Why was Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' snubbed by the Country Music Awards? Experts weigh in

Beyoncé fans may have been disappointed that her crossover album “Cowboy Carter” was shut out of this year’s Country Music Association Awards nominations, but it may not have been a shock.

Beyoncé fans may have been disappointed that her crossover album “Cowboy Carter” was shut out of this year’s Country Music Association Awards nominations, but it may not have been a shock. 

The pop icon has been open about feeling unwelcome in the genre. She dropped country ode “Daddy Lessons” in 2016 and performed it at that year’s CMA Awards alongside The Chicks. Their performance received backlash from the genre’s fans, who complained that Beyoncé was not a country artist. 

Many Black artists aside from Beyoncé have expressed how difficult it is to break through in the country music industry because executives often cater to white consumers. However, experts say there is more to Beyoncé’s snub than the industry’s longtime erasure of Black artists’ contributions to country music. 

Amanda Marie Martinez, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, points to the industry’s centralization in Nashville, Tennessee. Artists there are expected to “pay their dues” by playing honky-tonks, participating in writers rounds and showcasing their work around the city in order to build a successful career in the genre. 

“There’s a real culture of deference where you’re supposed to bow down to the gatekeepers and fall in their good graces,” said Martinez, who researches anti-Blackness in the country music industry. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/beyonce-cma-snub-cowboy-carter-experts-rcna170480

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