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Whiskey Riff: Garth, Willie Never Won CMA Male Vocalist
By @sharedot · · 6 pages
- Country Folk
- Cma Awards
Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson and Kenny Chesney are among seven country legends who never won the CMA's Male Vocalist of the Year.
The Snub List Ahead of the 60th CMAs
With the 60th annual CMA Awards set to air live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 18th, Whiskey Riff's Brennen Kelly published a list of seven country artists who, per the outlet, surprisingly never won Male Vocalist of the Year: Willie Nelson, Eric Church, Kenny Chesney, Garth Brooks, Hank Williams Jr., Dierks Bentley and Morgan Wallen. Whiskey Riff frames the piece as a companion to its previous look at ten country artists who never took home a single CMA Award, arguing that some of the genre's biggest acts won bigger trophies while missing this one category entirely. The piece arrives as buzz builds around a nomination field that, per Whiskey Riff, sees Ella Langley, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves leading across the 12 major categories, with Chris Stapleton, Cody Johnson and Stephen Wilson Jr. among the top-nominated men.
Brooks, Chesney and Nelson: Iconic but Empty-Handed
Whiskey Riff argues the numbers make the omissions baffling. The outlet notes Garth Brooks is the second-highest-selling artist in country music history with 200.5 million U.S. units sold and the fifth-most-awarded artist in CMA history with 14 wins, including a record seven Entertainer of the Year trophies — yet he went 0-for-5 in Male Vocalist, losing four straight from 1990 to 1993 and again in 1998. Kenny Chesney, whom Whiskey Riff credits with 33 #1 hits, 12 CMA wins, four Entertainer of the Year trophies and last year's Country Music Hall of Fame induction, is likewise 0-for-9 in the category from 2002 through 2011. Willie Nelson, whom the outlet calls a candidate for country's greatest artist ever, has 10 CMA wins on 47 nominations but went seven times nominated without a Male Vocalist win between 1976 and 1983, despite winning his only Entertainer of the Year in 1979.
Wallen, Church and Bentley Join the Zero Club
The modern-era names carry their own sting, per Whiskey Riff. The outlet reports Morgan Wallen — described as the biggest country artist of the past half-decade — is 0-for-4 in Male Vocalist, losing to Chris Stapleton and most recently reigning winner Cody Johnson, and did not even receive a nomination this year; Whiskey Riff reads that as evidence of a clear CMA bias rather than a judgment on his artistry. Eric Church, whom the site calls an enigma who influenced megastars like Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs, went a baffling 0-for-9 from 2012 to 2022 despite winning Entertainer of the Year in 2020. Dierks Bentley, credited with 22 #1 hits and four ACM Awards, is likewise 0-for-9 from 2006 to 2021, and Hank Williams Jr. went 0-for-4 from 1985 to 1988 while winning back-to-back Entertainer of the Year in 1987 and 1988.
The Stakes for November's Two Award Nights
The discussion lands amid a crowded awards season in Nashville. The night before, on November 17th, BMI will honor songwriter Jeffrey Steele as its BMI Icon at the 74th annual BMI Country Awards, where it will also reveal the Country Songwriter, Song and Publisher of the Year for the year's 50 most-performed country songs. BMI's Nashville VP of Creative Clay Bradley called Steele "a titan of modern storytelling whose catalog has shaped the sound of country music over the last three decades," citing his two BMI Country Songwriter of the Year wins and his mentorship of the next generation of creators.