CMA voters consider whether to nominate ‘Old Town Road’

NASHVILLE, TENN. >> Though Lil Nas X has broken chart records and become a streaming juggernaut with his breakout country rap hit “Old Town Road” with Billy Ray Cyrus, the song faces an uphill challenge to get a nomination for a CMA award.

Ballots have gone out for nominations for the Country Music Association Awards, but some voters are struggling to decide how to recognize the musical phenomenon of the year, which has become the longest running No. 1 song in the history of Billboard’s Hot 100.

Billboard decided “Old Town Road” wasn’t a country song and pulled it off country charts early on, but the song made enough of an impact anyway that it became eligible for a number of CMA categories this year, including single of the year and song of the year. CMA voters, which include musicians, producers, songwriters, touring professionals, country radio employees and others, vote in three ballots with the final nominations typically being announced in late August or early September. The award show will air Nov. 13.

But there are already signs that the song isn’t getting wide support. It failed to get enough votes in the major song categories. The song only earned enough votes to be considered in the musical event category on the second ballot, which went out to voters Monday.

Shane McAnally, one of country’s biggest hitmakers who has written for Sam Hunt, Kacey Musgraves, Kenny Chesney and more, said he’s been impressed with the way the song has resonated with fans, but it never felt country to him.

“I just think country people do not see that as a country song,” said McAnally, who is co-president of Monument Records and one of three producers on NBC’s song competition series, “Songland.” “Pop listeners think it’s a country song.”

The song’s genreless approach by mixing trap beats with a Nine Inch Nails sample and Westernthemed lyrics appealed to millennials on TikTok but took Nashville’s music industry by surprise. While pop, rap and rock artists have gotten CMA nominations before, it’s a lot harder to earn a nomination without broad support among Nashville’s labels and country radio.

Nelly was nominated for musical event in 2013 with Florida Georgia Line for “Cruise,” but that was a country song with a rapper added to the remix. Nelly’s earlier collaboration with Tim McGraw on “Over and Over” in 2004, which was primarily promoted as a rap song, did not earn any nominations from the CMAs.

“I will be shocked if it makes the final ballot,” McAnally said of “Old Town Road.”

Still McAnally pointed out that non-country acts can still surprise at the CMA Awards, such as when John Denver, largely considered a pop-folk artist, won entertainer of the year in 1975, prompting Charlie Rich to set fire to the card with Denver’s name during the broadcast.

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