Shaboozey’s Right & Wrong to Side Eye Carter Family as Country’s “Inventor”

Random Notes 99 Comments


Don’t get too worked up here folks. It’s was just the American Music Awards, which in the grand scheme of things is a fan-voted “also ran” inferior version of a music awards show more interested in drawing eyeballs to the telecast than getting it right. The AMAs are well behind the Grammy Awards or even things like MTV’s VMAs when it comes to prestige, importance, or cultural cachet. That’s why they’re relegated to Memorial Day.

When considering the AMAs in the country music realm, they’re even less relevant, well behind the CMA Awards in November, the ACM Awards in the spring, as well as a the Grammys. The American Music Awards deal with country from the overall popular music perspective, usually favoring superstars whose popularity is primarily centered outside of the genre. This is the reason Beyoncé, Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, and Dan + Shay walked away with the AMA’s supposed “country” awards in 2025.

• Female Country Artist – Beyoncé
• Male Country Artist – Post Malone
• Country Duo or Group – Dan + Shay
• Country Album – Cowboy Carter
• Country Song – MorganWallen and Post Malone – “I Had Some Help”

The cultural impact on this is basically nil, though it is important to point out that its artists who are decidedly outside of the country music genre that the rest of the music world now perceives as the front runners in country—and at a time when actual country, and actual country performers have never been more popular.

This underscores that the musicians, songwriters, and performers who grew up from little boys and girls dreaming of being big in country, and spent their entire lives pursuing that goal are being overshadowed by superstars who made millions before ever choosing to call themselves country. In the case of Beyoncé, she even said herself “This ain’t a country album” in regards to her “country” album Cowboy Carter.

Can you imagine the blowback if country artists started winning all of the hip-hop awards? Fairly, it would launch 1,000 think pieces and result in widespread condemnation by hip-hop fans on social media since it would be categorically unfair to hip-hop artists.

But there was a really important moment that transpired on the 2025 American Music Awards that speaks to one of the more fundamental concerns about where we are in country music at the moment, which is in the midst of a headlong effort by some to blanch out the history of Black creators in country music to then celebrate modern stars like Beyoncé and Shaboozey as the pioneers, or for being responsible for re-integrating that history back into the conversation, when it truth, it was already there.

Some are even going as far to say that White country artists never had any agency in country music, and to even claim it’s Beyoncé who invented country music, since it was her presence in the genre that made them first pay attention.

Shaboozey and Megan Moroney were tapped to present the Favorite Country Duo or Group trophy at the American Music Awards. In the teleprompter copy the two were shown while presenting the award, they talked about the first winners of the AMA country awards in 1974, including Charley Pride who won Favorite Country Male Artist, Lynn Anderson who won Favorite Country Female Artist, and The Carter Family, who won Best Country Duo or Group.

In the teleprompter copy that Megan Moroney read, she also said “…and this award went to The Carter Family, who basically invented country music.” This inspired a side-eyed look from Shaboozey that many people took notice of, and has since stimulated all sorts of online discussion about the origins of country music, and the role Black creators played in it.


Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the quote that Megan Moroney read off the teleprompter—and by the way, Maroney deserves no blame or ire here since she was simply reading a prepared statement—it’s important to appreciate that the vast majority of the videos and pull-quotes of the moment exclude the fact that Megan Moroney’s statement also mentioned Charley Pride, who in 1974, arguably was the biggest Male artist and probably the biggest artist in all of country music as a Black country performer.

This in itself both illustrates that Black contributors, and celebrating and awarding those Black contributors, goes back at least 51 years in country music, but is downplayed or outright erased to push a narrative that modern stars are the ones exposing this long-erased Black history in the country genre.

But on to Shaboozey’s side eye, he states later on X/Twitter, “When you uncover the true history of country music, you find a story so powerful that it cannot be erased,” and in a second tweet, “The real history of country music is about people coming together despite their differences, and embracing and celebrating the things that make us alike.”

The second tweet is spot on. The first tweet and the side eye is what some have taken and ran with, and once again have used to paint an inaccurate picture of country music, it’s Black legacy, and the way country history has portrayed Black contributions.

First, let’s address the statement written by someone at the American Music Awards that The Carter Family “basically invented country music.”

That statement probably does deserve a bit of a side eye, though not necessarily for the reasons some think it does. It certainly deserves more context. But when you only have a few seconds before presenting an award on national television, is saying The Carter Family basically invented country music as a super short and succinct statement entirely wrong? Not exactly, especially with the “basically” qualifier, which is signaling to the audience that it’s a highly derived and boiled-down statement, and also hyperbolically complimentary.

But it would have been much better to say that The Carter Family significantly contributed to the formation of country music, and leave it at that, and nobody would have side-eyed it at all. Of course, that statement doesn’t pack the same punch that the AMA writers were going for. They were trying to legitimize the standing of the American Music Awards with the country music community by embellishing their praise of The Carter Family.

For those that don’t know, in 1927, sound engineer and producer Ralph Peer set up a little remote studio in a hat shop in the town of Bristol right on the state line of Tennessee and Virginia. He recorded the songs that would go on to constitute the “big bang” of country music. Though there had been recordings before from Vernon Dalhart, Fiddlin’ John Carson, and others, The Bristol Sessions are given credit for when country music came into commercial form.

Ralph Peer recorded Jimmie Rodgers, who is sometimes referred to as the Father of Country Music, The Carter Family, which is also often referred to as the “First Family of Country Music,” and sometimes A.P Carter is referred to as the “Father of Country Music” as well. Ernest Stoneman, and other performers were also recorded during the sessions. In fact, there were 76 total songs recorded by 19 separate performers. The reason people most associate The Bristol Sessions with Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family is because it was their songs that became the most popular afterwards.

These days, there is a museum in Bristol called The Birthplace of Country Music that is partnered with The Smithsonian, and most everyone associates The Bristol Sessions with the beginning of country music. As great as it is to see this history preserved and thriving, it does paint a somewhat imperfect and too succinct picture for a host of reasons.

First and foremost, it wasn’t just Ralph Peer who was recording early country songs and artists. There is also the legacy of archivist and folklorist John Avery Lomax (1867 – 1948) and the entire Lomax family.

When Saving Country Music queried journalist and archivist John Lomax III about the legacy of his family, and how it pertains to The Bristol Sessions, he responded.

It really annoyed me when the Ken Burns Country Music documentary led people to believe country music began in 1927 in Bristol, Tennessee with the sessions Ralph Peer conducted that brought The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers to public acclaim.

My grandfather John Avery Lomax began writing down the words to songs he heard cowboys singing on their way up the Chisholm Trail as they camped or passed through the Lomax farm in Meridian, Texas. He continued to write down and later record these songs on rudimentary equipment for 34 years when his first book, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads was published in 1910.

Songs first published in that book – “Streets of Laredo,” “Git Along Little Dogies,” “The Old Chisholm Trail,” “Goodbye Old Paint,” ‘The Cowboy’s Lament,” and “Home on the Range,” were recorded by a long list of country artists ranging from Tex Ritter and Marty Robbins through Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Old Crow Medicine Show.

If John Avery Lomax had not saved these songs they might well have slipped into obscurity, if not lost forever. What’s more, he began a family tradition in music and journalism which had now lasted into four succeeding generations., beginning in the 19th century and going strong in the 21st.

Altogether nine Lomaxess over four generations have authored 52 books over four generations, written thousands of magazine articles published in four continents and contributed to several hundred recordings in multiple ways. I feel that John Avery has gotten short shrift for saving some of our most cherished songs amid the 17,000 field recordings he and Alan made for the Library of Congress.

And, for the record, John Avery Lomax never copyrighted a single song as he believed they “Belonged to the American people.” Apparently Ralph Peer felt otherwise.

John Lomax III

Along with taking a more archival approach to cataloging, chronicling, and recording early country songs, the Lomax Family legacy is also significantly more multicultural, and multiracial. John Avery Lomax and his son Alan Lomax were the first to discover and record Lead Belly. Alan Lomax would go on to make the first recordings of Muddy Waters in 1938. Following the Lomax legacy paints a broader picture of America’s rural roots music legacy.

But none of this is the reason Shaboozey gave the side eye to Megan Moroney when she declared that The Carter Family “basically invented country music.” This has to do with the prevailing idea that it was actually Black artists who invented country music, with The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers later taking credit for it through The Bristol Sessions. Yet again though, this paints an incomplete picture.

Though The Bristol Sessions are perhaps Ralph Peer’s most famous recording session, his first ever recording session was in 1920 when he recorded Mamie Smith singing “Crazy Blues,” which was the first blues recording specifically aimed at the Black listening market. In 1924, Peer recorded blues, jazz, and Gospel singers in New Orleans, and again with an emphasis on Black performers and audiences. So the idea that Ralph Peer ignored or excluded Black musicians from his legacy is incorrect.

Though many paint The Bristol Sessions of 1927 as the segregation point for country music, one of the performers who participated was a Black harmonica player named El Watson who recorded the songs “Pot Licker Blues” and “Narrow Gauge Blues.” He also played with The Johnson Brothers during the session. Though much is made about the 1927 sessions, there were additional recording sessions in Bristol in 1928 that also lent to the Bristol Sessions legacy. In 1928, the Black duo Tarter & Gay participated.

In fact, as opposed to being a segregation point for country music, The Bristol Sessions were one of the very first integrated recording sessions to ever take place. And though it wasn’t a recording session, it was a radio show, The Grand Ole Opry predates Ralph Peer’s Bristol Sessions by two years. In 1925, a radio show on WSM was first introduced at the Grand Ole Opry. It’s first performer was another Black harmonica player named DeFord Bailey who currently is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

But those who love to forward the segregated notion of The Bristol Sessions rarely if ever mention El Watson, or Tarter & Gay in their assessments. In truth, they probably don’t know these performers even exist, and in the revisionist histories involving The Bristol Sessions and The Carter Family, they’re rarely if ever cited. But who they love to cite is Lesley Riddle.

For sure, Black guitar player, songwriter, and song recorder Lesley Riddle played a role in the mid career success of The Carter Family. However, characterizing Lesley Riddle as being a foundational key to The Carter Family’s success similar to how blues singer Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne created the blues sound that Hank Williams turned into country gold completely misunderstands Lesley Riddle’s role, and most unarguably, flies in the face of the timeline of The Carter Family and The Bristol Sessions.

Simply put, A.P. Carter, a.k.a. the “Father of Country Music,” met Lesley Riddle in December of 1928. This was 16 months after the original Bristol Sessions, or the “Big Bang of Country Music.” Incidentally, it was also after the 1928 Bristol Sessions too.

Around the release of Beyoncé’s album Cowboy Carter, numerous historical retrospectives characterized The Carter Family as “The First Family” of country music, but then said their success was owed significantly, if not solely to Lesley Riddle, claiming that in truth it was Riddle who “invented” country music, and The Carter Family that simply took credit for it. This is likely what inspired Shaboozey’s side-eyed glance.

Further claims include that “Mother” Maybelle Carter stole her famous “Carter Family Scratch” style of guitar playing from Riddle. Though Riddle’s playing probably did influence later recordings from The Carter Family and specifically Mother Maybelle’s finger picking style, Mother Maybelle did not even know Lesley Riddle existed in 1927, and thus, could have not copied Riddle’s guitar playing for The Bristol Sessions.

This does not mean Lesley Riddle did not play a role in The Carter Family legacy. On the contrary, after their success and fame from their participation in the 1927 Bristol Sessions, A.P. Carter set out to “find” more songs in the countryside to record, and Lesley Riddle was key to these song collecting trips.

At the same time The Bristol Sessions were happening in August of 1927, Lesley Riddle had been working at a cement plant. After tripping on an auger, he injured his right leg, resulting in it needing to be amputated at the knee. Unable to work, Riddle took up the guitar. When he went out with A.P Carter on song expeditions, Riddle would be the one to memorize the melody of a song someone showed them, while A.P would record the lyrics on paper.

Through this system, A.P. Carter and Lesley Riddle would take credit for songs like “Cannonball Blues,” “Hello Stranger,” “I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome,” “Let the Church Roll On,” “Bear Creek Blues,” “March Winds Goin’ Blow My Blues Away” and “Lonesome For You.” But of these songs, where Lesley Riddle was responsible for either “writing” or “collecting” the song, he was given a songwriting credit.

Lesley Riddle’s legacy was perhaps underplayed in early Carter Family histories and retrospectives, though it was never “erased” as Shaboozey characterized in his tweet about his AMA’s side-eyed glance at Megan Moroney. The reason Lesley Riddle’s role in country music’s “Big Bang,” a.k.a. “The Bristol Sessions” has been underplayed, is because Lesley Riddle wasn’t there, didn’t participate, and wasn’t even associated with The Carter Family at that time.

Even a Rolling Stone article that attempts to justify Shaboozey’s characterization states, “While the Carter Family have long been considered country music royalty, it was only in the Sixties that Riddle began to get his due, and in recent years that his story has become more widely known.” But the Sixties were sixty years ago. That means for at least sixty years, the Lesley Riddle legacy has been there. But Riddle continues to be cited in viral “gotcha” social media moments as if nobody knows about him, and it’s up to internet sleuths to uncover his legacy and the conspiracy to keep Lesley Riddle down.

If you go to the Birthplace of Country Music museum in Bristol, Lesley Riddle is mentioned in one of the displays, even though again, he did not participate in The Bristol Sessions, and was not known by The Carter Family at that time.

Lesley Riddle in the Birthplace of Country Music Museum


When Saving Country Music attended the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion festival in 2024 and toured the museum, an inquiry was made about Lesley Riddle to one of the staff members. “The prospects of a one-legged Black man becoming a star in the American south at that time were probably pretty slim,” was the response. “Lesley Riddle definitely deserves to be a part of The Carter Family legacy. But there’s a good chance his name would have never been known if The Carter Family didn’t take him under their wing.”

If there is anyone erasing the Lesley Riddle legacy, it’s is opportunistic individuals that want to portray themselves as uncovering a hidden or erased history. But when you look in the actual histories of country music, read the books, and go to the museums, contributors like Lesley Riddle are there. In fact, it’s easier to convince people of country music’s Black legacy by explaining its always been there, even if unnecessarily downplayed, as opposed to saying it was erased and needs to be re-instituted.

For further information on how the Black history in country music is chronicled and the effort by some modern revisionists to erase it, you can read the article, “Beyoncé Songs Spur False Claims Country Music Erased its Black History.”

One of the best examples of this un-erasable history is the “The Sources of Country Music” painting. Commissioned by the Country Music Association, or CMA in 1973, and painted by legendary American artist Thomas Hart Benton, it was meant to become the crown jewel of the CMA’s Hall of Fame collection, and has since become that very thing. The painting hangs as the centerpiece and the first thing you see as you enter the Hall of Fame rotunda where the plaques of all the official Hall of Fame inductees adorn the walls.

One aspect about the painting that is most important is the inclusion of the African American character playing a banjo. For Thomas Benton and the Hall of Fame, there was never any question that the Black influence in country music must be included in any portrayal of the genre’s origins.

In fact, one of the often-overlooked features of the painting even by many historians and interpreters of the work are four more African Americans just over the shoulder of the black banjo player. They are standing on the shore of the river, with their hands outstretched towards the steamboat.


With all due respect to Shaboozey, he has a dubious history himself of getting country music history correct. He once infamously said, “You can’t have a country song without 12-string. You can’t have bluegrass without 12-string guitar.” He also has a dubious history in how his one popular track “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” came to prominence.

But he’s not entirely wrong to question the statement, “The Carter Family basically invented country music.” It’s not because Lesley Riddle, “Black people,” Beyoncé, or anyone else “invented” country music. It’s because from the beginning, it was a blending of various influences, primarily springing from Scots/Irish immigrants from Appalachia, but influenced from Black minstrel players from the Carolinas and beyond, Black blues players from the Deep South, and the banjo’s African origins.

If you read most any country history book, go to most country music museums, watch a country music documentary like the 8-part Ken Burns series, you’ll see this displayed and spoken to.

The effort these days is not by White supremacists attempting to erase the Black legacy from country music. It’s often Black activists looking to eradicate the White legacy in country, which will not only be ineffective because it’s incorrect, it will only inspire more racism as country music looks to move on from its past issues with race. The other effort is to ensconce established pop and hip-hop stars like Beyoncé at the top of the country genre at the expense of its native performers, Black or White.

Here are the most popular responses to Shaboozey’s tweets after the American Music Awards.


But even these responses fly in the face of Shaboozey’s own statement, “The real history of country music is about people coming together despite their differences, and embracing and celebrating the things that make us alike.”

The above opinions are extreme social media takes of course, but they do illustrate how some, if not many Black fans who followed Beyoncé’s and Shaboozey’s foray into country music feel after being misled by online canards and grandstanding by music Stans. They also speak to a very real effort by some in intellectual circles to attempt to either eradicate country music culture, or co-opt it for political purposes, symbolized by a recent op/ed in The New York Times.

But the music itself tells a completely different story. Not one individual artist or band “invented” country music, neither can it be traced back to one single moment, or even one specific segment of people.

Country music came about from the love, the struggles, and the experiences of all of America’s rural people rising up in song, and proving itself so compelling, it felt imperative that it must be recorded, and shared with all the peoples of the earth for the universal messages and sentiments it carries, and how it can confer joy to anyone, irrespective of who they are, or where they’re from.

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