It Country Music Association announced his nominees for 58th Annual Country Music Association Awardswith one notable absence. Cowboy Cartercountry coded Beyonce album, whose lead single, “Texas Hold’Emwas Billboard Hot Country No. 1:received zero nomination. Instead, multiple CMA winners Morgan Wallen, Cody Johnson and Chris Stapleton are once again leading the pack ahead of the Nov. 20 ceremony in Nashville. Also, some Beyoncé’s fansin particular, Post Malone and Shabuzzi received nominations not for their work Cowboy Carter.
No word yet on whether Beyoncé has submitted her music for consideration. In recent years, including artists drake and: The Weeknd: have disguised The Grammy Awards citing institutional bias and Beyoncé’s contact with the CMA is no secret. He alluded to it when explaining its impetus Cowboy Carter, writingin March that the album was “born out of an experience I had years ago where I didn’t feel welcome… and it was very clear that I wasn’t”.
The line was widely interpreted as a nod to the 2016 CMAs, where her performance of “Dad’s lessons“, with the chickscaused a sharper response than any other pop star, for example Justin Timberlake a year ago. “Through that experience,” Beyoncé added in her March post, “I delved deeper into the history of country music and delved into our rich musical archives.”
Despite the song’s great success, “Texas Hold ‘Em” received little airplay at country radio, and the album Dolly Parton the cover, “Jolene”, suffered a similar fate. The apparent CMAs dovetail with the perception, noted by Beyoncé herself and explored in the conversation surrounding the album, that country music’s gatekeepers want to turn their institutions into exclusive clubs that are unwelcoming to outsiders and especially black women.
Neither CMA nor Beyoncé’s reps responded to requests for additional information.
