Once Again, Country Goes Under-Represented in the Grammy Telecast
The Grammy Awards were handed out on Sunday (2-1), with Zach Top, Jelly Roll, and Tyler Childers being some of the big winners in country, and Billy Strings, Mavis Staples, and I’m With Her the big winners in the American Roots categories (bluegrass, folk, Americana). But for the second year in a row, country and roots music went virtually unrepresented in the televised presentation of the awards. Instead, it was a constant parade of pop and hip-hop performances, even as country remains a very popular genre.
A lot has already been made already about how not a single artist, song, or album from country or roots competed in the Grammy’s big all-genre categories in 2026, namely Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and New Artist of the Year. A recent breakdown of the Grammy voting population exposes a dramatically under-represented bloc where the country and roots voters should be that results in such outcomes.
“Only 7% of Grammy voters come from the country genre, according to the Recording Academy (compared to 24% for pop and 16% for jazz),” the report says, while “only 1% of this year’s new voting members identified as being most aligned with the country genre.“
But while voting and Grammy membership is not entirely in the Grammy’s control, the performances are. In 2025, aside from Brad Paisley appearing in a multi-genre opening segment with Dawes centered around the L.A. fires, Lainey Wilson appearing in tribute to Quincy Jones, and a quick appearance by Shaboozey, country music was nowhere to be seen. Similarly, rock music also was absent from the presentation.
In 2026, the sum total of country’s participation in the 3 1/2 hour show was the 4 minute, 44 second performance by Reba McEntire, Brandy Clark, and Lukas Nelson of Reba’s “Trailblazer” as part of an In Memoriam segment, which quickly was forgotten when Post Malone and a bunch of A-list rock guys came out in tribute to Ozzy Osbourne—which was the sum total of the rock featured on the presentation. In other words, aside for In Memoriam time, country and rock were once again shut out.
Grammy member, music historian, performer, and author John Lomax III has let it be known that he found the Grammy’s curation of the performances unacceptable in a letter he sent to the Nashville Recording Academy’s Executive Director.
“There were no country, bluegrass, folk, jazz, blues, gospel or classical music performances so, ‘Music’s Biggest Night’ was confined to rap, hip-hop, pop, alt-rock and K-pop,” Lomax wrote. “Last year at least we had a Herbie Hancock jazz segment. My conclusion is that the Recording Academy does not consider American roots music performers worthy of national exposure. As a long-time member of the Academy I find this very disturbing.”
Some have also pointed out a pretty glaring omission during the Grammy’s In Memoriam segment. Generally speaking, the Grammys do a great job with honoring fallen music greats, and a much better job than country’s CMAs and ACMs do. Songwriter Brett James, Jeannie Seely, Todd Snider, Joe Ely, Raul Malo of The Mavericks, even Roger Sovine, the son of Red Sovine and a song rights executive were honored.
But the Grammys forgot to mention one of the biggest losses in country music in 2025, Johnny Rodriguez. For an organization that prides itself in representing diversity, this was an especially unfortunate omission. Johnny Rodriguez was instrumental to integrating country for Hispanic performers and fans.
On Tuesday (2-2), Billboard published an article asking, “When Did The Grammys and VMAs Swap Places?” with the subhead reading, “MTV’s marquee event used to be the the hipper, younger alternative to Music’s Biggest Night, but Sunday night’s Grammys showed how it’s become the more urgent awards show.”
The article goes on to point out how it used to be the VMAs where “the pop, rock and hip-hop stars built their iconic legacies with performances, acceptance speeches and red carpet moments, where the music defining the era’s youth culture was ably represented by the artists on stage and in the audience.” Now that’s the Grammys, while the VMAs are focused more on paying tribute to legacy acts—something the Grammys used to do more of.
This underscores the culture shift happening at the Grammys from being the non-profit Record Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, to chasing the cultural zeitgeist and those shocking moments that used to be resigned to the VMAs.
This shift is what has locked out many actual musicians, actual musical performances as opposed to lip-synced presentations with choreographed dance routines, and left more organic performances from all genres on the outside looking in. At the least, one of the nominees from Best Contemporary Country Album could have performed. Jelly Roll might not be that country according to a lot of actual country fans. But being the big winner of the night, at least he could have performed.
At one point during the introduction, host Trevor Noah said that hip-hop was no longer just a genre of music, but a lifestyle, and cultural movement. But that was an anecdote that would have been more relevant to issue in 2014 when even country was adopting hip-hop via Bro-Country.
Today it’s country music that’s dominating American culture with artists like Beyonce, Post Malone, and others donning cowboys hats and making supposed “country” records. But for some reason, the Grammys are not paying attention to that cultural shift in their performances. And that shift won’t be around forever. These things ebb and flow. But while they’re flowing, they Grammys should be working to represent country equitably on their stage and televised presentation.
In 2017 when Sturgill Simpson won Best Country Album for A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, they moved the handing out of Best Country Album to the pre-telecast “Premier Ceremony.” During his speech, Sturgill said, “I guess the revolution won’t be televised.” That remains the case for the rising popularity of country when it comes to the Grammys.
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February 4, 2026 @ 9:19 am
NARAS doesn’t care about country music or its fans and it won’t change.
Seriously though, do country fans care about the Grammy Awards anymore? There’s no more male and female artist categories and traditionally minded people don’t go for the genderless, new age rubbish they’re getting handed. Awards shows aren’t what they used to be anyways as a drawing card.
February 4, 2026 @ 9:24 am
The Grammy Awards represented country better when it wasn’t so popular than they do now in the performances. I do think this is making the Grammy’s less relevant to country fans, and that’s why I’m speaking out. Just like with the Super Bowl, we’re not asking for half the presentation to be country. But how about one country artist performing one of their original songs in a 3 1/2-hour presentation? How about one country artist perform since it’s been 32 years. These don’t come across like huge asks. Just give country and roots a little love.
February 4, 2026 @ 9:50 am
It would be good to see more country and roots music on there. I don’t think they like country and roots fans and don’t care to engage with us. They’re trying to engage young people who aren’t into what we like. However…
This is from a conservative news site I won’t identify:
“For the second year in a row, the Grammy Awards took a dive in the ratings, primarily due to a collapse in younger viewers.
On Sunday, only 14.4 million people tuned into a show that regularly drew somewhere between 25 and 40 million viewers from 2016 to 2019.”
The Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish fans aren’t tuning in when they’re the ones the organizers are trying to engage. The older, more traditional minded folks who have tuned in in the past aren’t being served and the kids they want to serve don’t care.
Maybe they’ll learn and listen to what you and Alan Lomax III are saying. I won’t bet on it. They want to be the cool kids and hype the viral acts. People like us are expendable. People tune in to the Super Bowl because it’s bigger than life even when Country acts are shut out from halftime. The Grammies are not a big deal.
The Grammies organizers used to think it was a service to highlight jazz, country, blues, classical and other less commercial genres. On the second year that best Jazz Fusion recording was awarded, Manhattan Transfer and Chuck Mangione performed, and Al Jarreau and Woody Herman handed out the award. I love it!
Now the public service is promoting left-wing political stances and lapel pins. Zach Top or Stephen Wilson, Jr. need not apply even though they can put out 4 minutes of great performing and open eyes to something new.
February 4, 2026 @ 12:23 pm
What part of bro country and its modern version are genderless?????
February 4, 2026 @ 9:49 am
The grammy awards are just a pat on the back from major labels to themselves for successfully narrowing the airwaves and big streams to feature only their globally homogenized product. The genre awards – which inherently have a lot more independent artists – aren’t broadcast, because majors don’t care about genres since genres (country, rock, soul, rnb, jazz, folk, etc) don’t scale globally. It doesn’t even have anything to do with youth culture at this point – it’s purely business aimed at optimizing input costs. Corrupt isn’t exactly the word for it, but to pretend it has anything to do with actual music is naive.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:13 am
Good points made. The mono-genre is real.
The business is about pushing the big streamers (formerly big sellers) and the thought that highlighting the roots-oriented genres is quaint. Apparently, ratings for the show don’t matter anymore.
February 4, 2026 @ 6:10 pm
Honestly I don’t understand who listens to global megapop. I listen to all the genres, but the megapop is the worst. Some dude “Jimmy” here calls the Grammys a leftist circle jerk. I’m pretty far left for the US, aka a center left guy, and the Grammys are a corporate circle jerk. I’d stop listening to music altogether if the big 4 category artists were my only options.
February 4, 2026 @ 6:40 pm
A corporate circle jerk? Yes, I agree. And it is a leftist circle jerk, because they’re going to glom onto anything that the left is affixed to at the time of the ceremony – particularly in the current administration. Virtue signaling has been with us for some time, and it only gets more intense as time passes.
Center-left is very different from the far-left which has it’s claws deep into the left-of-center party. I suspect I could have a civil conversation with you in person. Whereas the far-left are about shutting down speech from the other side. Wear the pin, ribbon or whatever nonsense symbol is in vogue, or be marginalized.
February 4, 2026 @ 7:48 pm
I’m center left, but I don’t have the time of day for MAGA if that is what you’re getting at. Republicans like Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Eisenhower, TR, I’m good. Post 94 no thanks.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:31 pm
Folks, this is not a political article, and these types of direct political discussions train wreck the conversation from the topic at hand. Please keep the comments on topic.
February 4, 2026 @ 9:50 am
Yeah, not acknowledging Johnny Rodriguez is a head scratcher — especially in light of some of the other acknowledgements. He crossed over not only genres, but languages. You would have thought they would have been all over that opportunity to virtue signal on diversity and inclusion. Then again, recognizing that Latinos (and Blacks, for that matter) have historically found success among and appreciation from country music fans doesn’t exactly fit the narrative about rural whites being the greatest threat to mankind.
Finally, I don’t want to diminish Rodriguez by bringing in the diversity and inclusion context. He deserved to be recognized in his own right. It was an egregious oversight, whatever the reason.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:00 am
…it gets pretty difficult to stage country music appropriately at the grammys, if its arguably biggest draws – morgan wallen and zach bryan – can’t be bothered to submit their works. the only genre behaving so stupidly is unfortunately country music.
this is not a situation to raise complains – this is a situation to pass some blame. but of course, when the people sounding country (one way or another) are cultivating their disgust for appropriate manners and behaviour in the most egocentric fashion, one mustn’t wonder.
i did not hear any complaints from sabrina carpenter, who could have had some reason for disapointment being in the spotlight there left, right and center and not winning anything. the young woman didn’t lower herself to take it like a country man. good for civilisation – embarassing for country.
February 4, 2026 @ 11:07 am
The only thing embarrassing is the Grammy Awards themselves; they’ve been a joke for decades. Actually, most award shows are a joke. It’s a leftist circlejerk.
February 4, 2026 @ 1:51 pm
That sounds like a really good time! However, that isn’t my experience at the Grammy’s.
February 4, 2026 @ 2:08 pm
🙂 Wow! A “leftist circle jerk.” Yeah, I get that. But the Grammy’s are over, frankly. The whole mess will die a quick death. But there is a second side to this coin, and that is the awful mess in country music, or what is called country music. If “Jesus Take the Wheel” is your taste in country, when in fact all she want to do is undress, then modern country is dead as a doornail. In my view, it is already. But there is a growing effort to save country in a genuine way, by going West, to Midland-Odessa, Lubbock, etc. The talent is there but Nashville is only producing what I call Nashville Slop. How about Flatland Calvary, Kaitlin Butts, or that central Illinois band Joe Stamm Band, perhaps the best country music that I have heard in my 84 years of life?
Country, do something smart; move out of Nashville and let it morph into pop music like it wants to. West Texas is the new center of country music, or Peoria, IL, with Joe Stamm.
February 4, 2026 @ 11:53 am
For Sabrina Carpenter, it wasn’t about winning anything; it was about being seen on the red carpet and on TV. Being in the spotlight WAS the award. A trophy would be nice, but not necessary.
Her music doesn’t matter, as it’s only a consumable product not meant to be timeless or meaningful. The skanky cover art for the album was only there to create buzz over the product.
Zach Bryan clearly doesn’t care about Grammies and he’s done wonders without doing things the old way. Morgan Wallen doesn’t need to kiss anyone’s ring, which is kind of cool even if he is a complete jerk.
February 4, 2026 @ 12:23 pm
“Zach Bryan clearly doesn’t care about Grammies and he’s done wonders without doing things the old way. Morgan Wallen doesn’t need to kiss anyone’s ring, which is kind of cool even if he is a complete jerk.”
This is all true, and with Zach Bryan and Morgan Wallen bowing out, it lessens the opportunity for “country” artists to be highlighted on the presentation. But I have a question of if the cart is being put ahead of the horse. Are these artists not participating in the Grammys because they don’t need them, or because they feel alienated in the process like much of the entire country community? That was one of the reasons the Grammys made a new Best Traditional Country Album category, was to address that alienation. But when they still don’t represent the community on the presentation, it still feels like country is being treated as second class.
Also, people love to hand wave away the Grammy Awards and awards in general as meaningless. That might be true for Zach Bryan and Morgan Wallen who already have theirs. But that’s not true for performers like Sierra Ferrell, I’m With Her, or even Margo Price and Charley Crockett who do really materially benefit from nominations and awards. It all helps elevate name recognition and prestige. The win for Sturgill Simpson back in 2017 was huge for his career.
Is the power of awards shows diminishing? Probably. But that doesn’t mean they can’t play an important role in building an artist’s career and elevating good music over bad. And performances can play a big role in that as well. 14 million viewers might be off of previous highs. But that’s still 14 million people, and the post Grammy sales bumps are real. Maybe if they had included some country artists, those 6 million people who viewed the CMA Awards in 2025 would have tuned in.
February 4, 2026 @ 12:36 pm
Sierra Ferrell, Margo Price and Charley Crockett are NPR “Americana” favorites. The Grammy’s have historically been very kind to that area of Country. The media has not been kind to Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan so I can totally see them wanting to avoid hostile territory and like Todd said both of them don’t need the Grammy’s. I am not a fan of either ZB or MW but I can appreciate how neither is force fed to me on the social media algorithms – unlike Jelly Roll.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:36 pm
Zach Top is definitely not of the NPR Americana crowd. Neither is Jelly Roll. In fact, the Americana crowd is very specifically on the warpath against Jelly Roll at the moment, with both Jason Isbell and Margo Price calling him out on Threads. That means both the Best Country Album winners don’t fit your “NPR Americana” framing.
Do Grammy voters lean more toward the Americana crowd? I would say they probably do. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
February 5, 2026 @ 7:08 am
Neither Margo Price nor Jason Isbell have shown a need to find a particularly compelling reason to bitch about something on their social media. I avoid Twitter (X) and the coward’s Twitter (Threads) but I will try to look for their comments.
February 5, 2026 @ 8:26 am
“Neither Margo Price nor Jason Isbell have shown a need to find a particularly compelling reason to bitch about something on their social media.”
You state that as a fact, when in fact, that’s exactly what they’ve done about Jelly Roll.
February 5, 2026 @ 8:29 am
I’m not saying I disagree with their sentiment on JR. I was making light of their propensity to complain on social media about all kinds of things.
February 4, 2026 @ 4:29 pm
“But I have a question of if the cart is being put ahead of the horse. Are these artists not participating in the Grammys because they don’t need them, or because they feel alienated in the process like much of the entire country community?”
Probably both.
As to the roots categories helping the new acts, it does help. Physical product sales aren’t anywhere near what they used to be. I don’t know if Charlie Crockett is getting more streams now.
NARAS put the new categories in and decided they didn’t need to put them on the air or the performers. However, I’m a bit of a loss as to what the difference between roots and Americana is as far as awards are concerned. They also put Beyonce in those categories last year as well. So, they do the smaller artists a solid and then don’t highlight them.
I used to care about these awards long ago but, frankly, the political nonsense has turned me off. I think country will still get the short shrift because country fans are looked at as right-wing.
February 4, 2026 @ 4:35 pm
I think it’s worth noting that Zach only stopped submitting his work for the Grammys *after* he’d already won one with Kacey Musgraves.
February 4, 2026 @ 6:43 pm
Perhaps he thinks he won only because Kacey is an academy darling and he didn’t like being a plus-one. Perhaps. BTW, I like Kacey’s work up through Golden Hour.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:39 pm
Zach Bryan very likely did not submit his music the Grammy Awards because he was tired of being cast as a country artist, and he didn’t want to overshadow all the other artists in folk where he believes he belongs. That’s why just like there was an effort to make a Traditional Country and Contemporary Country category, there is now an effort underway to make a Traditional Folk category and a Contemporary Folk category. If that effort is successful, I could definitely see Zach Bryan submitting his music to the Grammys again under Contemporary Folk with folks like Noah Kahan.
February 5, 2026 @ 9:19 am
Trigger – There was the Contemporary Folk category for years and they got rid of it.
Zach Bryan seems like he equates country to Nashville corporate and wants nothing to do with it. I’m not particularly a fan of his but I respect how he’s made an impact in his own lane.
February 5, 2026 @ 12:37 pm
Yes, and Folk Alliance sent out a survey to folks asking if they want to bring Contemporary Folk back, and I believe that effort is underway. I also wouldn’t not be surprised if that effort is successful, especially if it will be what lures big fish like Zach Bryan back into the process.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:41 pm
I noticed in the awards presented before the broadcast that Shooter picked up his third Grammy as a producer for Robert Randolph’s win in the Contemporary Blues category and the winning tribute to Clifford Chenier had cuts by Lucinda, Charley and Steve Earle. As someone who has lived in LA for decades and has attended many awards shows and parties, I think the real action is at the benefits and other events that happened before the actual show. This year Dwight hosted a benefit at the Roxy with guests Shooter, Lukas, Charley and Marcus King. An Americana Music ares tribute to Neil Young at the Troubadour had Margo, Jesse Welles and a bunch more. Country and roots music were definitely represented during Grammy week and I’m sure some artists got exposure and made contacts that made the trip out here worthwhile.
February 5, 2026 @ 9:14 am
You’re talking about Dwight and others wisely setting things up around the awards. Obviously, the networking is vital to the performers involved. Most people only see the show (if they even tune in) and nobody from the country sphere is in the frame.
February 5, 2026 @ 12:39 pm
The Grammys do great things for country and roots music. Their categories are much more representative of the music than the CMAs and ACMs. The point here is about the televised presentation. Every major genre should be a stakeholder in that. Country music hasn’t been now for two years in a row.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:22 am
Think were approaching a big C little C situation here with Country Music. little c country music is getting more exposure as musicians continue to push boundaries and blend genres. Big C Country, which seeks control over the genre no doubt hates that, so the producers of shows like the Grammys are gonna go where they think the viewers are and not defer to the genre associations to dictate that.
Thats all Ill say on this, because frankly, everyone hates the Grammy, everyone always has, the elders of every genre thinks that the Grammys do them dirty and music critics often agree. Its timeless and its not really going to improve
February 4, 2026 @ 11:44 am
I don’t think winning an award has ever been more meaningless in the music industry. Until artists don’t have to tour extensively to support themselves and their entire teams behind them, what good is an award if it doesn’t take the pressure off? The death of the individual purchase via illegal downloading platforms and then the subsequent legal versions has never been more devastating.
February 4, 2026 @ 2:51 pm
“I don’t know what this means. I don’t think it means anything at all.”
Eddie Vedder when HE got a Grammy,1996.
February 4, 2026 @ 12:08 pm
The Grammys are nothing more than platforming “the current thing” and handing out awards based on ethnicity, sexual orientation, skin color, etc to avoid getting cancelled.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:40 pm
Yep, that’s why Zach Top and Jelly Roll won for sure.
February 5, 2026 @ 10:01 am
You mentioned Americana being favorited by the awards shows as opposed to country in general and this is true. But you seem unwilling to admit that Americana is code for leftist music whereas country is code for possibly conservative. Now us aficionados know there’s some country stars who are liberal and some Americana artists who are conservative but overall I think it’s no accident the liberal stars are ALL in Americana genre. It’s essentially why it was created in the first place: to separate from what the artists say as masculine, conservative, redneck, country that majority of listeners who like country music enjoy.
I think this is fairly airtight too. If you are a mom of 3 who commutes to the city to work, and shops at Whole Foods, has an NPR tote, supports PBS, votes Kamala and Biden, and someone asks you; “ are you into country music” you might groan and go, “no country music is racist, sexist and too patriotic” but you DO proudly listen to the artists that get promoted by NPR and NYT as being worthy of spotlighted and get highlighted as “cool” because they butt against the seeming ignorant and meat headed bro and red state coded music of the mainstream; but if Charley Crockett, Margo Price, Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Sierra Ferrell, Tyler Childers, Brandi Carlisle, Sturgill Simpson, are releasing new music that’s what’s featured and promoted, all of those artists are positioned as being cool and hip compared to mainstream bro country. In fact doing your part by listening to these left of center artists is seen as a form of activism, of signaling your virtue but also gaming the streaming system and only listening to liberal musicians.
The Grammys aren’t interested in bro country, patriotic country, masculine centered country, country made by conservatives or rumored conservatives. The Grammys as exemplified by the ones this past week are interested in virtue signaling, and promoting what they see as marginalized and oppressed peoples and ultimately that means ignoring artists like a hardy, or Morgan who have huge impacts on our genre, or favor of niche and npr and nytimes approved (read: not problematic conservatives) who have limited and small fan bases but who remain true believers in the forever goal of remaking country music as a whole into a multicultural and racially diverse, female led, and lgbtq promoting activist genre where the focus isn’t on the music or the songwriting but rather the message and slogans that can be churned out. This was evident a few years ago when Nashville partnered with AppleTV not to honor country music, but to highlight and push diversity in the genre, the story wasn’t the artists music, but rather what their race or gender means for spreading the message. Americana exists to thumb its nose at conservative patriotic country music.
Until the Grammys honor country musicians as a whole I’m not interested in the slightest. Being a cadre and comrade in the revolution and getting universal healthcare, and free buses and college and uplifting trans people holds no interest to me. That’s not why we love the genre. I want good music and songwriting. Much the same as in Hollywood, the Grammys have decided to reward narratives and messaging rather than music that engages and entertains. It’s why movies are so poorly made nowadays. It’s about pushing a message as opposed to making entertaining art. And same with Americana. The goal isn’t to wow you with stellar musicianship like in days gone by via Bill Monroe or flatt and Scruggs, but to push listeners towards an ideology, and to be foot soldiers in the coming leftist revolution against all pervading fascist takeover. As such the music need not be remarkable in the slightest, the albums need not be coherent, and the songwriting need not be engaging and sophisticated. It just needs to be slop for activists who would argue with all of us on this site that the only country music worth a damn is Jason Isbell or Margo Price or Mickey Guyton because the coolness factor isn’t in the fun drum pattern or delightful wordplay or the emotive delivery, but rather sticking it to red state America and toxic masculinity.
February 5, 2026 @ 12:29 pm
“The Grammys aren’t interested in bro country, patriotic country, masculine centered country, country made by conservatives or rumored conservatives.”
Everyone parrots this out as a talking point. But again, two guys who are probably rumored or assumed to be conservative won the two big country album awards. So you can’t just act like that didn’t happen. Do the Grammys favor more left-leaning artist? Of course they do. Does that tell the full story of the Grammy Awards so we should completely write them off as irrelevant? Absolutely not.
These things matter. The Grammy Awards matter, whether they matter to a specific individual who watches, or not. And the Grammy Awards are not going away. And so I am going to advocate that they do right by country artists, including putting them on the presentation. That’s my job.
February 4, 2026 @ 12:26 pm
The ratings drop is crazy! Not sure if having a couple of country slots would have helped but they are alienating such a huge part of the population, not sure if you could ever get those people back
February 4, 2026 @ 1:26 pm
Will admit, I got a kick out of them inviting Spiritbox to perform when they intentionally played one of the most aggressively heavy songs with zero clean vocals once they knew it wouldn’t be included in the televised portion.
The national recognition is great, and I always root for good artists to win, but these things are such a joke.
Post wore a big belt buckle and drank Bud Light backstage. That’s probably all the “country” representation they wanted.
February 4, 2026 @ 2:37 pm
How much should we care? I mean, Mile 0 still kicked ass, Price of Admission was still an outstanding album, James McMurtry can write a better song in his sleep than a team of pop songwriters can. If the Grammys ignore country and Billboard has totally unrealistic country charts, what does it matter to us or to the musicians that we listen to? I understand that the Billboard charts have some role in radio airplay, but at this point the raw data from Spotify/Apple/Amazon/YouTube is probably far more useful than Billboard and radio stations don’t need to go through Billboard to get those numbers. Even if radio stations only use Billboard, aren’t most artists making more money off of merch and touring than airplay or streams? And how many people are finding new music via radio vs via streaming?
As for the Grammys, they’ve been a joke since Jethro Tull won a hard rock Grammy. The Grammys are all about the industry, but artists can go on Soundcloud or YouTube. Lil Uzi Vert, Post Malone, XXXTentacion, and Billie Eilish all started on Soundcloud. Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, and The Weeknd all started on YouTube. Artists don’t need labels to be discovered or to get to fans.
I guess what I’m saying is that I think that the world has moved on and these things don’t matter anymore and all of these worries are part of the path to Billboard and terrestrial radio going away completely and the industry losing control of music because you no longer need a major label to share your music.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:45 pm
“what does it matter to us or to the musicians that we listen to?”
I think folks really underestimate how much these awards mean to musicians. Zach Top said in his acceptance speech, “I feel like I watched the Grammys as a little kid and it looked like superheroes on TV so to be up here and be a part of the whole thing is insane.” You hear similar things during acceptance speeches all the time. Shaboozey was in tears, and not the Jelly Roll alligator type.
Ask Sierra Ferrell how much her four Grammy Awards last year mattered.
I most definitely think that as time goes on, these awards matter less and less. But that doesn’t mean they don’t matter at all. They goose sales and name recognition. They help with an artist’s touring purses. It’s validation and something real in a world where nothing seems to be tangible. And a lot of this is conferred by the fact that it’s a peer-voted award.
February 4, 2026 @ 4:19 pm
The only thing more insufferable than the Grammys is Tyler Childers.
February 4, 2026 @ 4:45 pm
When did Tyler Childers turn into James Lankford?
February 4, 2026 @ 4:52 pm
They could take away the minutes lost to the host smarmily giving shout outs to the front row folks, cut some of the stupid Bad B funny can’t perform time-waster and there would be room for say a Grammy moment with Chris Stapleton-Vince Gill-Lainey Wilson-Miranda Lambert. As for the current state of Nashville songwriting, it seems to take 3-5 or 6 people to write peppy, meaningless ditties or or feaux love ballads, each repeating. the “hook” line or chorus 4,5 even 6 times. And I think it was my first Nashville boss, Hall of Fame, Jack “Cowboy” Clement who called most of country “sloppy” pop – back around 1975 or 6, before the “outlaws” shook things up.
February 4, 2026 @ 5:08 pm
Maybe the presenters thought Morgan Wallen would get drunk,throw a chair out of a window and use the “N” word.Anyway,it seems for some reason,Grammy presenters see fit to diminish Country music’s influence,and that is an injustice.
February 4, 2026 @ 7:32 pm
As someone who has been most supportive of Roc Nation selecting Bad Bunny to begin with to represent this weekend’s Super Bowl given when you look at overall net audience, cultural impact and where he’s current at with his career he IS undeniably one of the several biggest artists globally if not THE most presently……………………I think it was a huge missed opportunity on Turning Point USA’s part not to select Nicki Minaj as their alternative half time show performer.
I mean, think about it: 1) Minaj is Trinidadian and known for breaking a lot of barriers for black female rappers as far as net commercial success is concerned these past fifteen years AND 2) VERY recently has recently aligned herself outspokenly with Turning Point USA’s cause. And even though she isn’t quite at her commercial heyday now: she has had recent mainstream commercial success to tout.
Kid Rock is simply a baffling pick on Turning Point USA’s part. He’s just fifteen years past his commercial heyday with his most recent album “Bad Reputation” barely even charting the Billboard 200. And like you said Brice, Brantley and Barrett (whoa: alliteration!) have barely been culturally relevant to those outside of the mainstream country listening community with only Barrett having a crossover hit between them (and even there being four to four-and-a-half years ago).
TPUSA’s best possible pick was obviously Nicki Minaj if their goal was to make an effective statement contrasting from Roc Nation’s.
February 4, 2026 @ 9:02 pm
Not shocked that you support Bad Bunny.
As for TPUSA’s concert, I am not surprised by its picks. They probably wanted artists that appeal to its base.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:26 pm
TPUSA got Kid Rock, and whoever else they could get. Nobody thinks Brantley Gilbert’s going to blow the doors off the thing. I think Nadia makes a great point about Nicki Minaj.
February 4, 2026 @ 10:54 pm
Also folks, this is 100% the wrong thread for this topic. So lets please move this discussion back to the appropriate article, and keep comments on the topic at hand here.
February 4, 2026 @ 7:39 pm
I forgot to add in my original post above……………..that I obviously agree Roc Nation have been greatly underestimating the demand and potential for country music on the Super Bowl stage and that any one of Garth Brooks, Post Malone, Dolly Parton and/or Chris Stapleton would have been an excellent choice. And even though I haven’t been a fan of his musical output to date, you obviously have to consider Jelly Roll as well (especially when he and Post Malone have been a package deal lately in terms of touring).
That said I absolutely believe Bad Bunny was an excellent pick for this year when you really look at the data including artists’ net audience, cultural impact and where they’re currently at at this stage in their careers. All the backlash the selection has received is frankly misguided at best, sketchy to say the least at worst in that it really says more about them than the selection committee/Roc Nation themselves: even if I can acknowledge in the same breath all the serious untapped potential tapping into country music’s big moment these past four-five years in terms of net crossover impact.
February 4, 2026 @ 8:17 pm
first off who gives a rats ass about the grammys secondly where did all of tyler childers testosterone go? l cam remember about a decade back when he actually made country music and didn’t look like a cautionary tale from the ozempic diaries
February 4, 2026 @ 10:57 pm
I think this is another part of the reason why the response to the Grammys from conservatives was so vociferous as opposed to years past. Many awards seemed to be purely awarded to the most woke and left wing artist just to spite conservatives. Bad Bunny being one of them. That every speech by the winner was anti ice and anti trump. That Trevor Noah attacked trump and Nicki Minaj in his monologue. That the ceremony felt like one long anti trump protest, the awards were secondary in a way the point was to make political statements . The ice out pins and red carpet so even the fashion aspect you weren’t safe from having politics shoved down your throat.
Added into that is the fact the one of the biggest genres in the world was nearly completely ignored a few awards here and there but even those weren’t broadcast on the main show during prime time. Morgan wasn’t nominated and it’s hard not to believe that’s completely and totally because Morgan is believed to be conservative. It’s also hard not to read the Grammys near total ignoring of country as a middle finger to conservatives. What was popular at the Grammys was global multicultural multilingual art, and even better if you don’t sing in English at all.
This is the most push back I’ve seen about the Grammys in years. The fact that a few storylines are STILL being discussed days later is unique in itself, Billies stolen land comment has been raging in for days and shows no sign of stopping and Shaboozy just made a statement today about what he said during his own speech. Just today trump trolled Billie by having the White House Instagram account post pictures of illegals captured by ice recently, set to the tune of Billies song “bad guy”. I think this is going to all be contentious for a bit more.
February 5, 2026 @ 4:13 am
Country music is dead. Nothing really great has emerged in the genre since tge 1980s. Modern singers like Lee Greenwood, George Strait and especially more recent ones like Kid Rock and Jason Aldean are very poppy and do not have the magic of the 1920s to 1970s blues based country singers like Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams Senior, Lefty Frizzell, Jim Reeves, Jerry Lee Lewis and Charlie Rich. Sadly all these greats are dead but their music will always live on. The new stuff simply does not live up to the older material and should be viewed as a different unrelated genre.
February 5, 2026 @ 8:23 am
Hey Patrick,
I appreciate the sentiment, and that’s the reason this website was founded. But you are aggressively uninformed about the incredible country music being made right here, right now, which is also the reason this website was founded. The idea that “modern singers” are George Strait and Lee Greenwood, or that Kid Rock was EVER a country artist (he wasn’t), just shows a level of not being in touch that gives you this skewed perspective.
If you want to start somewhere where you can find great country music, start with recent Grammy winners like Zach Top or Billy Strings. Check out the Turnpike Troubadours, or if you want great singers, Drake Milligan. There are so many great modern country artists out there, it’s hard to even knw where to start. The good news is you’ve found the place to with this website.
February 5, 2026 @ 6:12 am
Selling your genre as outsider music then being angry when treated like outsiders.
February 5, 2026 @ 8:25 am
Don’t know that country has ever sold itself as “outsider” music. Never seen that opinion forwarded by anyone. Punk music maybe. Country? I think it sells itself as authentic American music.
February 5, 2026 @ 6:37 am
Minaj is a Trumpster,which doesn’t exactly thrill me,but….Clint Black was 64 yesterday,Feb.4 and Garth Brooks will be 64 Saturday Feb.7.Happy birthday,lads !!!!!!!!!!
February 5, 2026 @ 9:22 am
The winner and nominees for each of the big categories at the Grammy’s were all in the pop and hip-hop genres. That’s what is most popular in mainstream music. There are several categories for country, roots, and americana at the Grammy’s. Country music also has it’s very own awards show every year. The Grammy’s really aren’t a “best of” award show, it’s a popularity contest among the select people who get a vote. The genre that really got shafted was Rock. There wasn’t a single real rock band/artist in the big category winners, even though Rock is more popular than Pop and Country. Here are the Top U.S. main genres (2025), ranked according to Luminate Data of U.S. On-Demand Audio streaming volume.
2025:
R&B/Hip-Hop — 349.9B
Rock — 260.5B
Pop — 167.2B
Country — 122.5B
Latin — 120.9B
Dance/Electronic — 51.3B
World Music — 31.3B
Christian/Gospel — 30.0B
Children’s — 15.7B
Holiday/Seasonal — 14.5B
Stop thinking that Country music is being left out of everything. It’s not. Country music is doing fine and gets the attention it derseves. If you notice, in 2025 Country music was about as popular as Latin music.
February 5, 2026 @ 12:35 pm
Yep, it’s shocking that a website set up to advocate for country music is advocating for country music. That rock point was made in the article as well. Really, this isn’t just about country music, it’s that ALL other genres that are not pop/hip-hop are getting locked out when the Grammys are supposed to be a not-for-profit organization advocating for ALL of music, and this used to not happen in previous years or eras.
February 5, 2026 @ 11:41 am
I have watched the Grammy Awards for more than 40 years. I’m not sure if I will give them another three and a half hours of my life. There were so many good acts sitting in the audience that didn’t get performance slots, even though they had new material. I know Jelly Roll might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he won three awards. The Grammy Awards is who turned me on to Brandi Carlile several years back and I have been a massive fan since. These shows are nothing more than videos for “pop tarts” and hip-hop rappers.
I think it is ironic that so many of the young female singers want to talk about NOT being sexualized by the industry, but then they stick their asses to the camera and wear ridiculous clothes that will guarantee them a spot on social media. Unfortunately, that is how music is being measured nowadays.
Next year, I hope to see Ella Langley, who is all but assured of winning Country Song of the Year with “Choosing Texas.” I’d also like to see a jazz artist, a Christian artist and a few other genres represented and give us a break from rap, hip/hop, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter.
February 5, 2026 @ 12:17 pm
Not a fan of Jelly Roll at all. He won Best Contemporary Country album on the telecast, along with two other awards. The producers were constantly showing him on camera. Why wouldn’t you put him on stage to represent country? Clearly they thought his presence was good for ratings.
February 5, 2026 @ 12:34 pm
Evrry post on here sounds like a MAGA sounding board and that’s why. BTW dont you have your own country awards?