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ACM Awards Presented a Utopian Picture of Country — Steeped in Tradition, and Dominated by Women. We’ll Take It
The Academy of Country Music Awards presented a vision of country that was steeped in traditional sounds and dominated by new and established women.
Martina McBride, Gretchen Wilson, Sara Evans, Crystal Gayle, Wynonna Judd onstage at the 60th Academy Of Country Music Awards held at the Ford Center at The Star on May 08, 2025 in Frisco, Texas. There was also another of country’s brightest young stars, Megan Moroney, on the scene, and of course Kelsea Ballerini, celebrating a real milestone in having gotten the upgrade in her career from amphitheaters to being a legit arena headliner… all completing the picture of emergent contemporary queendom. That sort of gambit may be out of the goodness of the producers’ hearts, or it may be a more mercenary acknowledgement that the viewers most likely to tune in for awards shows are not the ones who are driving the streams for Morgan Wallen and Post Malone right now (both of whom were MIA and shut out in the final voting, btw, despite their high nomination totals).
Or read this on Variety
