Surprise, Chris Stapleton Wins the 2016 ACM for New Male Artist of the Year
Well so much for drama, pomp and circumstance, or anticipation. As informally as sticking a post-it note to the office billboard right beside a reminder to clean the microwave after each use in the breakroom, the ACM Awards have announced the apparent winners of the 2016 “New Artist” categories. Though during certain years, the ACM’s elect to only award one performer with the “New Artist” distinction, this year they split the award into groups. Chris Stapleton won for New Male Artist of the Year, Kelsea Ballerini won for New Female Artist of the Year, and Old Dominion walks away with New Duo/Group of the Year. So there’s that. Apologies for the disruption. You’re free to go about your business now.
Even when some awards are given out pre-telecast, unless it is for industry awards, there’s usually at least a little bit of attention paid to the announcement, perhaps on a network morning show the day of the awards to help promote the festivities, or right before the show starts to get folks buzzing—not dumping the info in the laps of the press corps unexpectedly on a busy Wednesday morning. But when has anyone ever accused the ACM’s of doing its business in a smart or judicious manner? It just feels a little deflating for the artists and their fans when these distinctions are supposed to mean something.
Either way, it’s yet another positive sign for Chris Stapleton. Remember, it was his surprise win over Sam Hunt for New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards that started off his now legendary evening that rocketed him into superstardom. Stapleton leads all other nominees going into the April 3rd awards show with 6 additional chances to win big on the night, including for Album of the Year, and Male Vocalist of the Year—two awards he won at the CMA’s in November.
Though Kelsea Ballerini leaves much to be desired, her win for New Female Vocalist was well anticipated. As one of the few young females able to break through the good ol’ boys blockade on country radio (even if it is with pop songs), her victory was very much secured. What exactly Old Dominion has done to deserve anything is up for question, especially when Maddie & Tae were also nominated, and had a much bigger impact on country over the last year. The female pair is also up for Vocal Duo of the Year on April 3rd, unless the ACM’s decide to announce that in a fortune cookie Al Roker cracks into on some random morning before the telecast or something.
It also means Saving Country Music is 2 for 3 on its predictions for the awards. Make sure to stop by April 3rd as we’ll be razzing everyone during the ACM Awards LIVE blog.
Now back to your regularly scheduled Wednesday.
New Male Vocalist of the Year
” Brett Eldredge
” Chris Janson
” Thomas Rhett
” Chase Rice
” Chris Stapleton Winner
New Female Vocalist of the Year
” Kelsea Ballerini Winner
” Cam
” Mickey Guyton
” RaeLynn
New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year
” A Thousand Horses
” Brothers Osborne
” Maddie & Tae
” Old Dominion Winner
” Parmalee
Applejack
March 23, 2016 @ 11:14 am
Well, congrats to Stapleton anyway.
By the way, for people in the Midwest, I noticed Stapleton just announced a co-headlining show with Alabama Shakes at Summerfest in Milwaulkee this July. Sounds like a hell of a double bill!
https://www.facebook.com/chrisstapletonofficial/photos/a.480019705393407.114991.348312871897425/1076042789124426/?type=3&theater
Stringbuzz
March 24, 2016 @ 6:28 am
That would be awesome I saw the Shakes when they toured their first album.. Britany is captivating live,
Rob
March 23, 2016 @ 11:27 am
How is Parmalee up for new group? They’ve been around for like 7-8 years now, the only way I knew of their existence back then was one of them getting either shot or stabbed in Rock Hill SC
ElectricOutcast
March 23, 2016 @ 11:53 am
How sad is it that I remember a time when a new singer were to win a CMA Award it didn’t used to be called “New Artist of the Year”, instead it used to be called the Horizon Award.
At least that one is still being televised, this on the other hand is just fucking bullshit.
Say Whaa
March 23, 2016 @ 12:58 pm
That time was as recently as 2007, so it’d probably be more sad if you didn’t remember when it was called the Horizon Award.
Orgirl1
March 23, 2016 @ 12:24 pm
Noooooo… Kelsea Ballerini? Noooooo! Acms, how could you do this to me? Blech.
Sandra
March 23, 2016 @ 2:24 pm
The thought of her holding a country award upsets me. Imagine when Miranda stops winning they start giving it to Kelsea.
Doug
March 23, 2016 @ 12:34 pm
Kyle, you’ve done great covering Chris! I know you and I had our differences in the past, bit you done good by country music with this website! If you ever make it back here to Nashville, love to see ya sometime. Or if I ever make it back home to Austin, let’s grab a BBQ sandwich.
Klancy
March 23, 2016 @ 3:00 pm
Aside from female going to the very last person it should, not bad picks for the winners this time around.
Erik North
March 23, 2016 @ 5:18 pm
The great thing is to see Chris win the Male Vocal award over four “bromeisters”.
Adam
March 23, 2016 @ 5:28 pm
Kelsey Balleronni is a dog faced gremlin who was too ugly for pop. She’ll probably wind up in the CMHOF though
RobertS
March 23, 2016 @ 5:36 pm
It’s great to see CS & the Cobb squad keeping the momentum rolling. I look forward to seeing how “Southern Family” fares on next week’s charts, too.
It is odd that the new female vocalist category had one fewer finalist than the other categories. Surely, they could’ve found some name to stick in that fifth spot ?
RobertS
March 23, 2016 @ 6:14 pm
Slightly off-topic, but I’ll add that Australian Kristy Cox has a new country/bluegrass album coming out soon, including a cover of Stapleton’s “Daddy Doesn’t Pray Anymore.” I figure that’s the sort of under-the-radar thing that might be worth checking out.
Sauron the Deceiver
March 23, 2016 @ 7:00 pm
Yeah, the fact that there were only four New Female Vocalist finalists pissed me off ”” so much for the push for more females in the mainstream. Ashley Monroe should definitely have been nominated.
Justin Adams
March 24, 2016 @ 3:57 am
It seems like Eldredge and Rhett have been up for this award for years now
Ghost of Country Past
March 24, 2016 @ 8:56 am
How do Thomas Rhett, Brett Eldredge, or Parmalee even remotely qualify for this award? They’ve had number one singles from their first albums! These awards are a bunch of nonsense.
Trigger
March 24, 2016 @ 12:39 pm
“New Artist” has nothing to do with being new. It is an aggregate award for 2nd tier artists that are less likely to never win of the bigger awards. The ACM’s have straight up broken their bylaws governing the award in the past to give it to Justin Moore.
Ghost of Country Past
March 24, 2016 @ 1:44 pm
Purely ridiculous. Plenty of victories to claim in the past two years between the number 1 albums for acts like Aaron Watson, Chris Stapleton and rise of guys like Jon Pardi and William Morgan, but still the worse of the worse is coming from the other end of the spectrum still.
Sauron the Deceiver
March 24, 2016 @ 6:49 pm
I don’t know why this hadn’t crossed my mind before, but I wonder why Sam Hunt wasn’t nominated for New Male Vocalist. It’s strange, because ”” as much as I hate to say it ”” he’s one of the biggest stars in the genre at the moment, and somehow has a lot of critical acclaim as well. You’d expect that he’d definitely be nominated in a category like this, as opposed to irrelevant artists like Chris Janson and Chase Rice.
Not that I’m complaining, obviously.
Trigger
March 24, 2016 @ 7:58 pm
It might be because Sam Hunt was nominated last year. The laws for this award are strange, and the ACM’s sometimes choose not to follow them anyway, but that could be the rationale.
Scotty J
March 24, 2016 @ 8:04 pm
I wonder if the labels can put the kibosh on a nomination. I mean the ACM seems to make stuff up on the fly as you mentioned so maybe Hunt’s label doesn’t want him to be marketed as a ‘new artist’ anymore.
Trigger
March 24, 2016 @ 8:09 pm
The ACM’s are notoriously horse traded more than any other awards show, so I wouldn’t put it past them. Maybe they didn’t want him to lose again to Stapleton. Perhaps they traded in their Sam Hunt votes for votes for another label artist.
Sauron the Deceiver
March 25, 2016 @ 4:30 am
Well, Thomas Rhett was also nominated for New Artist last year, and neither he nor Hunt won. You’d think that since Rhett (who’s been around for longer than Hunt anyway) was nominated again this year, Hunt would be too.