If you’ve so much as grazed the pulse of Nashville proper in the past decade, it would probably take you about five minutes to rack your brain for a shortlist of nominees for the preeminent ceremony in all of country music, the CMA Awards.
Next, it’d probably take you about half that time to recall the names not on that list, and about half a second to realize or remember just how tired and tone deaf these institutionalized attaboys really can be.
Whether it’s leaving Sturgill Simpson off the invite list only for him to busk outside Bridgestone, or dangling the carrot in front of Morgan Wallen’s face for half a decade, there are questionable choices peppered throughout the history of the Country Music Association. But even as ratings freefall and acts off-Broadway pull in more money than their industry darlings, the voters don’t seem to notice, or care.
So after a glance at this year’s list of nominees, a day or two to let the news marinate and a thorough review of the “year” in country music (while abiding by the CMA nomination cutoff of June 30), it’s time to go over a few of the many snubs and make the case for a broader recognition of genre powerhouses. Not just the Nashville socialites that keep the lights on, but the true trailblazers who are continuously breaching the boundaries of what the genre can be.
Vocal Duo of the Year – Muscadine Bloodline
Coming straight off of their fourth studio album, The Coastal Plain, and an upending of their expectations from the general public as a twosome, Muscadine Bloodline hit the ground running into 2025 with their companion record, …And What Was Left Behind. The two exited their own solo tour to join Post Malone on the road, further broadening their fanbase and eventually pushing the deeply unashamed “10-90” to radio waves. Muscadine is now five years into their professional career, two of those with the feasibility for accolades and no recognition in Nashville, and its status as a cult favorite is quickly morphing into a residency in the mainstream. At the same time, voters remain ignorant of the raucous revival stirring right under their noses. With a blend of razor-sharp songwriting, effortlessly impressive musicianship, and a live show known to knock socks off and melt faces, paired with two gold certifications and seven figure streaming numbers on their biggest hits, there is no reason that a crew like Muscadine should be disregarded as anything less than an elite example of the power of the pair.
Vocal Group of the Year – Turnpike Troubadours
Red dirt music receives little to no recognition in these elite circles for reasons unknown to anyone except ballot holders with the power to bring one of the biggest hotbeds of alternative country to a national stage. Aside from tastefully and authentically reviving their signature sound that, in 2025, could be described as a legacy sequel to LPs like Goodbye Normal Street and Diamonds & Gasoline, Turnpike has simply glamorized Oklahoma in a way Ado Annie herself couldn’t have ever dreamt of. Alongside fellow Okie rockers Cross Canadian Ragweed, they effectively turned Stillwater into redneck Woodstock with the four-night “Boys From Oklahoma” stadium showcase on OSU campus, displaying to the nation that these signature sects of a genre are still alive and kicking. Turnpike has not only defined a sound of out-west songwriting for going on two decades, they continue to prove how geographically diverse and commercially in-demand real roots and red dirt music has become amidst a sea of overproduced music for the masses.
Single of the Year – What Kinda Man
If we’re going to give the Oklahomans some love, their brothers (or rivals, depending on who you ask) are also deserving of flowers the Country Music Association failed to bring to the doorstep. Hilariously, Parker McCollum wasn’t nominated for Newcomer of the Year at the CMA Awards until 2022, when the Limestone Kid already had three full LPs under his belt and was a certified hitmaker in Texas circles and across the country. This year, following the release of his self-titled record, a declarative statement should’ve been made on his behalf to mirror the sentiment his career seems to be undertaking. McCollum came out the saloon door swinging with “What Kinda Man” last September, a striking mixture of the singer’s signature style that pushed him into hot act status and his radio-conducive production that’s helped catapult him into bigger and better stages since “Gold Chain Cowboy” cleaned him and dusted him off for a more mainstream audience. While just trailing the current slew of nominees in streaming numbers and boasting a massive stadium and festival tour off the back of the record, it’s the best of both worlds, yet the appreciation of one seems to be nowhere to be found.
Album of the Year – Evangeline vs. The Machine
Here we go, a Nashville darling paired with one of the industry’s favorite producers to tackle themes and sounds primed to push boundaries and make country music cutting-edge. Surely it’ll get some love from a group desperately in need of remaining in touch with its potentially incredibly diverse viewership, right?
Evangeline vs. The Machine doesn’t get enough credit for being one of the biggest swings in the last decade from an established, reputable yet radio-friendly artist firmly planted in the zeitgeist. It’s concise, creative, spellbinding in a way that most records vie for yet never achieve. To ignore material that’s not only refreshing but more importantly challenging is an immense disservice to artistic liberty and the way we reward creativity unbothered by a status quo. Then again, maybe “The Machine” was just mad they got called out by name.
Newcomer of the Year – Ty Myers
Let’s take this last award title as literally as possible and consider that country music’s youngest superstar may also be its most promising. Ty Myers just graduated high school, is still waiting on that first beer, and still has more of a chokehold on the youth’s collective consciousness than most acts twice his age could ever dream of. Immediately, he entered a collective of legendary lovestruck crooners with “Ends of the Earth” in October of 2024, releasing his The Select LP at the turn of the new year to unimaginable critical and commercial praise. He’s been co-signed by some of the biggest names in the business, and realistically can help define the future of a genre that’s finding more inspiration in old Mayer CD’s than Brad Paisley or Willie Nelson records. As his contemporaries with shorter shelf-lives try to cling to a past that’s best days are behind it, Myers continues to rework and retool a genre into something seamless and forward-thinking with every blues-lick and soul-shaking melody.
