You just don’t get explosive moments like this from the CMA Awards anymore. These days the awards shows are all pretty tame (and by that I mean pretty boring). There’s no drama, because nobody wants to ruffle feathers and get a reputation for being a “troublemaker.” So the result is a sanitized, corporate awards show that’s broadcast to fans but is really made for the labels and those in the music industry to pat themselves on the back. Yeah, not really a fan of awards shows. But it hasn’t always been like that. There have been more than a few drama-filled moments from the CMA Awards over the years – like Mary Chapin Carpenter calling out Dwight Yoakam with an unreleased song. While she wasn’t the biggest name on the show at the time (George Strait took home the award for Entertainer of the Year), the “Down At the Twist and Shout” singer decided to make a splash by performing a new song, “Opening Act.” And the lyrics took a shot at some “jackass” in tight jeans that she was opening for – widely assumed to be Dwight Yoakam, who she was on tour with around the time the song was written. Take a look at the lyrics: “I don’t have a hit in the Billboard charts I don’t have a limousine that stretches three blocks Ready to take me from door to door Just like the jackass I’m opening for He doesn’t know me, I’m his opening act. Now I’m not going bald, so I don’t wear a hat Tight jeans don’t fit me, I’m a little too fat I can’t sing like a frog blowing farts through his nose So I don’t expect you’ll like me, but that’s how it goes.” I mean, who else could she be singing about? (And in case you weren’t aware, Dwight Yoakam has a reputation for being kind of an a–hole). Now, we’d never get an unreleased song like this debuted on the CMA Awards these days. And at the time, Carpenter wasn’t exactly eager to perform it during her big moment either – in part because the song was originally even more harsh and had to be toned down for the awards show. But in a move that seems unbelievable these days, producers of the CMA Awards actually pushed for her to perform “Opening Act” – probably because they knew how explosive it would be. Wish they still had balls like that today. Carpenter received a standing ovation for the performance – something that she admitted to Engine 145 that she wasn’t expecting: “When they first asked me, I immediately said ‘no.’ It was a novelty number; I was afraid that it would lose a little bit of bite because there was actually a dirtier version of the song that we did live… but it was a special opportunity and I did it. I’ll always remember that night. Michael Campbell, Ricky Van Shelton’s manager at the time, was there during soundcheck and he was the last person I saw before I went on stage. Right before I went out, I heard him say, ‘That was a nice career you had going there, Carpenter!’ When the audience stood and applauded, I was just flabbergasted.” And she also said that it’s not based on Dwight Yoakam, but rather more than one experience – an experience I’m sure many opening acts can relate to, even today: “If it was written about one person in particular, why did the entire audience relate to it? The entire audience related to it because it’s a universal experience. That’s why it went over, as far as I can tell.” Yeah, not buying it, it was definitely about Dwight Yoakam. This year’s CMA Awards will be broadcast live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on November 19, 2025 at 8/7c on ABC, with Lainey Wilson hosting the 59th annual show.The post CMA Awards 1990: Mary Chapin Carpenter Rips Dwight Yoakam With Unreleased Song “Opening Act” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.