LieBigs twitter feed for a moment I noticed she’s the new editor of the Boot. I wasn’t too familiar so I took a look. Not that it’s my thing at all, but I guess I’m mildly curious to see how she uses that platform for her agenda. For example, I see a recent post about Jason Andean…
Also puts a little perspective on her criticism of you, as trying to eliminate competition.
December 3, 2021 @ 2:38 pm
No worries, Trigger.
Were you still part of this poll? I used to follow Nashville Scene on Facebook for maybe a couple years but then it lost its luster for me and so I stopped. I had noticed that you were part of this poll, but then thought I didn’t see you listed one year and figured maybe you, ahem, fell out of favor with some folks over there.
December 3, 2021 @ 2:54 pm
I can’t remember when I started participating in the poll, but it was probably 2011-2012 or something, and I submitted stuff every year up until last year. After the Nashville Scene posted what I felt were some really circumspect columns, including one that specifically (and ironically) called me out for trying to “stifle critics” of all things after I fairly questioned Lorie Liebig’s poorly-conceived and false/inaccurate “Country Music Accountability Spreadsheet” about Black Lives Matter, I decided I would not contribute to anything that would be published in the Nashville Scene. That said, I still thought the poll was an important institution in music criticism. And for a lot of up-and-coming music journalists, getting asked to participate in the poll is a pretty big deal. It’s kind of a validation, and I think that going away would be a bad thing.
I’m not here to defend the Geoffrey Himes opinion piece in Paste. That is what some are trying to make this out as so they can call me a racist. I will defend his right to share his opinion. What I’m simply saying this poll was an important annual institution, and it’s a shame it won’t happen this year. I also know that many of the other participants in the poll feel the same way, but some are being disallowed from speaking about it from their outlets, or are afraid because like me, they will be couched as racists. I did have a small bit of knowledge about the Paste article blowup, but the idea that we all should have known that was the reason the poll was discontinued and I was somehow trying to hide that fact is ludicrous.
December 4, 2021 @ 9:28 am
I’m not on Twitter, but I did check out the responses associated with this article on your Twitter feed. And all I can say is that these people strike me as children with their “mic drop” tweets. They remind of partisan political operatives where everything is spin and substance be damned. I have no use for them.
I had some knowledge of the Paste article, too. I forget from where. I read some of it, but didn’t realize it was Geoffrey Himes who wrote it until reading a comment here. As I said in my original comment, I sometimes find him annoying, but I will read him because overall, he is often of writer of substance. Kind of like a sportwriter that I like for the most part, but who sometimes irks me a little. I’ll still read their next column. And the dude has two features in the The Best of No Depression compilation book. Barry Mazor only has one. And to me, the old No Depression print magazine was something I deeply treasured as a roots music fan. I hope he finds a home for his critics poll next year.
December 4, 2021 @ 12:43 pm
The sometimes annoying writers who at least have some substance are being usurped or gagged into silence far too often. I’m glad to see more and more people growing tired of it, but the anger and desperate attacks against people like Trigger, by the mic dropping operative children, will only escalate.
December 3, 2021 @ 6:47 pm
Trig, if it’s any consolation I’m pretty sure the vast majority of people who love and follow and buy country music don’t even know what the Nashville Scene is, much less read it.
It’s hilarious to think for example that anyone thinks “omg, this song was written and performed by a gay black persyn, therefore It Is of Timeless Value.”
To blinkered ideologues, maybe it is. To honest people, it might just suck.
The purpose of a critic is not to be a blinkered ideologue.
December 4, 2021 @ 9:37 am
This illustrates the huge cavernous divide between media folks and the real fans who spend the money on the music. Average listeners of the music have little in common with hipster elites who preach identity politics above and beyond the merits of musical artistic value. Simply put, we choose music that moves us personally, regardless of who makes it. As do 99.9% of humans.