As 2024 CMA Awards’ First-Round Voting Opens Today, Here Are 11 Storylines We’ll Be Watching

At the CMA Awards on Nov. 11, 2020, Morgan Wallen was crowned new artist of the year. Less than three months later, he was caught on video using a racial slur, an incident which almost certainly cost him some major awards. He hasn’t won at the CMAs since his new artist win nearly four years ago, though he has since received two nominations each for entertainer of the year, male vocalist of the year and album of the year. Will CMA voters be ready to embrace him now? This year, he’s a leading contender for entertainer of the year, male vocalist of the year, and single of the year and musical event of the year for Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” on which he is featured.

If Wallen wants CMA voters to see that he’s matured since 2020, he did himself no favors with his highly-publicized chair-throwing incident off the roof of Eric Church’s bar on April 7.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter topped Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart for four weeks and appears to be a strong candidate for an album of the year nod. Beyoncé would the first Black woman to receive a CMA nod for album of the year as a lead artist. Only one Black man has been nominated in the category as a lead artist. That’s Charley Pride, who was nominated four times (without ever winning) – with Charley Pride Live and in Person (1969), Just Plain Charley (1970), Charley Pride Sings Heart Songs (1972) and There’s a Little Bit of Hank in Me (1980), the latter a tribute album to Hank Williams.

Note: Ten Black artists were featured on Rhythm, Country and Blues, a genre-blending Various Artists album which landed an album of the year nod in 1994. They were The Staple Singers, Al Green, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Sam Moore, Aaron Neville, The Pointer Sisters, Allen Toussaint and Natalie Cole.

Lainey Wilson, 32, who won entertainer of the year last year, wasn’t even born the last time a woman won back-to-back awards for entertainer of the year. Barbara Mandrell achieved the feat in 1980-81. Taylor Swift is the only other woman to win twice in the category, but her wins in 2009 and 2011 weren’t consecutive. Could Wilson tie Mandrell’s record this year? Stay tuned.

Chris Stapleton has won male vocalist of the year a record seven times. Will he extend his record to eight wins? He’s far ahead of the pack in terms of most wins in the category. Runners-up, with five wins each, are Vince Gill, George Strait and Blake Shelton.

Stapleton holds another CMA record, though it’s probably one he would like to shed: He has amassed the most nominations for entertainer of the year (seven) without a win. Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood are currently tied for second place on the list of artists with the most nominations without a win (six).

Stapleton is also a leading candidate in the album of the year category with Starting Over. The release, which entered Top Country Albums at No. 1 in November, is vying to become his fifth consecutive studio album to be nominated in that category – his entire solo discography to date.

Last year, Bryan received his first CMA nomination – new artist of the year. (He lost to Jelly Roll.) Will Bryan step up to an album of the year nod for Zach Bryan and/or a single of the year nod? He has two strong candidates for the latter award: “I Remember Everything” (featuring Kacey Musgraves) from Zach Bryan and “Pink Skies,” from his new album The Great American Bar Scene.

Shaboozey’s debut album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, reached No. 2 on Top Country Albums. The multi-genre smash “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has reached as No. 12 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, and is still climbing. Should Shaboozey win new artist of the year, he’d be the third Black artist to win in that category, following Darius Rucker (2009) and Jimmie Allen (2021).

Two other Black artists were nominated in that category (or the horizon award, as the award was known from it inception in 1981 through 2007). Mickey Guyton was nominated in 2021 (and lost to Allen). Ray Charles (yep, that Ray Charles) was nominated in 1985 (and lost to Sawyer Brown).

This requires some explanation: Charles had been a legend for decades by 1985, but the CMA allowed him to compete for the horizon award because he had a hit with the duets collection Friendship, which topped Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and spawned a No. 1 hit on Hot Country Songs, “Seven Spanish Angels,” with Willie Nelson.

I’m not sure it made sense to allow a legend to compete for a new artist award (and take a nomination away from an actual new artist), but the CMA was probably trying to make up for the way the country music industry in 1962 didn’t embrace Charles’ groundbreaking album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Incredibly, none of the songs from that album, including such classics as “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and “You Don’t Know Me,” made Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. By contrast, five songs from Friendship made the top 20. Even so, putting Charles up for a new artist award in 1985 was a reach.

Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well entered Top Country Albums at No. 1 in March. If the album is nominated for album of the year, it will put the acclaimed singer back in the running for that marquee category after she missed the cut with her 2021 album, Star-Crossed. Before that miss, she was nominated with all three of her previous non-holiday studio albums, Same Trailer Different Park, Pageant Material and Golden Hour (which won).

Luke Combs’ Fathers & Sons entered Top Country Albums at No. 2 in June, unable to dislodge Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time from the top spot. It’s vying to become Combs’ fourth consecutive album to receive a CMA nod for album of the year, following What You See Is What You Get, Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old. The first two of these albums won the award.

Old Dominion has won vocal group of the year the last six years running. If they win again in November, they’ll become the only the second group to win seven or more times in that category, following The Statler Brothers, which won nine times from 1972-84. Moreover, Old Dominion would become the first group to ever win seven years in a row. The Statlers won six straight.

The War and Treaty were nominated for vocal duo of the year for the first time last year. That award has gone to either Brothers Osborne or Dan + Shay for the last eight years. If enough voters think it’s time to shake things up a little, The War and Treaty, comprised of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, could become history-makers. They would be the first Black duo to win in that category — and the third married couple, following Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White (1987) and Thompson Square, comprised of Keifer and Shawna Thompson (2012).

Dolly Parton’s Rockstar entered Top Country Albums at No. 1 in December. If it were to be nominated for album of the year, it would be her first contender in that category as a lead or co-lead artist since Trio, her 1987 collab with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.

Parton’s album, recorded as a reaction to her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is competing for a nod with an album that pays tribute to a more traditional rock star, Tom Petty. Parton is featured on that album, Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration. She sings Petty’s 1985 song “Southern Accents.”