Seems like the CMA has been having a lot of conversations with artists this week.
Rodney Atkins announced this afternoon that he and his wife, Rose, will walk the red carpet and attend the CMA Awards next week, after revealing over the weekend that his request had initially been denied by the Country Music Association.
Of course the whole controversy started last week when ’90s country icon Sammy Kershaw revealed that his request to walk the red carpet at the 60th Annual CMA Awards had been denied. Fans – and many of his fellow artists – were outraged and rushed to Kershaw’s defense, calling out the organization for disrespecting artists who paved the way for today’s country stars.
Amid the outrage, the “Watching You” singer revealed that he had also been turned away by the CMA, with a stark reminder to the organization that claims to protect the history of country music:
“Country music should never get above its raisin’.”
Well the organization’s first attempt at damage control on Monday did little to quiet the criticism. But on Tuesday, Kershaw revealed that he had received what he called a “sincere, heartfelt apology” from the organization, along with an invitation to attend the ceremony and walk the red carpet.
Kershaw announced this afternoon that he had decided to accept the invitation and will walk the red carpet and attend the awards ceremony, and Atkins left no doubt where he would be next Wednesday when he revealed that he has also received an apology from the CMA.
In his statement, Atkins expressed his appreciation to fans for speaking out on his behalf:
“After some good conversations between our team and the CMA, Rose and I have decided we’ll be walking the red carpet and attending this year’s awards.
I’m grateful to the CMA for hearing us out, and I can’t thank y’all enough for all the love and support. Once again, you reminded me just how powerful country music fans can be when they speak up.
I definitely don’t want to stay stuck on this. Life’s too short, and the days are long, but the years are short.
Looking forward to a great night celebrating country music with old friends and new ones.
Now I’ve just gotta find a red-carpet-worthy ball cap.”
And he joked on Instagram that the “red carpet just got redneck’er.”
Of course it’s great that the CMA made things right with Sammy and Rodney, but it seems the organization has burned plenty of bridges with artists over the years after several others, including Stella Parton and former Little Texas frontman (and current member of The Frontmen) Tim Rushlow also expressed their frustration with how they’ve been treated.
And one of the most common suggestions from fans was that the CMA needs to focus more on having artists attend the ceremony instead of influencers and others from outside country music. (Country artists Mark Chesnutt and Meghan Patrick also said the same thing in their comments on the situation).
It’s something we’ve been begging for here at Whiskey Riff for a while. Stop with the pop artists, cross-genre collabs, influencers, athletes, actors, and everything else they’ve been trying in an attempt to bring in new viewers, and get the attention back on country music. Based on the outcry, it seems like more country fans would tune in to see Sammy Kershaw than whichever TikTok star they’re planning on bringing in (and make no mistake, they’ll be on the red carpet on Wednesday).
Hopefully the organization learned a lesson from the entire controversy, but given that we saw a similar controversy when George Jones felt disrespected by the CMA all the way back in 1999 and we’re still dealing with this today, I’ll have to wait to see it before I believe it.
