“Well, I just found out some disappointing news and it really hurts me.”
That is how Sammy Kershaw opened a post on Instagram on Thursday, Nov. 5. The Louisiana singer, 68, said the Country Music Association had denied his request to walk the red carpet “for a few minutes” at the 60th CMA Awards on Nov. 18.
If you had country radio on in the ’90s, you know that voice. Sammy took “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful” to No. 1 in 1993. “Haunted Heart” and “Queen of My Double Wide Trailer” were Top 10 hits that same year, and “Love of My Life” went to No. 2 in 1997.
He wanted to share the night with his wife, Mendy. He wrote that the two of them “don’t get to attend these events very often, due to touring and schedule conflicts.” He said he adjusted his touring schedule and booked their flights and hotels, and that Mendy “was really looking forward to us sharing a special evening together celebrating country music.”
Then the answer came. Sammy said he found out “two weeks before the show,” and only “after being strung along for several months and expecting we would be attending.”
In the same post, he laid out his record. He listed more than 50 years in the business, more than two dozen Billboard charted hits and a CMA Horizon Award nomination, the 1993 honor for rising stars now called New Artist of the Year. He has also been a lifetime CMA member since 1992. “I would hope I’ve earned the opportunity to walk the red carpet alongside my wife, as we’ve done before,” he wrote. His verdict was blunt: “It’s extremely hurtful, embarrassing and very disappointing.”
The timing stings a little more this year, because the 60th show is leaning on the ’90s. CMA chief executive Sarah Trahern told Billboard, “the hot artists today, their heroes are the stars of the ’90s.”
To be fair to the CMA, it has not explained its decision in public. Country Now noted that the rules for who walks the carpet are not published, and that space limits and venue safety rules can play a part.
Here is a reminder of why so many fans took Sammy’s side. This is his official video for one of those 1993 hits.
Sammy’s official video for “Queen of My Double Wide Trailer”
Other artists spoke up within hours. Jake Owen, the Florida singer behind “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” wrote, “I’m team Sammy.” Carly Pearce told him “many of us wouldn’t be here without artists like you.” Trey Lewis summed it up in one word: “Outrageous.”
Then Drew Baldridge went further. Drew is the Illinois singer who took “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” to No. 1 on the Mediabase country chart in 2024 as an independent artist, with no major label behind him. On his Instagram story, he offered to hand his own red carpet spot to Sammy.
“I’ll give my spot up for you,” Drew wrote. “If you don’t deserve to be there then I definitely don’t.”
As of Nov. 6, Sammy had not said publicly whether he would take Drew up on it, and the CMA had not changed its answer in public.
Here is the song that made Drew a radio name, in the wedding version he released as an official video.
Drew Baldridge sings “She’s Somebody’s Daughter”
Sammy also made clear the road is still home. “I’m blessed to still be out on tour every year, performing for the greatest fans in the world and doing what I love,” he wrote. He talked about ’90s country and his Roots and Boots tour in this interview with the radio station Y’all 106.7.
Sammy talks ’90s country and his tour with Y’all 106.7
The 60th CMA Awards air Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, with Lainey Wilson as host. Like Sammy, she grew up in a small Louisiana town.