The Academy of Country Music Awards have released their list of nominees for their 58th Annual ACM Awards - and for every artist that was more or less expected to show up in certain categories, there are others that were considered locks but were shut out - and still others who were surprise nominees. Let's start with the list of snubs:
- Jelly Roll - the rapper/rocker-turned-country-star had a huge night just two weeks ago, scoring three big wins at the CMT Music Awards; he also shot to #1 on the country charts with his very first single, "Son Of A Sinner" - but he's nowhere to be found on the list of nominees - at least this year.
- Maren Morris - after six straight years of being nominated for female artist of the year (and scoring a win in that category in 2020), she was completely shut out yesterday when nominations were announced.
- Thomas Rhett - much like Morris, Rhett has been nominated for male entertainer of the year for the last six years - but also, left off the list of nominees this year. He did get one nod - as co-writer for Cole Swindell's hit "She Had Me At 'Heads Carolina'."
- Zach Bryan - arguably one of the hottest rising stars in country music (even though he's still been largely absent from country radio to this point), the singer has only one nomination, for new male artist of the year, while the single that even ended up on Barack Obama's 2022 "Favorite Songs" list ("Something In The Orange") received zero nominations.
- Carrie Underwood - while she is in the running for entertainer of the year, the snub part comes in the category of female artist of the year - a category in which she was nominated fifteen years running (2006-2020), but she has now gone three straight years without a nomination in that category. Entertainer of the year, yes - but female artist of the year, no. Kind of a head-scratcher.
Those are some of the snubs. Now for the surprises:
- Jason Aldean - he's won fifteen ACM Awards over the course of his career, including artist of the decade in 2018. He’s even won entertainer of the year three consecutive years, 2015-2017. However, he hasn't been nominated in the category since 2018 - until this year, where it's his only ACM nomination.
- Cole Swindell - Cole's had a long and successful career - not as long and successful as Aldean's, but still long and successful - so it may come as a surprise that the singer has only two ACM award nominations (and one win) to show for all his hard work. That could change this year, as Swindell is up for five ACM awards - plenty of reason to make some extra space in that trophy case.
- Kane Brown and The War & Treaty - while Kane has won quite a few awards over the years, this is the first time he is up for entertainer of the year - making it the first time in fifty years a non-Caucasian has been nominated for the award (the last time: Charley Pride in 1972). And the husband-and-wife duo The War & Treaty received their first ACM nomination yesterday, making it the first time ever a Black duo was up for the country duo of the year award.
- Ashley Gorley - this one's a little behind-the-scenes, but still a surprise. Gorley is a prolific songwriter with over 50 #1 country songs he's written or co-written. But he is just a songwriter - not a performer, which makes his accomplishment significant. Gorley has three nominations in the song of the year category for co-writing Chris Stapleton’s "You Should Probably Leave," Cole Swindell’s "She Had Me at 'Heads Carolina'" and Morgan Wallen’s "Sand in My Boots." He is the only non-performing songwriter to ever land three songs in the category in one year. Songwriter/artists Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson both did it, in 1968 and 1971, respectively.
Some of these nominees become winners May 11th when the 58th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards airs live from Frisco, Texas.
Source: Billboard