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Alan Jackson Not afraid to make a statement.
He certainly had his shot at the Nashville music industry with his 1999 duet with George Strait, “Murder on Music Row.”
But even before that, Alan protested at the 1994 ACM Awards when his Drummer playing without drumsticks After being told he would have to perform with a pre-recorded track. And then in 1999, when the CMA Awards were only going to give the legendary George Jones enough time to play a shortened version of his song “Choice,” Jackson He took matters into his own hands and abruptly stopped his performance of his own song “Pop-A-Top” and began his own performance of “Choice.”
Jackson has also been outspoken about the state of country music, lamenting the loss of the traditional country sound that many grew up on:
“I’m a fan of country music. I feel like it’s going away, the real roots.
It’s always up and down, but usually has a little sag. Now, I feel like it’s getting further away and it makes me sad.”
And country award shows are no exception to the changing country music landscape: In fact, they seem to be leading the charge.
Every year we see these awards trot out pop stars, athletes, celebrities, and actors and actresses who have nothing to do with country music in a failed attempt to reach a larger audience, even though it actually alienates the true fans of country music who are quickly losing interest in the show.
Ahead of the 2016 CMA Awards, Alan Jackson was asked about the trend and his hopes for the 50th anniversary edition of the awards:
“Yeah, they can play some real country music.
But I understand the dang television stations are trying to get ratings, whatever they think, there will be some big event with some other type of artist.
Yeah, hopefully it’ll be a good country music show for a change.”
And that was at least partially the case.
The show opened with country legends (including Jackson) performing some of the biggest country hits of all time – artists like Charlie Daniels, Reba, Randy Travis, Charlie Pride and Vince Gill.
The show even featured Jackson and George Strait performing a duet of their own songs, “Remember When” and “Troubador.”
But the producers of the CMA Awards couldn’t help themselves.
They invited Beyoncé to perform with the Dixie Chicks, a decision that left many scratching their heads on a night that was supposed to celebrate 50 years of the Country Music Awards.
And apparently Alan Jackson wasn’t a fan.
According to a Nashville manager interviewed by Billboard, Jackson stood up from his seat in the front row and left in the middle of the performance:
“Overall the show was great, but in my opinion it seemed out of place and felt forced. It just didn’t fit the night for me when celebrating 50 years, and the Dixie Chicks felt like his backup band, without enough shout to them.
I was sitting behind Alan Jackson, and he actually stood up from the front row and left in the middle of the performance, so I think that speaks volumes for traditional, real country acts.”
Jackson wasn’t the only country artist unhappy with the decision to have a pop artist perform on what was considered “country’s biggest night.” Travis Tritt also took to Twitter to mock and express his displeasure with the decision:
This year’s CMA Awards will take place on Wednesday, November 9 at 8pm/7pm Central, and will be hosted by…Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning. There was no other country artist who could host as well as Luke, right?
I guess we’ll see what other pop artists or celebrities decide to trot out the CMA Awards this year in a failed attempt to boost their ratings.
At least they will honor Alan Jackson…
Justin Moore on the Country Music Awards Show: “If they put country artists on there, they’ll probably get some viewers back”
When it comes to these awards shows, it’s probably beating a dead horse to see actual country artists.
Over the years they’ve scouted pop stars and actors and rappers and just about every celebrity they can think of to try and fix their tanking ratings.
We’ve been saying for years that they should put some real country artists on these shows, and then sit there wondering why no one is watching and why their ratings are so bad that no network even wants to air their shows anymore.
It doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, the ratings are so bad that the ACM Awards had to go from airing on CBS to streaming on Amazon Prime.
And everyone is thinking the same thing: give us real country artists.
But now Justin Moore is saying it.
In a recent episode justin moore podcast, Justin didn’t hold back when talking about the problems with these awards shows:
“If they put country artists there, they’ll probably get some viewers back.
And this is not a knock to everybody else, but why you call it a country music awards show and why you don’t put all the country music artists on it doesn’t make sense.”
propaganda
“Probably about, I don’t know, 10 years ago, they started moving away from country acts — and I don’t mean traditional country, I mean real country artists, whether you’re pop country, rap country, rock country, whatever. .
And they’re celebrities and artists who start bringing in people from outside the genre…and letting them play. Not just show up, play, and it’s knocked out guys like me, Tracy Lawrence, anybody’s name, any artist who isn’t a superstar.”
And he is spot on.
I mean, how many years do they have to lose viewers before they realize that no one is tuning into a country music awards show to see pop collabs and awards presented by Hollywood celebrities?
Justin’s co-host and tour manager JR even gave us tweets that we’ve received from the cast this year. Yellowstone – but none of the actual artists on the soundtrack, except Lainey Wilson and Chris Stapleton.
Give us performances from artists like Justin Moore, Tyler Childers, Ryan Bingham, Morgan Wade, Cody Johnson, John Purdy. Or give us legends like Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Reba…I can name a hundred country artists I’d love to see another collaboration with some pop artist or some cheesy rendition from “insert random Hollywood celebrity here”.
Sure, this year we got Dolly Parton hosting, but then when it came time to perform her biggest song, they called…Kelly Clarkson. When you’ve got Dolly right there.
And Justin thinks (and we agree) that this is exactly why their ratings are tanking:
“They thought, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get ratings and the bumpkins in this country can’t get our ratings.’
And what they don’t know is complete bullshit.
All they did was taste sour people. They tend to move away from having country artists, more pop artists, actors, celebrities, etc. where [CBS] Losing so much money that they are throwing it away entirely.
They tried to be nice thinking ‘we know what we’re doing. People want to see it.’
No, country music fans want to see country music artists. That’s what they want to see. So they shoot themselves in the foot.”
He is spot on. The industry as a whole has taken its fans for granted, and awards shows think they can return to their “glory days” without going back to what worked before, by appealing to fans outside the genre at the expense of artists like Justin who deserve to be there.
Justin has always been a guy who’s been noticeably absent from these awards shows – especially for a major-label artist with the kind of success he’s had. (Remember when she was nominated for Best New Artist in 2014, five years after her debut album and when she already had four #1 singles under her belt?)
According to Justin, there’s a simple explanation for why he’s never been a part of these award shows: he’s never been invited.
“People ask me all the time, why don’t I go to award shows? For this reason. Because no one asks me to be a part of them.
I’m just being completely honest with you. Not trying to upset anyone but we’ve sold 5 million albums, had 10 number ones on the radio and maybe 20 total hit records and I’ve been to an award show twice and another once. That’s it. duration Because they never asked to be a part of it.”
And anyone who thinks Justin has a chip on his shoulder about awards shows because he’s not invited? He’s got a message for them, too: You’re right.
“Anyone out there who picks this up and writes a story and says, ‘It’s just sour grapes,’ you’re right it’s sour grapes. We deserve to be a part of that.
And I don’t just mean ‘we’ by me. There are a hundred other works that deserve to be a part of it.”
I think Justin is absolutely right to be upset. They are so focused on “genre expansion” that they forget the genre itself. And it shows the rating.
Justin sums up the whole thing with just one sentence.
“That’s why you lost all your ratings: because you forgot the condition of the flyover.”
Now I’m sure Justin’s comments probably ruffled some feathers, and they were picked up by these same other sites where you can see what these artists wore on the red carpet or promote the latest pop collaboration that’s blowing up the country charts. .
But Justin knows who’s saying the same thing about these awards shows he’s promoting now:
“Take it, Whiskey Riff, go ahead. I love you guys.”
We are with you Justin. And this is different from many other sites, we have always been.
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