Brad Lassey

This is so sad and infuriating. Country music icon Sammy Kershaw wanted to walk the red carpet with his wife at the upcoming 60th CMA Awards to celebrate six decades of country music history. He was one of country music’s reliable hitmakers of the 1990s, racking up 15 top 20 entries, eleven of which went top ten with his biggest chart hit being the two-week #1, “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful” in 1993. Personally, “Cadillac Style” and “Yard Sale” are my favorites. He is not only a member of the Country Music Association (CMA), but he was also the CMA Horizon Award nominee in 1993 along with then-newcomers Tracy Lawrence, John Michael Montgomery, and Trisha Yearwood, but lost to Mark Chesnutt. Despite these facts and requesting to walk the red carpet at the ceremony (something he doesn’t get to do often), the CMA denied it, as they prioritize current format stars / hitmakers. It was nice to see some veteran artists like Doug Stone, Mark Chesnutt, Terri Clark, John Rich, and Jake Owen stand up for him on social media, as well as a few of the hot artists of today including Riley Green (a nominee this year), Carly Pearce, and Meghan Patrick express disappointment with the CMA for once again neglecting the industry icons who paved the path for them. This isn’t the first time that the CMAs have done this. In 1999, George Jones was asked to perform an abbreviated version of his comeback hit, “Choices,” which was nominated for Single of the Year. Jones felt disrespected (he wanted to sing the entire song), so he stayed home and watched it on TV. In response, Alan Jackson, who was scheduled to perform his hit “Pop a Top,” stopped midway through his performance and broke into “Choices” as a tribute to Jones and a public rebuke of the CMA’s treatment of one of country music’s greatest legends. Jackson exited the stage to a standing ovation. It’d be awesome if one of the scheduled performers at this year’s upcoming ceremony on the 18th pulled a similar stunt. After all, the ‘90s icons are the musical heroes to today’s top artists.