The 2024 CMT Awards Were Absolutely TERRIBLE
I saw Jason Aldean perform on the 2024 CMT Awards, and now I’m a RACIST!
Aldean performed in front of the 27-story University of Texas Tower in Austin, and murdered it harder than Charles Joseph Whitman. Seems strange to make the backdrop for performances a notorious location of a historic killing. But after the video for “Try That in a Small Town,” Jason Aldean’s an old hand at this.
Kelsea Ballerini hosted the 2024 CMT Awards, and starred in 17 commercials. Apparently there’s no skin product she won’t whore. Ballerini also performed a medley of her hit on what truly felt like a historically bad CMT Awards, which everyone should remember, DON’T REALLY MATTER.
Tyler Childers is a “Breakthrough Artist?” This is how the mainstream demeans artists not on the radio. Tyler Childers currently has over 11.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Jason Aldean has 9 million. Sam Hunt has 7.7 million. Tyler Childers is one of the biggest artists in all of country music. “Breakthrough Artist” my ass, CMTs.
And where was Bey? She’s the biggest thing in country music right now.
I’ll tell you why, RACISM!
The only possible explanation of why Beyoncé was not there was exclusion by CMT due to the fact that Beyoncé is Black. All members of the Beyhive like me should boycott CMT forevermore, and divebomb/shame all of CMT’s social media properties incessantly until it makes the nightly news. Let’s do this girls!
Melissa Etheridge performed briefly, though Kristen Hall would have been a better pick to represent country music’s LGBT community. But Sugarland was in the house, so that would have been a little awkward.
Neeedtobreathe needasteelguitar. Or a fiddle, or something with some bit of twang. They sound like a boy band.
Gotta love how Trisha Yearwood got some meaningless humanitarian award, and Garth Brooks couldn’t be bothered to pull himself out of planning meetings for his newest box set to show a little support. Garth knows the CMTs don’t mean shit.
Jelly Roll has more alligator tears even than Garth Brooks, and that’s saying something. Jelly’s acceptance speeches come with the thunder of a shake shack preacher, and the sincerity of a snake oil salesman.
Warren Zeiders is one of the coolest new artists in country music. Just ask him.
Bailey Zimmerman is who basic bitches think Tyler Childers is.
I’ve never heard of Dasha, or her manufactured viral hit “Austin.” Hopefully I never will again.
Megan Moroney is one of the most promising up-and-coming women in mainstream country, but she was more pitchy than Roger Clemens, who was there to tribute his friend Toby Keith. “No Caller ID?” We can be sure she was using no Autotune.
Sam Hunt somehow was even more off key than Megan Moroney. It was truly embarrassing. Mainstream country music just doesn’t have good singers. It’s a big, big problem.
But there were some old school legends in the house that older fans could recognize and cheer for… like James Van Der Beek, and Roger Clemens, who was once accused of being in adulterous relationship with country singer Mindy McCready when she was only 15—an accusation McCready said, “I cannot refute.”
Classy, CMTs. Classy.
How Little Big Town is still a going concern is anyone’s guess. The same goes for Sugarland, and their LGBT exclusionary, fatality stage collapsing past. The CMTs had the brilliant idea of smashing them together to sing a Phil Collins song. The result was something even less than their dubious, ill-fitting parts. Retire already LBT and Sugarland. You have no fans.
Brooks & Dunn paid tribute to Toby Keith by performing “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and it should’ve been one of the bright spots. But if we’re being honest, if felt very mid as seat fillers brought in from the University of Texas to make the undersold Moody Arena look full appeared stupefied why there was dad music on the stage.
Then Kix Brooks straight up train wrecked the lyrics in the 2nd chorus, and if it wasn’t for Ronnie Dunn, the entire tribute may have gone completely off the rails.
Trisha Yearwood had a solid performance of her new tune “Put It in a Song,” with Erin Enderlin and Jim “Moose” Brown playing acoustic guitars behind her. It was one of the few if only bright spots.
Keith Urban can kick rocks in his George Jones T-shirt, and posing in front of the “Keep Austin Country” sign. What a sick, sadistic irony this all is. Seriously, get this shit out of A-town before Dale Watson shows up and kicks everyone’s ass in front of God and everybody.
The CMT Awards sponsored by Walt Disney World don’t do anything to keep Austin country, or weird. It should never be allowed within the Austin City Limits ever again.
We come to this place for magic… and @KeithUrban's 20th #CMTAwards performance!! ✨
— CMT (@CMT) April 6, 2024
Don’t miss it, TOMORROW at 8/7c on @CBS!
📸: @CatherinePowell pic.twitter.com/SavPOSH6dQ
April 7, 2024 @ 8:07 pm
Someone has to ask, so it might as well be me: How were the commercials?
April 7, 2024 @ 8:11 pm
Every commercial I paid attention to had Kelsea Ballerini in it. Apparently she’s the Ronald McDonald of country. I guess that would make Jelly Roll Grimace.
April 8, 2024 @ 7:06 am
The blonde lady in LBT could be one of the Fry Guys.
May 4, 2024 @ 5:11 pm
Cody Johnson was the only good artist there
April 8, 2024 @ 8:37 pm
I agree that was the worst Cmt awards ever. First off you couldn’t understand the live signers, the background colors were hideous, the some of the winners I’ve never heard of or their songs. Glad Jellyroll won a few. Just saying it just didn’t flow smoothly.
April 9, 2024 @ 6:51 am
Wouldn’t have went to it if I had free tickets. Last few years it’s been horible, can’t stand to watch. Sorry for the negativity but give me something with people I know.
April 7, 2024 @ 8:16 pm
Can’t wait for my coworkers to tell me how great it was.
April 7, 2024 @ 8:20 pm
Ballerini? That doesn’t sound like a country music name. /s
April 8, 2024 @ 9:50 am
…says the guy with the fancy vacuum cleaner’s name.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:13 am
The only bad part of the show was Toby’s tribute. Omg they messed his great songs up so bad. I felt sorry for the family. Why didn’t you get great country singers like Jason Aldean, Kenny chesney, George strait, Garth Brooks they would have done Toby proud. ????????
April 8, 2024 @ 10:11 am
I’m so tired of hearing about Beyonce is not treated fairly by country music . But, she is not country. She is not going to win everything. She needs to appreciate what she has and have her husband sit down. She doesn’t have the country talent and that cowboy hat isn’t going to give it to her.
Time to grow up
April 8, 2024 @ 11:46 am
I’m guessing that you’re not familiar with the term “facetious.”
June 26, 2024 @ 3:05 pm
We are, are you? And what’s with the quotes, unsure of the words meaning? Just like you have the right to troll and make a stupid comment, others have a right to voice their opinion.
April 8, 2024 @ 12:17 pm
It’s her fans who are the true scourge of the planet, not her. They like to think of themselves as killer bees, but they’re more like mosquitoes.
June 26, 2024 @ 3:00 pm
THANK YOU! Can the country stars attend the NAACP awards?
June 26, 2024 @ 3:08 pm
THANK YOU! There are special awards shows only she can attend and a country singer would Never be invited to. But we don’t talk about that.
April 8, 2024 @ 2:12 pm
She’s Italian. It’s an Italian surname
April 9, 2024 @ 11:27 pm
yeah that’s sure but i’m italian i live in Rome 48 yrs old and never met anybody named Ballerini.
April 7, 2024 @ 8:22 pm
Previous article CMT awards don’t matter and next article they sucked but I still wasted my time watching something that don’t matter.
April 7, 2024 @ 8:27 pm
Pretty much. If it was nondescript, I’d have nothing to say. That was terrible. Let ’em hear it.
April 8, 2024 @ 9:10 am
Why watch?
I feel like, while they share the same name, the genre of music you cover on this blog is not the same genre the CMT awards are for.
Pop Country and whatever we want to call the music you cover in this blog (indie country, Alt-Country, Traditional country etc. etc.) are just not the same genre. Acknowleging that would remove a lot of the tension. Its like Rock music shares a lineage with blues, but its not blues. Pop-Country shares a lineage with the country music you cover, but its not the same music.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:18 am
I’m not interested in preaching to a choir. I am interested in growing the flock of country music fans who are actively rejecting the version of “country music” the CMT Awards present. This is why I watch. That is why I criticize. That is why I publish articles like this, to reach the disenfranchised and present them with better options. This is the entire point of this website, and what it was built for.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:00 am
Fair enough.
I do feel like real problem here is lexicoligical. You have two genres trying use the same word.
One of those genres is nausiatingly shit, but if people want to listen to it, go ahead.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:06 am
But people don’t want to listen to it. They listen to it because they don’t know they have better options. This is why there has been massive flight from the mainstream in recent years, and massive support behind artists like Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan. This is also one of the reasons the CMTs nominated these artists, hoping to tap into their fan bases. The independent is the mainstream now, and CMT is trying to hold on to a dinosaur interpretation of the genre, a dinosaur business model, while also trying to implement quickly deteriorating DEI policies, putting them at odds with just about everybody.
April 8, 2024 @ 2:26 pm
Way to go Trigger, stay strong..stay country. Thought it was only me that felt last night was off. Bless Y’all????????????????
April 8, 2024 @ 9:37 am
Very disappointed! Enough of Miss KB! She doesn’t have the experience to carry the show by herself. Alot of pushing of new unknown faces. Who are they? They were not show cased very well?? Get back to Country Roots, please.
April 10, 2024 @ 12:46 pm
Country music is going to pot , a bunch of disrespectful people that call them selves Country artist Look like a Circus act
Except for Tisha Yearwood a true Country artist and a Lady
I might have missed a couple I finally turned it off
Kelsie B. Looked like a street walker so disrespectful to CMA!!
April 10, 2024 @ 12:51 pm
Country music is going to pot , a bunch of disrespectful people that call them selves Country so disrespectful to CMA!!
April 7, 2024 @ 8:28 pm
May want to go back and listen. Ronnie messed up the lyrics as well. Then got lost and out of rhythm. That was before Kix. Then just after Kix he messed up again. Was Kix worse, yes. Was Ronnie better? No
April 7, 2024 @ 8:36 pm
I went back and watched it, and I can understand how there are different interpretations of what happened. But my interpretation is that Kix came into the second chorus either singing a verse or something else. This threw off Ronnie, who yes, stumbled himself for a bit, but then came back in with the right lyric and got everything back on track while Kix laid out.
Either way, it was regrettable, especially for a tribute, and especially since this was one of the few things to look forward to on the evening for actual country fans.
April 7, 2024 @ 9:05 pm
I had to go look it up. I thought B&D both did fine on the lyrics to Shoulda Been a Cowboy. A live performance is not a recording studio. Artists often approximate the lyrics in live performances–even to their own songs. I didn’t detect anything glaringly wrong. If anything, I thought that Ronnie should have altered the lyric at the end and maybe thrown in the name Toby, along with Gene and Roy, since they were doing this as a tribute.
The only negative in my mind was that it seemed that Kix’s voice is shot and he couldn’t sing. I don’t know if that’s a permanent condition or if this was just a bad night for him.
April 7, 2024 @ 9:31 pm
Look, how bad it was is in the eye of the beholder. The second pass through the chorus was clearly off for the first few phrases. But overall, the whole performance just didn’t feel right. And yes, Kix’s voice didn’t sound good at all. If you thought it was fine, fair enough. But I can tell you that if you go to social media, especially under the video CMT posted of it, Brooks & Dunn are getting DRILLED. It’s a bloodbath. In fact, I was surprised how negative the sentiment was. Folks just wanted the best for Toby Keith, and they didn’t feel like they got it.
April 7, 2024 @ 9:51 pm
Ronnie Dunn seems like a man of integrity. How can he stand to be on stage with Brooks?
April 7, 2024 @ 10:29 pm
@indian– Huh? Ronnie Dunn had something like 20 #1 hits, sold something like 30 million albums and made God-knows how many million dollars and made the Country Music H-o-F teamed up with Brooks. Would he have preferred to do it solo? Maybe, but the solo male country star market was highly competitive in the ’90s. Ronnie did try to end the act and go out on his own in the 2000s, but he found out that he needed the B&D brand. He couldn’t tour arenas and top Vegas casinos as Ronnie Dunn.
It’s a bit late for Dunn to say that “integrity” prevents him from taking the stage with Kix.
April 8, 2024 @ 9:16 am
Kix has always been in the wY. Mr irrelevant. Always has been. Him and Kristen Bush should form a duet. I hate it for Ronnie. He has the chops bur meat cleaver Kix is annoying at best.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:58 pm
Sorry but what you state is factually incorrect. Ronnie completely messed up the first verse – both lyrically and melodically. They never recovered from that.
B&D are my favourite artists – usually great performers – no idea what went wrong here!
April 8, 2024 @ 2:16 pm
Look, I really have no desire to argue over this. The performance was bad overall. I took the first verse from Ronnie as him trying to be creative and sing off time from the original melody like Willie Nelson loves to do. But maybe he was fumbling over the words. It just didn’t go well at all.
April 9, 2024 @ 3:50 pm
I grew up watching the CMT Awards when there were many singers that performed and more categories announced. Paid tribute to the country singers we lost since last year.
The producers changed the CMT Awards at the last minute to pay tribute to Toby Keith. Willy Nelson son’s Lukas Nelson and Toby close friend Sammy Hagar gave an amazing tribute. B&D poor choice singers and poor song choice for Lainey Wilson. The looks on Toby Keith’s kids faces when B&D messed up on the lyrics acted like last minute fill in. Producers of the CMT Awards this years was by far the worst year the producers performed paying tribute to Toby Keith. 1 Ceremonial mentioned this Thursday April 11th on CMT cable channel paying tribute to Toby Keith. Hopefully they don’t mess it up again or make worse.
April 11, 2024 @ 5:16 pm
I thought Sammy Hagar was the best thing by far!! He sounded good and at least had a relationship with Toby and a personal story. That’s what tributes need.
Cheers to Sammy!
April 7, 2024 @ 8:28 pm
Love the review! I didn’t watch but felt like I unfortunately did. Had me laughing!
April 7, 2024 @ 8:35 pm
Great review. Thanks for taking one for the team by watching that unnatural disaster for us. Maybe try staring at the eclipse tomorrow to burn the images out of your eyes.
April 7, 2024 @ 8:37 pm
Was horrible. Trisha’s song was great. We thought Lainey Wilson was amazing in everything she did.
April 9, 2024 @ 6:07 pm
I was embarrassed for country music and Kelsey Ballerini for the way she was dressed.
She looked like a slut and no model for our young women ????
April 10, 2024 @ 12:36 pm
Agree 100% she disrespected COUNTRY MUSIC
She looked like a hooker
April 7, 2024 @ 8:41 pm
Soiled my pants laughin at this review, great stuff! Did I watch the show? Nah,
April 7, 2024 @ 8:43 pm
Generally not a fan of your musings, but this? Spot on. Made my laugh loud enough that I scared the bejeebers out of our corgi who was so unimpressed with every performance save for two that she howled almost continuously…which was still infinitely better than some of those vocals tonight.
April 7, 2024 @ 8:50 pm
While waiting on the final Curb episode I watched maybe 3 to 5 minutes of the beginning and who listens watches and buys this shit, what the fuck is a jelly roll and a bellarini?
“and he went home with that bottle in his hand”
April 7, 2024 @ 8:52 pm
What a HUGE disappointment! I remember when country “had class” – no more. I’m surprised that Tricia Yearwood and Keith Urban had anything to do with this circus. Kelsea Ballerini – lose the “slut wear” – you are a great singer and entertainer – don’t diminish yourself.
April 8, 2024 @ 3:05 am
The slut wear is all she has.
April 7, 2024 @ 9:04 pm
Man this pretty negative and cynical….and yet not nearly enough.
April 7, 2024 @ 9:18 pm
Sammy Hagar done pretty good.
April 8, 2024 @ 8:22 am
Yeah, Sammy Hagar deserves an “atta boy.”
He did great!
April 7, 2024 @ 9:31 pm
Jellyroll not being sure of the words to should’ve been a cowboy was a highlight.
April 7, 2024 @ 10:02 pm
I really enjoy how Trig keeps things positive. Someone had to settle for the store brand Cap’n Crunch this morning.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:56 pm
This is the very worst cmt award show and Kelsey Ballerina is a joke and dresses like trash.
April 8, 2024 @ 12:11 am
Dale Watson is genuine country, and a down to earth good guy, and he’s great for fans and music in general!
April 8, 2024 @ 12:41 am
This review is definitely superior to the show.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:57 am
…did someone get a little triggered yesterday?
April 8, 2024 @ 3:40 am
“Aldean performed in front of the 27-story University of Texas Tower in Austin, and murdered it harder than Charles Joseph Whitman.”
That’s pretty harsh considering the backstory, but an appropriate analogy.
“… out of A-town before Dale Watson shows up and kicks everyone’s ass in front of God and everybody.”
Friends and fellow viewers of this site. Do you at this point still believe Country as it is known today is Salvageable? We do have Dale Watson to thank for the creation of Ameripolitan. So there is always that option.
To quote from the parable of the lighthouse.
It far outlived its original intent. Originally constructed to warn ships of a perilous shoreline, now functions as an upscale resort for travelers, meanwhile, an additional lighthouse was constructed to replace the originals’ intent. Soon, the entire shoreline was adorned with resorts with no room for a lighthouse. Eventually, a mighty storm lambasted the shore, and that night a large cruise ship carrying thousands of passengers crashed upon the rocks, leaving few survivors. The shoreline would never recover from this devastation and soon became deserted.
Moral of the story: Don’t abandon your original intent.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:54 am
“Friends and fellow viewers of this site. Do you at this point still believe Country as it is known today is Salvageable?”
Country music is arguably in the best shape it has been in 20 years. The CMT Awards are the outlier, and don’t represent anything except Viacom’s skewed vision of what they believe country music should be, while only playing with half a deck of cards because most performers won’t bother to even show up to this C-level awards show.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:46 pm
Than you for replying Trigger. I see you still have hope with the genre. I have long given up any hope unless by some miraculous events that Chapel Hart, Nick Shoulders or Kimmi Bitter take the stage, I can’t really call most of the artists represented by the current chart metrics country. I do agree with you that there is a huge insurgency with Up and coming artists, but the sad part is they have no representation at the table. Until this changes, more artists like Jellyroll will continue to dominate the musical landscape. Please prove me wrong, I love country but it needs to be TRUE country.
April 8, 2024 @ 4:45 am
I have not watched this show in a while. Thought I would give it a shot. Terrible, flat comedy attempts. It was the all Ballerini show with a few badly produced songs thrown in. Turned it off. Will not watch again. Who MCs a show in lingerie?
April 8, 2024 @ 5:57 am
A few points:
—I don’t understand the Dasha hate in this review. Austin is a great song and Dasha is an exciting new talent who will hopefully bring more eyes to country music.
—I’ve seen Megan live twice, and it was clear to me there were sound issues with the CMTs, not the performers.
—LBT and Sugarland have no fans? Explain the just-announced arena tour…
April 8, 2024 @ 6:58 am
There very well could have been sound issues, and that may have been why multiple artists struggled so bad. All I can do is remark on the performances. Megan did better when she came out to sing with the guy from Old Dominion. The first performance sounded terrible all the way around. I Like Megan Moroney. I’ve rooted for her here. It didn’t sound good. Good singers can fight through tough situations.
We’ll check the ticket sales of that LBT/Sugarland tour. Perhaps there enough wine moms to fill the lower bowls. We’ll see.
April 9, 2024 @ 4:48 pm
George Jones once sang “Who gonna fill those shoes” He was an alcoholic and wife beater. His songs are still being played today on radios and Spotify around the world. Jason Aldean being slammed up against the wall for performing where the producers of CMT put him and his band. Jason could say no, not there. CMT producers would find another singer for the area. Who that singer get the same backlash as Aldean was getting? “Try that in a small town” won’t fly in my small hometown. We are surrounded by 1 shot, 1 kill Veterans who will put a boot in your ass. Who will stand up protect our Country at all costs. Stand beside our brothers and sisters. Bare that cross with honor because freedom don’t come from. I’m an American soldier and I stand up to Jason Aldean. Don’t “Try this in my hometown” Veterans are always on a mission always. What a shitty CMT night it was. Bring on the summertime true country music concerts
April 9, 2024 @ 4:51 pm
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sarcasm
April 8, 2024 @ 6:12 am
Shame on NTB. They have been a band I liked through the years with some excellent albums, but appear to have sold their soul to the Nashville devil.
April 8, 2024 @ 7:33 am
Everything through Rivers in the Wasteland was excellent. I thought their quality dipped for a while after that, but it’s been better the last few years. The Cave and By and By are great songs off their last album, and I like their song with Carly Pearce. I do hate to see them working with Old Dominion, even though I don’t necessarily hate that song. They’ve had plenty of songs that would’ve been fine for a country awards show, but that one ain’t it
April 8, 2024 @ 6:24 am
Wow. Terrible show. Why is everybody trying to further ruin country music ? Who is “Dasha” and where in the world did she come from ? Why did she get to preform and not Ashley McBride?? NOT A FAN ! The Toby Keith “tribute”? Lainey Wilson was the only one I heard even in tune. WHY did they not have Jason Aldean and Cody Johnson do a medley of his songs ? Hope it was Ballerini’s last hosting gig but for sure it’s my last CMT award show.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:40 am
I thought it was very distasteful, know that fashion change but it is sure sending a bad message to young girls and women put some clothes on and rely on your talent .
April 8, 2024 @ 6:58 am
Murdered it harder than Charles Whitman? No ha-ha on that one for me.
April 8, 2024 @ 7:01 am
Needtobreathe isn’t a country act. They are are a Christian rock band (though don’t call them that “because labels and genres are too limiting”) that has been around over 20 years, won tons of Christian music awards (plus a Grammy nom) and sold quite a few records, so rest assured they won’t be adding steel guitars or doing anything else to change their sound. I guess they were at the CMT Awards because they have opened for Taylor Swift (before she went progressive pop star), Tim McGraw and other country acts on tours.
As for Bailey Zimmerman, be fair. The guy is only in country because US record companies abandoned rock 30 years ago – except for Tori Amos and Indigo Girls wannabes like boygenius – and stopped developing male pop singers 15 years ago. So it was either pretend to be a country singer or try to make a living as a straight white guy doing background vocals for female pop acts. I am sure you know which of those options offers the most promising way to make a living. Direct your complaints to a music industry who needs to let guys like Zimmerman be Robert Palmer, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins again.
Zimmerman went country for the same reason that Bob Dylan fan Post Malone went into black pop genres that he not only has a low opinion of but stated so publicly: https://www.rap-up.com/2017/11/21/post-malone-criticized-for-comments-on-hip-hop/. Miley Cyrus? Same, and pulled some of the same nonsense that Malone did: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a28181675/nicki-minaj-miley-cyrus-feud-timeline/ Despite fully knowing this, Beyonce chose Malone and Cyrus for her black power antiracism statement Cowboy Carter. So yeah, Beyonce’s a total fraud who is only out for herself. Not that anyone in the mainstream media is willing to admit it.
April 8, 2024 @ 7:07 am
Trigger, as a member of the country music community and a fellow artist I want to thank you for taking time out of your life that you can’t get back to watch and research this CMT dumpster fire for the rest of us l.
This event comes on the heels of the news that Beyoncé has the number one country album in country music. it highlights what’s wrong with the ideals of the record companies that push and pull with their mighty strings in the back doors offices in LA and Nashville . While Bey can sing, and she uses acoustical instruments on her country record, this event has illustrated that what really matters in country music is fame. At the next CMT awards, Beyoncé will dominate if she even shows up.
But again, thank you Trigger for your sacrifice. While you were watching the CMT awards I was watching Cold Mountain and feeding my raccoons .
April 8, 2024 @ 7:09 am
Can we go back to 70s country, and stay there forever?
April 8, 2024 @ 9:29 am
Worst CMA show ever! Most of the females, especially Ballerina, seemed to be trying to show the the most skin! If you have talent you don’t have to rely on being half naked to perform. That seems to be Ballerina’s goal whenever she performs. She was terrible as the MC and hopefully we won’t have to see her again! Country music as country music fans have known it is a thing of the past. ????????????
April 8, 2024 @ 11:03 am
Eh.
Give me the early 90s. The Outlaw era was too musically similar.
April 8, 2024 @ 7:41 am
Morgan Wallen is a fine upstanding young man.
April 8, 2024 @ 8:13 am
Unpopular opinion: Although Brooks and Dunn, whom I normally love, were quite pitchy in the Toby Keith tribute, Lainey Wilson absolutely BUTCHERED “How Do You Like Me Now?!?”. It wasn’t as bad and as embarrassing as the Joe Diffie tribute at the CMAs last year (seriously, though, fuck Morgan Wallen.), but man, it wasn’t good. I personally think Luke Combs would have been a much better pick for the Toby Keith tribute instead of Lainey. Luke would have done Toby’s songs the justice they deserve.
I thought Megan done fine, No Caller ID is a great song. Cody Johnson done a fine job, as well.
Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean — what an embarrassment. Jelly Roll is also an embarrassment.
Hopefully Dasha won’t be the next big star. She’ll have her TikTok-manufactured hit and fade into obscurity after her fifteen minutes of fame are up. I don’t think anyone else could be any more generic and boring than she and her music are.
April 8, 2024 @ 8:28 am
I zoned out a few times during….whatever the hell that was last night.
Trigger, did Needtobreathe perform with Old Dominion? I saw them do something with Jordan Davis to hype up a Crossroads episode that will probably never be available on Paramount Plus, as most CMT originals aren’t. I saw Old Dominion with Maroney and NTB with Davis. Maybe I missed something (or misunderstood your post).
Both Brooks and Dunn managed to screw up the Toby tribute in what I’d consider the biggest let down of the evening.
Maroney was alllllll over the place with her pitch in both performances I saw, but her solo performance was worse.
I’ll disagree that LBT and SL have no fans, as I just don’t think it’s true. Last time I saw LBT take the stage opening for Strait, Nissan Stadium was really into them. They’re not exactly my style, but they have fans. Lots of them.
Cody Johnson was the performance highlight of the show for me….and he went on first.
April 8, 2024 @ 8:45 am
Needtobreathe performed with Jordan Davis. I have corrected that.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:29 am
And now for something completely different……Morgan Wallen was arrested last night for throwing a chair off the 6 th floor of Church’s new bar. It landed in front of 2 cops. Who promptly arrested his ass. Guess his handler JJ had the night off. His fans are already defending his dumbed ass.
April 8, 2024 @ 2:48 pm
Didn’t Trigger predict he would do something stupid (again)?
April 8, 2024 @ 4:40 pm
Morgan Wallen is an untalented dumbass hack that continues to screw up, never learning from his mistakes…and water is wet.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:41 am
terrible! it didn’t take long to realize the show was going to revolve around the girls and their stupid clothing. it should have been advertised as three or four girls parading around with dumb clothing on, making stupid comments. obviously, none of them ever heard the real county music legends. it was really bad and a waste of time also an embarrassment to music period. someone has to realize this is not country and it is not wearing non clothing with rhinestones and boots. poor girls.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:54 am
What offended me more than anything else was Keith Urban using a ganjo. Lord no.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:04 am
So, I didn’t miss anything?
Messing up a tribute to a recently deceased artist is inexcusable.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:59 am
Trigger, I just want to say…
…thanks for taking one for the team and watching that anal… err, annual… travesty so that I wouldn’t have to. I am 100% positive that your take on the CMT “Country” Music Awards is not only spot-on, but also likely the only realistic view at all.
Thanks again.
April 8, 2024 @ 12:06 pm
This is amazing. 5 stars. My favorite is when you are in full on rant mode. As a *liberal* I’m so tired of this notion that we have to praise anything and everything done by black people, women, black women even if they do bad things- and if we vary from the performative groupthink, you guessed it… the only explanation is we are racist, sexist, etc. Beyonce’s new album is corny af and so many card-carrying liberals and even long-time Beyonce fans I know also think so but everyone is afraid to say it in public.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:45 pm
Instead of Melissa Etheridge they should have had Brandy Clark. Just sayin’
April 8, 2024 @ 3:32 pm
CMT Awards will matter as long as they serve as an occasion for one of Trigger’s rants. I’m guessing they didn’t have much entertainment value, but this certainly did.
April 8, 2024 @ 5:47 pm
“Kelsea Ballerini hosted the 2024 CMT Awards, and starred in 17 commercials. Apparently there’s no skin product she won’t whore.” Is this supposed to be funny? I guess using “whore” in reference to a woman making $ by starring in commercials is a joke? You’re an ass. There were a lot of attempts at humor, I think, but honestly, the whole thing honestly read like someone bombing HARD at an open mic. You hating the CMT Awards is like Donald Trump hating anything on PBS — like, yeah, you’re not the target audience here. So, really not a point to this other than to find a spot to take some well worn swipes that weren’t deserved in many cases — and I say that as someone who generally loathes radio country and seldom watches anything on CMT besides the Golden Girls.
April 8, 2024 @ 9:40 pm
It was damn funny. Just because you’re offended (likely by everything) doesn’t make it any less funny. Hell, this whole thing was hilarious. Go to your safe space and let all us asses enjoy this. ????
April 9, 2024 @ 11:18 am
Yes, I’m offended by the suggestion that Kelsea Ballerini is a “whore”. If you think that’s okay, Jimmy, you’re as unfunny and sad as he is. My safe space is nice, thanks for mentioning it — not being a total dick and standing up when others are? I like it.
April 9, 2024 @ 11:20 am
Never called Ballerini a “whore.” Celebrities all the time make fun of themselves and each other for “whoring” products in endorsements and commercials. Get over it.
April 10, 2024 @ 11:02 am
Get over it — what an astute response. Par for the course, though — I will say this, I don’t begrudge the side of Twitter that has become a haven for dunking on you. So, maybe I am a little more in favor of people talking shit when said shit is thrown in the right direction.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:46 pm
This show is allegedly “fan voted.” So are you trying to tell me Jelly Roll has this huge fanbase? Something just seems off. Winning three awards, meaningless yes, but are they really fan voted? I didn’t think Jelly has that big a fanbase to give him three wins
April 8, 2024 @ 6:49 pm
The primary issue with fan voted awards is that it doesn’t gauge the popularity of an artist, it just gauges the motivation of an artist to compel their fan base to vote for them. Tyler Childers didn’t even acknowledge his nomination. Jelly Roll and his fan army are out there pushing everyone to vote daily.
And yes, Jelly Roll has a big fan base that has also been made super loyal by all of the media puff pieces that are paraded out daily about him. Chances are your mother is a fan of Jelly Roll, and has fallen for his whole rehabilitation story.
April 8, 2024 @ 9:12 pm
I strongly agree with the opinion that there are no strong voices in country music. Hell almost every female singer sounds the same these days, breathy and with no depth at all. Look at Bailey Zimmerman – his voice has to be heavily propped up by computers to even be listenable. He’s awful live. Might be worth exploring in an article one of these days.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:16 pm
I’m very curious for you to expand your opinions on LBT and Sugarland. I like LBT, and love Nettles’ voice. Funny enough, LBT are headlining the tour this fall, but I guarantee most of the people in the seats will be Sugarland fans.
And I think Jelly Roll is getting corny with all of his Acceptance Preaches. But I also think that’s just who he is. Doesn’t feel inauthentic to me. But I’m open to being proven wrong.
April 9, 2024 @ 1:45 am
Say whatever you want about LBT and Sugarland but at least they can sing and sounded incredible. Can’t say that for most of the rest of the performances.
April 9, 2024 @ 7:15 am
They did sound good … singing a cover of a rock song on a country awards show.
April 9, 2024 @ 2:22 am
As irrelevant as the country music charts?
April 9, 2024 @ 3:44 am
I watched some of the stuff mentioned on YouTube. It reminded me, a European, strongly of the annual EuroVision Song Contest. “Nuff said.
April 9, 2024 @ 6:48 am
There is an insta of Jessi Alexander harmonizing with her daughter while singing No Caller ID,l ( Jessi is a cowriter) whilst the daughter is doing her homework. Jessi is one of the great country vocalists that nobody knows. The best and the brightest are not necessarily the most famous.
April 9, 2024 @ 11:25 am
I find this headline SHOCKING? What? An awards show was terrible?
Hey Trig you watch them so we don’t have to! ROTFLMAO!!!!!
April 9, 2024 @ 9:57 pm
Trigger, I laughed my self into an asthma attack reading your review!
Perhaps Kelsy Ballerini’s wardrobe is hinting to her (probably) upcoming remake of Beyoncé ‘s Bootylicious ?? being that everyone is crossing genres now??
As a matter of fact all the wardrobe selections look like they tore down the drapes and stripped the upholstery off the furniture in a French bordello and made gowns out of it. Dolly and Daisy Duke cringing…
And as for the males, Keith Urban is 56, you would think by now he would get rid if the anime’ hair already?
Brooks and Dunn were “off” but the sound mixing was so bad.
Luke Combs would have been a better fit for the TK tribute. Better voice, better presence,
I did look back at some old CMT awards and ACM and CMA shows from the early 1990s. I can’t believe how things have changed.
Trisha Yearwood. Timeless.
What I am really (not) looking for is next year’s Beyoncé Apocalypse” and all the cloying, fawning and drama that will lead into it.
Certainly a week of disasters an earthquake, an eclipse and now this.
April 10, 2024 @ 8:52 am
Such bull. Beyonce is great at what she does so no, not liking her trying to do country is NOT racist! She would never have received any play time if it weren’t for her name. And Aldean lives near that town, he and his family shop in that town, that location has been used in a lot of ways since those bad days so don’t fall for the media hype about it being racist. But yeah, CMT has lost its way.
April 10, 2024 @ 10:33 am
I’m gonna make a weird take here, but it’s based on my observations of people.
I think the current crop of bad pop country isn’t just by people who don’t know music for people who don’t know music
or even people who don’t know what their better options are
I think it’s people who WANT the rap, hip-hop and pop scenes without the social lawlessness usually associated with those genres.
it’s established that the fans of pop country are suburban people. Rural people either listen to the classic country or other music entirely
and the urban crowd doesn’t listen to any country
SO we’re left with suburban people who like pop music, but not it’s sexual parts, not its drug-related parts, not it’s political parts.
it’s pop-right, for lack of a better term.
it’s the people who openly don’t know music, only know the avengers from the movies, only know pokemon from saturday morning tv. “Porygon-Z, isn’t that an anime?” Incineroar? he looks like the frosted flakes guy
But more importantly, it’s people who ‘Hip-hop? eww that’s for the promiscuous. I’m happily married at 22 to the guy i met in middle school, our kids Branlon and Reva are so cute. Heavy Metal? ew that’s for satanists, I go to church and read out of my trump bible.”
I think it’s less music and more social. it’s people who don’t want country music, they want pop, but not the subject matter.
I don’t think it’s just about not knowing better options, it’s a fear that other options are antithetical to their sense of identity.
April 10, 2024 @ 11:41 am
The slurred words and mispronounced lyrics were actually a touching tribute to Toby’s stage presence. I had some fellow Choctaw tribal members who were hired to guard him during a show where he had a Malania Trump level grasp on the queen’s English. They had to hold a mirror under his nose like an old dog to make sure he was still breathing.
April 10, 2024 @ 1:01 pm
Cody Johnson is the man!
The others should take notes!
Did anyone see this?
“That’s Texas’ serves as the most in-depth love letter to his home yet, with Cody Johnson playfully rattling through a list of things you can only find in TEXAS!”
It was GREAT!
I worked with Cody at the prison and part time at A western wear store!
He has worked for it!
April 10, 2024 @ 3:24 pm
Not to disparage anyone or any side, but I always thought Sugarland was a gay-friendly band.
Nettles was a Janis influenced blues singer in Athens and the other was a rich boarding school dude.
April 10, 2024 @ 7:17 pm
WOW! This write up and some of the responses are a sad JOKE !!!
Really? Why use words like “Racism “, “Whore” , “Boycott”, “Gay-Friendly”?
This is music by great artist’s! There are so
many people that don’t have the privilege of hearing.
Maybe this year’s show wasn’t the best, but
OBVIOUSLY, there are some people that don’t know the history of Country Music. If you did, you wouldn’t be claiming Racism!
Charley Pride
Darius Ruker
Cowboy Troy and so on!
This world has to much negativity. It is possible to have a debate without the negativity and hatred.
April 11, 2024 @ 11:28 am
I believe “Trigger” is an AI generated persona that began in 2015, quite recent to my posts on the internet. Having watched the 2024 CMT Music Awards today, I disagree with Trigger’s review totally. To quote Gayle King “It was a fantastic show” and the best shape it has been in 20 years!. Therefore, Trigger’s assertion that the CMA Award is “…a historically bad CMA Awards, which everyone should remember DON’T REALLY MATTER” is blatantly false. Overall, Cody Johnson did a good job singing “That’s Texas, Old Dominion and Megan Moloney with ” We can’t Break Up Now’. Thanks to the sponsors: “Hilton For The Stay” and “Progressive.” Y’all come back next year. I intend to watch on record time. God bless.
April 13, 2024 @ 8:55 am
Agreed! Worst CMT Awards ever!! It was more like the Jelly Roll Show with side hustle, Kelsea Ballerini. What really made me cringe was the way the performers, with the exception of Lainy Wilson, butchered Toby Keith’s work of art!! I was embarrassed for his family! CMT should have scheduled a little thing called REHEARSALS!!! I have no respect for CMT!!!
April 15, 2024 @ 12:00 pm
Sounds like to me the person who wrote this article is the racist one and has no clue about country because all his concerns are about black people because he is the racist one. Mc dropped
April 15, 2024 @ 12:37 pm
Or, maybe the person who wrote this article was being sarcastic.