We’re less than a week away from a who’s who of mainstream country music piling into Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena for the 58th Annual CMA Awards.
While there’s still a decent amount to complain about, the nominees for this year’s CMA’s do have a few bright spots.
Zach Top is up for New Artist of the Year (along with Mitchell Tenpenny, who has released 4 studio albums and a Christmas record since 2018, which really makes you wonder how they determine who’s a “new” artist). Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, and Chris Stapleton are up for the coveted Entertainer of the Year while Cody Johnson, Stapleton, and Combs are up for album of the year.
Sure, there’s a bunch of nominations that I don’t like or think belong and I’ll be a bit upset when Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help” wins everything it possibly can, but there’s another bright spot that put a huge smile on my face since the nomination list came out.
CMA Vocal Group of the Year
The Red Clay Strays are up for their first ever CMA Award in the Vocal Group of the Year category, a huge accomplishment for the Alabama based band that only released their debut record, Moment of Truth, in 2022 and their sophomore album, Made by These Moments, in July of this year. The Red Clay Strays are maybe the best example of social media blowing up a deserving band. There’s no shortage of artists thrust into fame by a viral moment or two but what differentiates the Strays is that they’re good, like really freaking good, not to mention that they have one of the most unique sounds in all of music right now, mixing country with rock and blues in an old-timey way that’s truly hypnotic.
Other Vocal Group nominees are the usual suspects: Lady A, Little Big Town, Zac Brown Band, and Old Dominion.
Can we finally say that literally the entire category outside the Red Clay Strays is only there because there’s so few bands in the mainstream these days? Of course, the powers that be could give some credit to groups like Flatland Cavalry (who did get an ACM nomination earlier this year), Turnpike Troubadours, 49 Winchester and Silverada, but we all know that will never happen, so I guess we should just be happy when one of the good guys gets a nod.
CMA Award Streaks
Vocal Group of the Year has long been dominated by Old Dominion, who has won each of the last six years and is looking for a record breaking 7th straight win. Funny (or tragically) enough, some other acts that are again nominated this year also have some impressive winning streaks. Little Big Town won 6 straight times from 2012 to 2017 and Lady A won three times in a row from 2009 to 2011. Before that, Rascal Flatts won 6 straight years from 2003 to 2008, meaning that in the last 21 years, only 4 groups have won this award… Sure looks to me like this category is a bit phony.
I have nothing personally against Old Dominion. They seem like fine guys, their music is largely unmemorable but inoffensive… like the kind of thing you’d hear when you walk into a Bath & Body Works or some other random store in a shopping mall. Easy listening. It makes perfect sense why middle-aged suburban women absolutely love them, but are we really going to sit here and pretend they’re one of the best country bands in history? That would be the logical conclusion of taking home so much hardware, even if you discount what the “experts” tell you is good.
Why Red Clay Strays Should Win?
Old Dominion didn’t even release new music this year, just a compilation of greatest hits titled Odies But Goodies, which looks like someone misspelled “oldies” but the cover art was already printed. Sure, they toured a bit but it certainly wasn’t as intense a schedule as, oh I don’t know, say the Red Clay Strays, who also just so happened to release an album that will absolutely go down as one of the most influential in modern genre history.
Made By These Moments is shaping up to be a Traveller type record. When Stapleton released it back in 2015, it stumbled out of the gate and it wasn’t until Justin Timberlake joined him for a “Tennessee Whiskey” performance at the CMAs that the general public realized exactly what they had at their fingertips. The sonic difference between Moments and what most country fans are accustomed too can take a little time to understand (I know it did for me) but the CMAs have a chance here to launch another one-of-a-kind act into the stratosphere.
You can’t listen to “Wanna Be Loved”, “I’m Still Fine”, or their biggest hit “Wondering Why” with open ears and not realize there’s something special happening with this band and I believe it’s partially due to them not working within the creatively stifling Nashville machine. They don’t have scheduled writing times with so-and-so from their label, aren’t forced to alter their sound to make it more radio friendly, and actually collaborate as a band (imagine that) in the studio, giving each song a lived in, authentic feel, that can only come from the singular focus of a few close knit people.
Give the Red Clay Strays the Vocal Group of the Year award. Not just because I like them and want the outsiders to put one in the win column, but because they truly do deserve it and if the CMA’s want to maintain a shred of credibility, which has long been slipping away from them, it’s time to put an end to Old Dominion’s death-grip on country group awards.
The Red Clay Strays for CMA Vocal Group of the Year or we riot… Okay, not actually riot but we’ll certainly make a lot of noise on the internet…
