On The Beyoncé, Zach Bryan “Snubs” by the 2024 CMA Awards

Random Notes 79 Comments



The 2024 CMA Award nominations were revealed on Monday morning (9-9), and a perfunctory, performative, and predictable process each year unfolded kind of like we all pretty much expected it to.

There are a few good surprises. It is great to see the Red Clay Strays get Group of the Year consideration, even if it’s in an incredibly weak field. Zach Top also get a New Artist of the Year nom, which is definitely deserved. An Megan Moroney’s strong efforts are also rewarded in multiple deserved nominations.

Overall, it’s hard to get too animated about how these nominations turned out. The fields for Album of the Year and Song of the Year include some really strong contenders. Purists will writhe at the idea of Jelly Roll as a potential Entertainer of the Year like a demon facing down a crucifix, but it’s hard to argue he’s not having a major impact. Duo and Group of the year probably need to be combined into one category, but that’s a deeper matter for another time.

You can see all the nominations below.

But the biggest story of the 2024 CMA Awards nominations is how both Zach Bryan and Beyoncé are nowhere to be found, except for a virtually meaningless “Vocal Event of the Year” nomination with Zach for his collaboration with awards show darling Kacey Musgraves on “I Remember Everything.”

Zach Bryan is the 2nd biggest artists in country music right now behind Morgan Wallen, and it’s been that way for going on three years. Even if you don’t believe a song or his recent album deserve nominations, he most certainly should be listed under Male Vocalist of the Year, and probably Entertainer of the Year. There is no excuse or justification excluding him, except that the CMAs are still in the business of reaffirming their own, and ignoring alternate programming to mainstream radio like it doesn’t exist.

“But I’ve heard Zach Bryan’s songs on the radio before, and he’s on a major label!” Sure, he has been on commercial radio. Barely. And at this point, many “independent” artists are being distributed by major labels, while owning their own rights and publishing, like Zach Bryan does with Belting Bronco. If nothing else, the Zach Bryan snub establishes just how independent he truly is.

Does Zach Bryan need CMA Awards? He’s already proven that he doesn’t. Does he want them? He’s already said multiple times that he doesn’t care. Does he deserve them? Yes. Is it important they recognize him for posterity and historical record? Absolutely. But most importantly, the CMA Awards need the Zach Bryan’s of the world to stay relevant. Otherwise, they are obsolete if they are not reflecting the will of the people and their appetites.

As for the Beyoncé snub, there will be 1,000 think pieces written on the matter by people who are not immersed enough in the country music genre to be informed, have no historical context or a slanted one based on the same echo-chambered think piece fodder they all borrow from, nor do they have any on-the-ground frame of reference.

Cowboy Carter was a complete and utter disaster from what is supposed to be one of the most popular music artists in all of the world. It is currently resting at #133 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, which is a historical and unprecedented implosion from an artist of Beyoncé’s supposed stature.

The consumer reception for Cowboy Carter was a catastrophe to the point that it is perhaps the biggest story in the entirety of music in 2024, even if nobody wants to tell it because they’re afraid of being accused of racism, or they will be attacked by her Stan Army. One of the problems with Cowboy Carter is when you use fear to control the narrative, you lose touch with reality, because nobody is willing to be honest.

However, it is a little surprising that we didn’t at least see a nomination for “Texas Hold ‘Em” for Single of the Year. It had a big impact when it was released, created a lot of buzz, and is not too far off the mark when it comes to other “country” singles in the popular/radio marketplace. But even “Texas Hold ‘Em” fizzled at country radio when Beyoncé’s own label chose to stop promoting it to the country radio format.

Similar to Zach Bryan, the lack of Beyoncé nominations is the country music industry supporting their own. If you don’t spend a bunch of money promoting your singles to the CMA network of radio stations, they don’t reciprocate with votes come CMA time.

And just for all the conspiracy theorists out there thinking there is a smoky board room somewhere on Music Row full of white straight males making these nomination decisions from on high and choosing to “snub” Beyoncé simply because she’s Black and a woman, understand that this is actually the country awards show with the largest and most diverse voting population.

It’s idiotic and meaningless awards like the CMT Awards and the new “People Choice Country Awards” where the nomination come down from on high by power brokers and tastemakers. And what did the “People’s Choice” awards choose? They gave Beyoncé a ludicrous 17 nominations, including multiple nominations in the same category. This is what you get when the “People’s Choice” is dictated instead of earned, not the results of the 2024 CMA Awards nomination process, however flawed and industry-facing they continue to be.

Nobody is listening to Cowboy Carter. It was the most lauded release all year by the press, is supposedly supported by the biggest Stan army in the world, and sits at #133. Meanwhile, Zach Bryan has three albums in the Top 20.

People keep saying, “Yeah, but it’s because Beyoncé isn’t promoting Cowboy Carter.” But Zach Bryan really isn’t promoting his albums either, aside from touring behind them. He’s not pushing any big singles to country radio. What is Beyoncé promoting? A new whiskey brand she just unveiled. So she’s promoting something, but choosing to not promote Cowboy Carter. And sure, awards aren’t all about numbers. Critical acclaim should also factor in. But most critics—even while complimenting the album—concurred Cowboy Carter was not country. In fact, calling Cowboy Carter country insults Beyoncé’s artistic intent to make an album that circumvents genre.

All the incessant and sycophantic think pieces about how the presence of Beyoncé in the country space was going to revolutionize the genre and reclaim it for Black performers was all bluster, and an incredibly misleading canard perpetrated by the press. And similar to COVID narratives and other massive misses by the mainstream press, there will be no reckoning or assessment of what they got wrong here. They won’t acknowledge that Cowboy Carter is a #133 and falling like a brick in this new round of think pieces. They’ll place all the blame on “country music,” as if it acts as one cohesive entity making binary decisions.

Cowboy Carter was never a country album. Beyoncé said so herself in no uncertain terms, and felt so strongly about that statement, it was projected on the side of the Guggenheim Museum in New York as part of the album’s initial promotional campaign before she dropped off the face of the earth, and the album fizzled from a strong lack of public appeal. That’s an effort that doesn’t deserve any awards, country or otherwise.

The Cowboy Carter cycle is similar to the rumored appearance of Beyoncé at the Democratic National Convention in August. The media all convinced themselves that Beyoncé would be there, and her presence would cause a massive wave of influence and popularity to sweep across the fruited plain of the United States. Hundreds of stories were written about it. And then she didn’t even show up. It was all hype. Strangely though, that hype didn’t even result in a bump for Cowboy Carter.

It many respects, this whole thing has been unfortunate. It would be great for the misconception by some that Black people have no agency in country music to be squashed for good, and open an era where Black performers get equal consideration in country music. But Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter were never the vehicles to make that happen. This was impressed upon Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter by an overzealous media, by activists, and by Stans. And now reality is setting in.

2024 CMA Award Nominations:


ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR:
– Luke Combs
– Jelly Roll
– Chris Stapleton
– Morgan Wallen
– Lainey Wilson

SINGLE OF THE YEAR:
– “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey
– “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
– “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen)
– “Watermelon Moonshine” – Lainey Wilson
– “White Horse” – Chris Stapleton

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
– Deeper Well – Kacey Musgraves
– Fathers & Sons – Luke Combs
– Higher – Chris Stapleton
– Leather – Cody Johnson
– Whitsitt Chapel – Jelly Roll

SONG OF THE YEAR:
Award goes to Songwriter(s)
– “Burn It Down”
Songwriters: Hillary Lindsey, Parker McCollum, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose
– “Dirt Cheap”
Songwriter: Josh Phillips
– “I Had Some Help”
Songwriters: Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen, Chandler Paul Walters
– “The Painter”
Songwriters: Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, Ryan Larkins
– “White Horse”
Songwriters: Chris Stapleton, Dan Wilson

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
– Kelsea Ballerini
– Ashley McBryde
– Megan Moroney
– Kacey Musgraves
– Lainey Wilson

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
– Luke Combs
– Jelly Roll
– Cody Johnson
– Chris Stapleton
– Morgan Wallen

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR:
– Lady A
– Little Big Town
– Old Dominion
– The Red Clay Strays
– Zac Brown Band

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR:
– Brooks & Dunn
– Brothers Osborne
– Dan + Shay
– Maddie & Tae
– The War And Treaty

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR:
– “Cowboys Cry Too” – Kelsea Ballerini (with Noah Kahan)
– “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen)
– “I Remember Everything” – Zach Bryan (feat. Kacey Musgraves)
– “Man Made A Bar” – Morgan Wallen (feat. Eric Church)
– “You Look Like You Love Me” – Ella Langley (feat. Riley Green)

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR:
– Tom Bukovac – Guitar
– Jenee Fleenor – Fiddle
– Paul Franklin – Steel Guitar
– Rob McNelley – Guitar
– Charlie Worsham – Guitar

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR:
Award goes to Artist(s) and Director(s)
– “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
Director: Dustin Haney
– “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen)
Director: Chris Villa
– “I’m Not Pretty” – Megan Moroney
Directors: Jeff Johnson, Megan Moroney
– “The Painter” – Cody Johnson
Director: Dustin Haney
– “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” – Lainey Wilson
Director: Patrick Tracy

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
– Megan Moroney
– Shaboozey
– Nate Smith
– Mitchell Tenpenny
– Zach Top
– Bailey Zimmerman

© 2025 Saving Country Music

, , , , ,