Dolly Parton’s passing on August 25th, 2026 was way too significant to ever try to attempt to do her legacy justice in some sort of passing segment on the 2026 CMA Awards coming up in November. So she’s getting her own special.
Only seven other people have received the award, and Alan Jackson is only the fourth artist. George Jones won the award in 2015 posthumously, as did Merle Haggard in 2016. Marty Stuart also won the award in 2007. “That’s pretty good company there with two of my heroes of all time, George and Merle,” Alan Jackson said.
Country Music Hall of Famer, Bluegrass Hall of Famer, performer, executive, songwriter, and general country music advocate Mac Wiseman has passed away. He was 93-years-old, and was one of the last living links to country music’s golden era. He died on Sunday, February 24th.
Political affiliations aside, Mike Huckabee may have been the most qualified individual in America for the position on the CMA Foundation he was appointed to. But none of this mattered to an expressly slim yet vociferous minority within the country music industry, and an especially politically-bias part of the country music press corps.
A bevy of headlines from numerous country music media sources incensed about the restrictions being put on media emerged in the aftermath of the CMA asking media to not focus on the Las Vegas tragedy or politics in the CMA red carpet, cascading into the internet fury we so regularly see in the current political climate.
Screw me, but I just don’t have a strong opinion about this thing one way or the other. Sometimes that happens. If you think this song and video is amazing, then awesome. If you think it’s stupid, I can see that perspective too. In the end it’s kind of a wash for me.
It has become patently obvious, especially over the last few years, that country music exists in two completely different worlds. One is the traditional world, where the way country music sounds is in close proximity to the way it has always sounded. And the other is Top 40 or mainstream country, which in the last few years has become the home for a hodgepodge of musical influences.
When the CMA Awards nominees were announced on Wednesday September 3rd, one of the most high-profile snubs in years occurred when Jason Aldean was left in the shade with zero nominations. As one of country music’s few stadium draws, and as the reigning Male Vocalist of the Year of the rival ACM Awards, the snub seemed somewhat curious.
On Wednesday morning (9-3) the nominations for the 2014 CMA Awards were unveiled, including the nominees for the CMA’s National Broadcast Media Personality, of which apparently Bobby Bones though he was a shoe-in for. And when his name didn’t show up on the ballot, he took to Twitter to bitch like the spoiled, self-entitled, self-centered prick he is.
On Wednesday morning (9-3), the nominees for the 48th Annual CMA Awards were announced on ABC’s Good Morning America and through a CMA Live stream. The 2014 CMA Awards will happen on Wednesday November 5th on ABC, and will be hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. Leading all nominees with nine is Miranda Lambert.
Though Taylor Swift leaving country music could very much be seen as a victory from the Saving Country Music perspective, to the country music industry perspective, they just lost this generations biggest music star, and an money-making powerhouse. And the cultural and economic impact of this development cannot be overstated.
It’s been a working theory for years here at Saving Country Music that country is constantly trying to apologize for itself, and explain away all of the stereotypes of the genre to garner wider acceptance. Country spends all of its energy trying prove that it’s not a bunch of rednecks and racists and old people’s music, instead of educating people on the beauty of country
“What I love about CMA Music Fest, it reflects where country music is, you know?” Dierks Bentley says. “It’s a young, current, hip thing that’s happening that deserves to be in a downtown city center that’s new and growing and feels vibrant and just feels … represents the music properly. You know, this is not like your grandfather’s country music anymore.”
One of the big stories involving the back end of country music in 2014 has been the potential formation of a brand new radio format to give a home to the older artists quickly being shuffled off of mainstream radio in the movement towards youth. The big question that remains is how the new format for older country music could take shape.
The black eye of the 2013 CMA Awards may not have been an over-the-top performance, but the choice by ABC to censor a line from the Kacey Musgraves song “Follow Your Arrow” that goes “roll up a joint.” As Kacey performed her latest single, the clearly-edited audio did little to shield the ears of impressionable listeners, and did more to peak the curiosity of viewers, while eroding the message of the song itself.
On August 15th, the plans for the upcoming Outlaw Country Music Hall of Fame and an accompanying Outlaw Music Association were made public. The announcement stimulated a lot of speculation about what direction the upcoming Hall of Fame would take, but not many serious answers. So Saving Country Music reached out to Gary “Sarge” Sargeant, the spearhead of the Outlaw Country Hall of Fame.
The reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year and reality TV personality Blake Shelton made some disparaging remarks about traditional country fans in a recent interview with GAC as part of their Backstory series. “Nobody wants to listen to their grandpa’s music. And I don’t care how many of these old farts around Nashville going, “My God, that ain’t country!” Well that’s because you don’t buy records anymore, jackass.”
Just like how Taylor Swift’s big 2009 sweep of the awards caused a dramatic pop-oriented shift in the genre, an Aldean sweep could cause a shift to Aldean’s calling cards of checklist songs and country rap. And a win for the song “Dirt Road Anthem” would all but make the formation of the mono-genre complete.
Remember back when Taylor Swift won the CMA for Entertainer of the Year? We thought it couldn’t get worse for country music. There was a lot of surmising of where country music might go next after that win. Would there be a traditionalist backlash? Would country become even more pop oriented to try to mimic […]
We love to paint pop country with a broad brush around here, which may not always be fair. Think about it: sure we might consider two artists like Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley pop country, but the degree of how much pop compared to country they are, or even their overall talent level can be […]
I would much rather be writing an album review, or highlighting a new artist. But since the 19-year-old Taylor Swift took home an unprecedented four CMA’s, including Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year, this website has been flooded with traffic, similar to what Rush Limbaugh probably experienced after Obama’s win, which […]
Tonight (11-6) Taylor Swift will be the host and musical guest of Saturday Night Live. Insert your favorite vomit joke here. If I desired, I could operate a daily blog on how Taylor is either not country, or how her handlers exemplify greed beyond all. Just this week a controversy brewed about how the new […]
What, you thought I was kidding when I said Taylor Swift was now #1 in my crosshairs, didn’t you? DIDN’T YOU? And them some criticized me when I wrote about how the Kanye/Taylor MTV Incident might have been staged, because the issue was “so yesterday.” And others worried that Saving Country Music was going to […]
I really hate harping on this whole Taylor Swift, Kanye West embrolio. But I feel the need to state in full why some have the opinion that the moment might have been staged. Some have asserted this as an opinion, but that opinion is based on facts and a documented history from MTV and Taylor […]