[Photo by Lizgrin F on Unsplash]
Sammy Kershaw’s exclusion from the CMA Awards red carpet raises a larger question about an organization that increasingly leaves independent artists, veteran entertainers, and working industry professionals wondering where they belong.
By Jason W. Ashcraft | JWA Media
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (November 6, 2026) — When country music veteran Sammy Kershaw publicly expressed his disappointment this week after being denied access to walk the red carpet at the upcoming 60th Annual CMA Awards, his frustration struck a familiar chord with me.
Not because I have experienced anything approaching Kershaw’s level of career accomplishments, but because his experience reflects a larger concern I’ve developed about the Country Music Association: Who exactly is this organization representing, and who is being left outside looking in?
According to Kershaw’s public statement, he and his wife, Mendy, had rearranged touring commitments and made travel arrangements in anticipation of attending the November 18 ceremony. After months of communication, he says he learned just two weeks before the event that his request to walk the red carpet had been denied.
Let us consider who we’re talking about. Sammy Kershaw is a multi-platinum recording artist with more than five decades in country music, numerous Billboard-charting hits, a CMA Horizon Award nomination, and a lifetime CMA membership he says the association presented to him in 1992. He has also contributed his time to CMA Fest.
Yet, according to his account, even those credentials weren’t enough to secure a few minutes on the red carpet. Kershaw summed up his disappointment with a statement that should give every country music industry professional pause:
“I believe there should be room to recognize the artists who have spent their lives contributing to this organization’s success.”
He’s right, and his experience raises questions that extend well beyond one awards ceremony.
When Did The Country Music Association Become Such An Exclusive Club?
The CMA has spent decades establishing itself as one of country music’s most influential institutions. Its annual awards ceremony, CMA Fest, professional networking opportunities, and industry initiatives carry tremendous weight in Nashville and beyond.
But influence also brings responsibility, and an organization representing country music should recognize that the genre’s foundation extends far beyond today’s radio charts, major-label rosters, corporate partnerships, and commercially fashionable artists.
It includes the performers who spent decades building the audience that today’s stars have inherited. It includes independent artists touring clubs, theaters, fairs, and festivals across America. It includes publicists, managers, promoters, musicians, songwriters, and countless other professionals working without the resources of multinational entertainment companies.
These people aren’t outsiders to country music. They are country music.
Yet I increasingly question whether the CMA’s approach to inclusion, recognition, and professional access adequately reflects that reality.There is an important distinction between celebrating country music’s history and continuing to include the people who made that history.
Legacy artists and those on their teams should not have to wait for a lifetime achievement award, memorial tribute, or nostalgic television segment to be acknowledged by the industry they helped build.
Likewise, independent artists should not have to secure a major-label contract before they are treated as meaningful contributors to the genre’s future.
My Own Experience as a CMA Voting Member
I don’t raise these concerns merely as an observer. I am a voting member of the Country Music Association and have spent the last eight years working in Nashville’s music industry as an independent publicist, representing country recording artists, developing publicity campaigns, securing media opportunities, and helping artists reach audiences across the country.
I value my membership, and I recognize the importance of the CMA’s role in our industry. But I have also become increasingly frustrated by what I perceive as a lack of meaningful inclusion and professional access.
For example, I have not received invitations to networking opportunities with CMA board members, while the invitations I do receive have largely been directed toward events intended for interns and new members. And let me point out that there is nothing wrong with supporting young professionals entering the business. It’s important. In fact, those opportunities are essential. But where are the comparable opportunities for established independent professionals who have already invested years in this industry and want to develop meaningful relationships with its leadership?
Why does my membership not appear to provide a clearer path toward those conversations?
I have witnessed frustrations of independent and traditional country artists who are attempting to secure CMA Fest performance opportunities. Not only can some of them not get an invite to perform, they can’t even get a meaningful response back from CMA which helps them understand exactly why they are being left out year after year.
I fully understand that CMA Fest cannot accommodate every artist who wants to perform. Programming decisions involve limited space, scheduling, audience considerations, and numerous other factors.
But when independent artists are repeatedly overlooked, their representatives should at least be able to obtain meaningful information about the selection process, the criteria being considered, and how their artists might improve their opportunities for future participation.
Instead, my experience has too often involved canned, copy/paste responses that could have been sent to any artist with this question, offering little or no clarity about how those decisions are made.
The same concerns extend to professional development. I joined an organization that I believed would provide opportunities to strengthen industry relationships, expand my professional knowledge, and participate more meaningfully in the country music community.
I have not consistently experienced those benefits, and I cannot help but wonder how many other independent professionals share similar frustrations but hesitate to express them publicly in fear of being banned or just more sidelining from speaking out.
Is Industry Influence Becoming More Important Than Industry Contribution?
To be clear, I do not have access to the CMA’s internal selection processes, and I cannot claim to know the motivations behind individual decisions. But I believe the experiences described here raise legitimate questions about whether the association’s practices unintentionally favor those with established corporate affiliations, powerful industry relationships, and greater commercial influence.
There is a difference between recognizing commercial success and allowing commercial influence to determine whose contributions deserve consideration.
Country music has always depended on more than its biggest stars. Independent artists often keep traditional country music alive in markets where mainstream radio has largely moved in another direction. Veteran performers continue drawing audiences who remain deeply connected to the music of earlier generations. Independent publicists and managers help sustain careers without the benefit of enormous promotional budgets.
Their work matters. Their audiences matter. Their participation in the broader country music community should matter to the CMA. The organization cannot reasonably accommodate every request, but it can establish clearer standards for how opportunities are distributed and how members are engaged.
That should not be a controversial expectation.
The CMA Needs to Answer Some Difficult Questions
Rather than simply dismissing criticism as disappointment from people who didn’t receive an invitation or performance opportunity, I would encourage the new CMA leadership to consider several questions.
- How are independent artists evaluated for CMA Fest participation, and how transparent is that process?
- What opportunities exist for independent industry professionals to engage directly with CMA board members and organizational leadership?
- How does the association ensure that its professional development programs reach established independent members rather than primarily those already connected to influential companies?
- What consideration is given to veteran artists whose commercial peaks may be behind them but whose contributions remain fundamental to country music’s history?
- And perhaps most importantly, how does CMA measure whether its members genuinely feel represented, valued, and included?
These questions deserve more than carefully worded public relations responses.They deserve meaningful examination and, where appropriate, changes in how the organization operates.
Country Music’s Legacy Deserves More Than Lip Service
The controversy surrounding Sammy Kershaw is especially unfortunate because it involves an artist whose career helped define an enormously successful period in country music. Kershaw is not asking to be nominated for an award he didn’t earn. Based on his account, he simply wanted the opportunity to participate in an industry celebration alongside his wife.
The CMA may have logistical or credentialing considerations that explain its decision. But even if a decision is procedurally justified, that does not automatically make it the right decision for an organization whose reputation rests on celebrating country music and the people responsible for its success.
There is something profoundly discouraging about watching artists who helped build this industry publicly question whether they still have a place within it. It is equally discouraging for independent professionals to invest years in the business, maintain voting memberships, contribute to the genre’s growth, and still struggle to understand how to access opportunities within our own professional association.
We’re not asking for preferential treatment. We are not suggesting that every independent artist deserves a CMA Fest performance or that every voting member should receive an invitation to every industry function. We are simply asking for transparency, fair consideration, meaningful communication, and a genuine commitment to inclusion that extends beyond the most commercially powerful corners of Nashville.
It’s Time for the CMA to Remember Who It Represents
Under its new leadership, the Country Music Association has an opportunity to demonstrate that it represents more than the current marketplace’s biggest names and most influential companies. It can create more meaningful pathways for independent professionals to participate in leadership discussions. It can communicate more clearly with artists and representatives seeking opportunities at CMA Fest. It can ensure that professional development extends to members working outside major-label and corporate environments. It can find ways to acknowledge and include the veteran artists whose contributions helped make the CMA Awards and CMA Fest culturally significant in the first place.
None of these changes requires abandoning the association’s commercial priorities. They simply require recognizing that commercial success and lasting contribution are not always the same thing.
I remain a CMA voting member because I believe in country music, the people who create it, and the importance of having a professional organization that advocates for this industry. But membership should represent something more meaningful than an annual financial commitment and the privilege of casting a ballot.
It should represent belonging. It should represent opportunity. It should represent a shared commitment to the ENTIRE country music community—not merely its most influential participants.
Sammy Kershaw’s experience should prompt a larger conversation about how the CMA treats the artists and professionals who have dedicated their lives to this music.
Because if an organization bearing the name Country Music Association cannot find meaningful room for the people who built country music and those independently carrying it forward, perhaps it’s time to ask who that association is really serving.
Jason W Ashcraft is a Nashville-area music publicist, founder of JWA Media, and a voting member of the Country Music Association. He has worked in music publicity for eight years, representing independent country music artists and supporting traditional country music. He is also a professional member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMY), the Academy of Country Music (ACM), and a member of The Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville.
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