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Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, Riley Green… Why Are Some Of The Most-Nominated Country Stars Not Performing At The ACMs?
Happy ACM Awards day.
Today, Frisco, Texas, will be hustling and bustling as country music’s elite. The stars will get glitzed and glammed for their red carpet appearances before heading into the Ford Center for the 60th Annual ACM Awards. This year’s show will be hosted by the redheaded icon, Reba McEntire, who just celebrated her 50th year in country music.
So tonight, we celebrate the milestone of the award show and the milestone of the “Fancy” singer. And what better way to celebrate than by cracking jokes, watching stellar performances, and handing out awards to deserving artists?
This year, there are a few stand-out artists who racked up the awards. Ella Langley leads the pack with eight nominations, having already won the New Female Artist of the Year award and Visual Media Event of the Year for her duet with Riley Green, “You Look Like You Love Me.” She’s also received nominations for Single of the Year, Song of the Year, and Female Artist of the Year, among others.
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Among the other leaders, Morgan Wallen, Cody Johnson, and Lainey Wilson are each nominated for seven awards, while Chris Stapleton has six nominations, including Entertainer of the Year. Post Malone and Riley Green each have 5.
As for performers during the show, viewers can expect to see performances from Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton, Clint Black, Wynonna Judd, Eric Church, Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, Megan Maroney, Zach Top, Lainey Wilson, Shaboozey, and many more.
While this list of performers is stellar, one trend among these artists selected to perform should be pointed out. The highly nominated female performers all have slots on stage, but not all of the highly nominated male performers were awarded a performance.
Morgan Wallen is the most nominated artist without a performance slot. With his new record, I’m The Problem, around the corner from being released, this would have been a phenomenal press opportunity for him to hit the stage. However, given that he did not attend the CMA Awards (or hardly acknowledges the Entertainer of the Year Award), there is a high chance he might not participate in the ACM Awards either.
But if we expand the scope, many artists performing have fewer nominations than Post Malone or Riley Green, some have none at all. While there’s no public explanation for why certain performers are picked, maybe they were asked and just declined, it does seem interesting that some of highest-nominated artists won’t be performing.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m HERE for legends like Alan Jackson, Wynonna Judd, Clint Black, and the ACM’s crown jewel, Miranda Lambert, performing. Given their illustrious careers, these artists deserve to be featured on the list of performers. Newcomers like Zach Top, who won New Male Artist of the Year, also deserve a spotlight to showcase the direction in which country music is moving.
But if the Academy picks performers based on nominations, why are Shaboozey, the Backstreet Boys, and Rascal Flatts getting performance slots? I’d much rather listen to Riley Green, Morgan Wallen, or Post Malone through my TV speakers than the non-country “country” song Gary LeVox teased. Or the Backstreet Boys return to the ACM Awards stage—one time was enough.
Of course, adding these names goes back to the argument that country music award shows feel the need to include pop artists to appeal to non-country fans. Justin Moore described it best on an episode of the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, noting that the looping in of pop and other artists often turns off country fans from the awards shows.
“As more people have gotten a say so in how these productions go on, and they’re further away from country music, it’s like ‘Oh, we need to get so-and-so for ratings. We need to get an actress, we need to get a model, we need to get a football player.’
Country music fans want to see country music artists. They just want to see country artists. That’s why they tune into these shows. And the fact that they don’t put country acts on these shows is why their ratings are failing.”
Don’t get me wrong, these award shows, both in terms of nominations and performers, have gotten a lot better in the past few years as mainstream country in general has gotten better, but I hope that artists like Post Malone and Riley Green make some surprise appearances tonight on stage because they are really hitting the prime of their careers. If you truly want some crossover appeal, Post Malone is the perfect artist who caters to pop-country and non-country fans who tune into the awards show while still featuring the genre’s traditional roots in his music. As for Riley Green, given the sensational year he and Ella Langley had with their hit duets “YLLYLM” and “Don’t Mind If I Do,” I think not featuring him as a performer was a massive miss for the ACM Awards.
While the jury is still out on Morgan Wallen’s attendance at the awards, we do know that Green and Malone are in the DFW Metroplex… we’ll see.
You can tune into the 60th Annual ACM Awards tonight, May 8th, on Prime Video at 8 PM Eastern Time.
The post Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, Riley Green… Why Are Some Of The Most-Nominated Country Stars Not Performing At The ACMs? first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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