The WORST “Country” Songs of 2024

We’ve run down the Song of the Year nominees, the Single of the Year nominees, as well as the Album of the Year nominees for 2024. Now it’s time to give the WORST offerings in “country” music their fair due.
We’ve run down the Song of the Year nominees, the Single of the Year nominees, as well as the Album of the Year nominees for 2024. Now it’s time to give the WORST offerings in “country” music their fair due.
After a 30-second taste, I determined I’d rather ingest an Almond Joy laced with a razor blade, or put out a flaming bag of poo on my front porch in a brand new pair of $1,800 Lucchese boots than be subjected to this song.
The Buckeye Country Superfest has just revealed their latest lineup, and it couldn’t be going worse for the AEG-promoted event, at least according to the feedback from fans. Crowned by Kane Brown and Jelly Roll…
The 2024 ACM Awards had many pondering the question, is it better for an awards show to be bad for the inadvertent entertainment value as opposed to being so boring you want to gouge your eyeballs out?
Just like many of the other details in the reporting on Beyoncé and country music, the proclamations that country radio initially rejected Beyoncé’s singles are verifiably false. On the contrary, country radio embraced “Texas Hold “Em.”
Rapper T-Pain recently made some statements that have the music world in a stir. T-Pain claims he’s helped to write some country songs in the past, but left his name out of the credits due to racism.
Matt McGinn was named SESAC’s Country Songwriter of the Year in both 2018 and 2022. He’s now been charged with two felony counts and one misdemeanor stemming from an incident that occurred on October 26th.
Yes, there was actually a country music awards show on Thursday night (9-28). But unless you are a massive Dan + Shay fan or just a glutton for punishment, you probably didn’t even notice or know about it.
After the significant support the country music industry gave to the career of Jimmie Allen, it has nothing to show for it as his career implodes due to sexual assault allegations.
The 2023 CMT Awards could very well go down in country music history as a significant moment, but it won’t be for the reasons the producers of the presentation or their proponents in the media hoped for, or will purport it to be. And no, we’re not just talking about the polarizing political moments…
This weekend, Police and Fire personnel had large swaths of downtown Austin cordoned off due to a mass casualty/hazardous exposure event, also known as the CMT Awards. The barriers and checkpoints weren’t there to keep freeloaders out, it was to keep the grotesque infection of pop country quarantined.
After NBC Universal purchased a 30% stake in the Grand Ole Opry’s parent company Ryman Hospitality in 2022, you knew there would be an effort to cross-pollinate the two companies for better or worse. Lo and behold, come September we will now have the “People’s Choice Country Awards.”
On December 18th after Zach Bryan had three of his songs featured on Season 5, Episode 7 of the Paramount series Yellowstone, singer and songwriter Rich O’Toole took to social media to say that Zach’s song “Motorcycle Drive By” had borrowed/stolen the guitar/melody part from his song “Take My Heart” released in 2014.
Susan Lucci is the name people love to cite when it comes to someone who’s accrued a long string of nominations for a certain award without ever actually winning it. But legendary country music steel guitarist Paul Franklin actually has Susan Lucci beat, and by more than a decade.
Ever since video leaked of Morgan Wallen using the ‘N’ word on camera on January 31st, 2021, the situation has been broadly mischaracterized by the media and others looking to exploit the situation as opposed to giving it the accurate portrayal such an important incident deserves.
Though the film means well, and is generally well-made with superb cinematography and high production value, the approach and information conveyed in the film is problematic to say the least, actively participating in erasing the legacy of Black country artists in a film that purports to be championing them.
Country music is country music, and the best definition of what country music is, is that you know it when you hear it. It’s self-evident. But the genre has birthed many subgenres, many stylistic movements over the years, and at times has seen a splintering and Balkanization.
Chapel Hart have been around for a while now, originally forming in 2014 and releasing their first of two LPs in 2019. They are also one of the most egregious victims of discrimination in country music. No, not just because they are Black, because they are country.
It’s a cool program the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion has put together, with local bands opening for big-named acts all summer. But apparently when the team for Maren Morris caught wind that there would be a local act playing on the Hazy Little Stage, they cited a “no local openers” clause.
If Kane Brown loves his woman like he loves country music as he says in his new song, that means he’s sleeping with her sister and gave them both a case of chlamydia that he contracted from some floozie he picked up in a bar. “Toxic” to say the least.
Many independent country music fans and Americana nerds will never admit to it, but the simple fact is that mainstream country music has been on a painfully slow, but palpable improvement track since about 2015 when Bro-Country hit its peak.
I know what you’re going to say. “NeW yOrK CiTY!” like that guy in the old Pace Picante Sauce commercial. Or if you pride yourself in having any sort of semblance of taste, maybe you’re wondering why anyone in 2021 would still be listening to mainstream country radio at all.
So often identity-based media coverage and awards are not about the artists themselves. These media members, outlets, and awards institutions use these artists as tokens and sometimes unwitting pawns to signal their virtue to the public and their peers in the industry.
Breland is back, and collaborating closely with Keith Urban in the hopes of giving him some credibility in country’s mainstream. Jokes on him though, because Keith Urban has no credibility to lend. Don’t believe me, just recall when he accidentally won Entertainer of the Year in 2018.