Our CMA Flashback series continues with a look at Female Vocalist of the Year.
For a look back at the other major categories, visit our CMA Awards page.
2022
Miranda Lambert
Ashley McBryde
Carly Pearce
Carrie Underwood
Lainey Wilson
Lainey Wilson became the first woman to win Female Vocalist and New Artist/Horizon Award on the same night since Carrie Underwood in 2006. It also continued the historically unprecedented turnover in the category stretching back to 2016, when Miranda Lambert repeated in the category.
2021
Gabby Barrett
Miranda Lambert
Ashley McBryde
Maren Morris
Carly Pearce
Carly Pearce was one of two first-time nominees in this category for 2021, and became the first woman to win in her first year of nomination since Carrie Underwood in 2006. Also, with five different winners in five consecutive years, the category has suddenly matched its similar 1993-1997 run, breaking the trend of winning streaks that have plagued the category for two decades.
2020
Miranda Lambert
Ashley McBryde
Maren Morris
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood
The new decade started with a new winner in the category, with Maren Morris proving victorious on her fifth nomination.
2019
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Maren Morris
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood
Sixth time was a charm for Kacey Musgraves, who became the first new winner in this category since Miranda Lambert began her record-setting run in 2010.
2018
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Maren Morris
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood returned to the winner circle for a fifth time, moving her past Martina McBride and Reba McEntire for second place overall, trailing only seven time winner Miranda Lambert.
2017
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Reba McEntire
Maren Morris
Carrie Underwood
Miranda Lambert came back to win her seventh Female Vocalist trophy, only one year after her streak of six consecutive wins was interrupted by Carrie Underwood.
2016
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Maren Morris
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood
Until 2016, the longest gap between Female Vocalist wins was five years, with Loretta Lynn winning in 1967 and then again in 1972. Carrie Underwood broke that record this year, returning to the winner’s circle a full seven years since her previous victory. With her win, she moves into a tie for second on the all time wins list, sharing her slot with Martina McBride and Reba McEntire.
2015
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood
Lee Ann Womack
Miranda Lambert extended her record for the most wins in this category, winning her sixth trophy. That is the most victories that any artist can claim in either the Female Vocalist or Male Vocalist categories.
2014
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Kacey Musgraves
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Lambert won for the fifth year in a row, breaking the record of four wins that she had matched last year and making her the most frequent winner in the history of this category.
2013
Kelly Clarkson
Miranda Lambert
Kacey Musgraves
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Miranda Lambert won this award for the fourth time, matching the wins achieved by Martina McBride and Reba McEntire.
2012
Kelly Clarkson
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Pop star Kelly Clarkson’s dalliance with country music was enough to earn her a Female Vocalist nomination for the first time, as Lambert took home her third consecutive trophy.
2011
Sara Evans
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
While Lambert earned her second trophy, Sara Evans returned to the category for the first time since 2006 on the strength of her comeback hit, “A Little Bit Stronger.”
2010
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Miranda Lambert received her first Female Vocalist trophy, while Reba McEntire received her seventeenth nomination.
2009
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Taylor Swift was the big winner at the 2009 CMA Awards, earning her first and only trophy for Female Vocalist that evening, alongside several other major wins.
2008
Alison Krauss
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood joined the ranks of Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Martina McBride and Reba McEntire by winning three Female Vocalist awards.
2007
Alison Krauss
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Reba McEntire
Carrie Underwood
With her second consecutive victory, Carrie Underwood became the twelfth woman in history to win this award twice, and the only one to do so during the life cycle of her debut album.
2006
Sara Evans
Faith Hill
Martina McBride
Carrie Underwood
Gretchen Wilson
Underwood was among the most shocked in the audience when she won Female Vocalist of the Year, not long after winning Horizon Award the same night. Underwood was the first artist to win both Horizon and their own vocal category since the Dixie Chicks in 1998, and the only solo female artist to achieve the feat since Alison Krauss was the first in 1995.
2005
Sara Evans
Alison Krauss
Martina McBride
Gretchen Wilson
Lee Ann Womack
Wilson rode the massive success of her debut album to a precocious win in this category, topping even Lee Ann Womack, who won three other awards the same night.
2004
Terri Clark
Sara Evans
Alison Krauss
Martina McBride
Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire was nominated for the first time in nine years, on the same evening that Martina McBride tied her record of four wins in this category.
2003
Terri Clark
Alison Krauss
Patty Loveless
Martina McBride
Dolly Parton
McBride repeated in a year when women disappeared from country radio. Parton was nominated for the first time since 1987, and Loveless for the first time since 1998, on the strength of roots albums that received no airplay; Krauss garnered nary a spin herself. That only two of the women – McBride and Clark – were having hits at radio was unprecedented for this category.
2002
Sara Evans
Alison Krauss
Martina McBride
Lee Ann Womack
Trisha Yearwood
McBride made CMA history when she reclaimed the trophy three years after winning it for the first time, the first woman to do so since Loretta Lynn in 1972.
2001
Sara Evans
Faith Hill
Martina McBride
Lee Ann Womack
Trisha Yearwood
A year after winning Single of the Year for “I Hope You Dance”, Lee Ann Womack claimed her first and only win for Female Vocalist.
2000
Faith Hill
Martina McBride
Jo Dee Messina
Lee Ann Womack
Trisha Yearwood
Even though she had six nominations that evening, Hill was facing a backlash over going pop. Hill stunned the audience when she acknowledged the controversy in her acceptance speech, declaring that her heart was still with country music.
1999
Faith Hill
Martina McBride
Jo Dee Messina
Shania Twain
Trisha Yearwood
Martina rode the success of her Evolution album to her first win in this category, topping crossover stars Faith Hill and Shania Twain, the latter of which won Entertainer of the Year the same night. Messina, a first-time nominee, took home the Horizon Award, making it a very good night for three of the nominees.
1998
Faith Hill
Patty Loveless
Martina McBride
Lee Ann Womack
Trisha Yearwood
Yearwood became the first woman to repeat in the category since Mary Chapin Carpenter five years earlier, and she accepted via satellite, as she was performing with Garth Brooks in Europe.
1997
Deana Carter
Patty Loveless
LeAnn Rimes
Pam Tillis
Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood gave an emotional acceptance speech as she claimed her first victory in this category, dedicating the win to her parents by saying, “As proud as you are of me tonight, I’m even prouder to be your daughter.”
1996
Faith Hill
Patty Loveless
Martina McBride
Pam Tillis
Shania Twain
Last year’s winner, Alison Krauss, failed to secure a nomination in 1996. Also out of the running, after thirteen consecutive nominations, was Reba McEntire. Shattering sales records didn’t stop Shania Twain from going home empty-handed, but along with Faith Hill and Martina McBride, she did get her first nomination. The only holdovers from 1995 were Pam Tillis and Patty Loveless. After winning Album of the Year in 1995, Loveless finally won this award.
1995
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Alison Krauss
Patty Loveless
Reba McEntire
Pam Tillis
While most pundits predicted a repeat victory for Tillis or a first win for Patty Loveless, Alison Krauss made a shocking sweep of the CMAs, winning Single, Horizon, Vocal Event and Female Vocalist.
1994
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Reba McEntire
Pam Tillis
Wynonna
Trisha Yearwood
Pam Tillis was the only one surprised by her victory in 1994, as her critically acclaimed Sweetheart’s Dance project earned her the Female Vocalist trophy.
1993
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Reba McEntire
Pam Tillis
Tanya Tucker
Wynonna
Mary Chapin Carpenter repeated in the category, as her Come On Come On album continued to churn out hits. It would eventually sell more than five million copies.
1992
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Reba McEntire
Tanya Tucker
Wynonna
Trisha Yearwood
It was hard to read the tea leaves in 1992. Tucker, McEntire and Wynonna were also up for Album, Carpenter was nominated for Single and Yearwood was also a Horizon nominee. McEntire was up for Entertainer. There was clearly wide support for all five women, but Carpenter, a D.C. folkie with a razor-sharp wit, took home the prize.
1991
Patty Loveless
Kathy Mattea
Reba McEntire
Lorrie Morgan
Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker won on her seventh try, having lost the previous three years, and in three other years in the mid-70’s. She holds the record for the longest stretch of time between an artist’s first nomination and first win in this category: eighteen years.
1990
Patty Loveless
Kathy Mattea
Reba McEntire
Lorrie Morgan
Tanya Tucker
Mattea not only won her second trophy in this category, but also watched her husband, Jon Vezner, take home Song of the Year for her signature hit, “Where’ve You Been.”
1989
Rosanne Cash
Patty Loveless
Kathy Mattea
Reba McEntire
Tanya Tucker
Sixth time was not a charm for Rosanne Cash, despite having six #1 hits in the past two years and last year’s champ, K.T. Oslin, not being in the running. Voters instead embraced Kathy Mattea, who had won Single of the Year in 1988 for “Eighteen Wheels & A Dozen Roses.”
1988
Rosanne Cash
Kathy Mattea
Reba McEntire
K.T. Oslin
Tanya Tucker
Oslin ended the record-setting four-year run of Reba McEntire, and made history of her own the same night, becoming the first woman to win Song of the Year, for her classic hit, “80’s Ladies.”
1987
Rosanne Cash
Emmylou Harris
Kathy Mattea
Reba McEntire
Dolly Parton
McEntire broke the three-win record shared by Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette as she collected her fourth trophy for Female Vocalist. Harris received the last of twelve consecutive nominations, though she would go on to win many more Grammys and share the CMA Album of the Year trophy in 2001.
1986
Rosanne Cash
Janie Fricke
Emmylou Harris
Reba McEntire
Anne Murray
Reba McEntire not only became the first woman to win three in a row since Tammy Wynette, but also the fourth woman to win Entertainer of the Year; it would be another thirteen years before another woman accomplished the latter feat.
1985
Rosanne Cash
Janie Fricke
Emmylou Harris
Reba McEntire
Anne Murray
McEntire earned her second consecutive win as she enjoyed new levels of success at radio and retail.
1984
Janie Fricke
Emmylou Harris
Barbara Mandrell
Reba McEntire
Anne Murray
On an evening where Anne Murray seemed to be sweeping, having already picked up Single and Album honors, a shocked and crying McEntire collected her first Female Vocalist trophy.
1983
Lacy J. Dalton
Janie Fricke
Emmylou Harris
Barbara Mandrell
Reba McEntire
Fricke won her second consecutive trophy, on the strength of the hit singles “It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Easy” and “He’s a Heartache.”
1982
Rosanne Cash
Janie Fricke
Emmylou Harris
Barbara Mandrell
Juice Newton
Major units were being moved by newcomers Rosanne Cash and Juice Newton, but voters went with Fricke, a former background singer for many hit artists who became a star in her own right.
1981
Terri Gibbs
Emmylou Harris
Loretta Lynn
Barbara Mandrell
Anne Murray
Mandrell won in 1979, and though she didn’t win in 1980, she did collect Entertainer of the Year. In 1981, she took her second trophy in both categories, becoming the first artist to ever win two Entertainer trophies.
1980
Crystal Gayle
Emmylou Harris
Loretta Lynn
Barbara Mandrell
Anne Murray
Perennial nominee Emmylou Harris finally won, as a pure country album (Blue Kentucky Girl) followed by a bluegrass set (Roses in the Snow) finally erased concerns that she was more rock than country.
1979
Janie Fricke
Crystal Gayle
Emmylou Harris
Barbara Mandrell
Anne Murray
A smoky cover of “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right” and her signature hit “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed” helped Mandrell take her first Female Vocalist award home, after ten years of charting hits at country radio.
1978
Janie Fricke
Crystal Gayle
Emmylou Harris
Barbara Mandrell
Dolly Parton
Gayle became a crossover star on her way to her second Female Vocalist award, as “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” exploded at both country and pop radio. She followed with two more major hits – “Talking in Your Sleep” and “Ready For the Times to Get Better.”
1977
Crystal Gayle
Emmylou Harris
Loretta Lynn
Barbara Mandrell
Dolly Parton
Loretta Lynn was nominated in the same year as her little sister Crystal Gayle for the first time, and the younger sibling emerged triumphant as she was fully embraced by country and pop radio.
1976
Crystal Gayle
Emmylou Harris
Barbara Mandrell
Dolly Parton
Tammy Wynette
Dolly Parton repeated in this category as she continued to rack up hits at country radio.
1975
Jessi Colter
Loretta Lynn
Dolly Parton
Linda Ronstadt
Tanya Tucker
Dolly Parton finally won with her seventh nomination, on the strength of “The Bargain Store” and “The Seeker,” two of her best self-written hits.
1974
Loretta Lynn
Anne Murray
Olivia Newton-John
Dolly Parton
Tanya Tucker
Easily the most controversial win in this category’s history, many Nashville artists fumed and formed their own rival organization to the CMAs, all in anger over the transplanted Aussie Olivia Newton-John winning the award. Blissfully unaware of the controversy, Newton-John would go on to win two Grammys just months later in the pop categories, foreshadowing the full country-to-pop shift that Taylor Swift would make after her Female Vocalist win 35 years later.
1973
Donna Fargo
Loretta Lynn
Jeanne Pruett
Tanya Tucker
Tammy Wynette
Even though Lynn had been having hits since 1960, the bulk of her #1 hits came in the seventies. The CMA awarded her for a third time in this category, matching Tammy Wynette’s record.
1972
Donna Fargo
Loretta Lynn
Dolly Parton
Connie Smith
Tammy Wynette
The big news wasn’t Lynn returning after five years to win again in this category, though it may have been if that feat wasn’t overshadowed by her winning Entertainer of the Year, becoming the first woman to win in CMA history.
1971
Lynn Anderson
Loretta Lynn
Dolly Parton
Sammi Smith
Tammy Wynette
Her massive hit “Rose Garden” powered Anderson to a win on her fifth try. Fellow nominee Sammi Smith would take home Single for “Help Me Make It Through the Night” in the same year.
1970
Lynn Anderson
Loretta Lynn
Dolly Parton
Connie Smith
Tammy Wynette
Wynette continued to own country radio and this category, winning for a third time in as many years.
1969
Lynn Anderson
Loretta Lynn
Dolly Parton
Jeannie C. Riley
Tammy Wynette
Wynette scored the biggest hit of her career with “Stand By Your Man,” and followed it up with two more #1 hits, securing her place as the biggest female artist of the late sixties.
1968
Lynn Anderson
Loretta Lynn
Dolly Parton
Jeannie C. Riley
Tammy Wynette
Riley took home Single of the Year for “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” while Wynette took the crown for Female Vocalist, on the strength of the classic singles “I Don’t Wanna Play House” and “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.”
1967
Lynn Anderson
Loretta Lynn
Connie Smith
Dottie West
Tammy Wynette
In the fifteen months before the very first CMA Awards, Loretta Lynn released both “You Ain’t Woman Enough” and “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)”, making this category an easy call for the very first CMA voters.
Facts & Feats
Multiple Wins:
- (7) – Miranda Lambert
- (5) – Carrie Underwood
- (4) – Martina McBride, Reba McEntire
- (3) – Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette
- (2) – Mary Chapin Carpenter, Janie Fricke, Crystal Gayle, Kathy Mattea, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood
Most Consecutive Wins:
- (6) – Miranda Lambert (2010-2015)
- (4) – Reba McEntire (1984-1987)
- (3) – Martina McBride (2002-2004), Carrie Underwood (2006-2008), Tammy Wynette (1968-1970)
Most Nominations:
- (18) – Reba McEntire
- (17) – Martina McBride
- (16) – Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood
- (12) – Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton
- (9) – Barbara Mandrell, Tanya Tucker
- (8) – Patty Loveless, Tammy Wynette, Trisha Yearwood
- (7) – Janie Fricke, Alison Krauss, Kacey Musgraves, Anne Murray, Taylor Swift
- (6) – Rosanne Cash, Sara Evans, Faith Hill, Maren Morris, Lee Ann Womack
- (5) – Lynn Anderson, Kelsea Ballerini, Crystal Gayle, Kathy Mattea, Pam Tillis
Most Nominations Without a Win:
- (7) – Anne Murray
- (6) – Rosanne Cash, Sara Evans
- (5) – Kelsea Ballerini
- (3) – Ashley McBryde, Connie Smith, Wynonna
Winners in First Year of Nomination:
Olivia Newton-John (1974), K. T. Oslin (1988), Mary Chapin Carpenter (1992), Alison Krauss (1995), Gretchen Wilson (2005), Carrie Underwood (2006), Carly Pearce (2021), Lainey Wilson (2022)
Winners in Only Year of Nomination:
Olivia Newton-John (1974), K. T. Oslin (1988), Lainey Wilson (2022)
CMA Female Vocalists of the Year Who Have Never Won the ACM Award:
Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Olivia Newton-John, Taylor Swift, Pam Tillis, Tanya Tucker, Lee Ann Womack
ACM Female Vocalists of the Year Who Have Never Won the CMA Award:
Donna Fargo (1973), Sylvia (1983), Wynonna (1994), Sara Evans (2006)
CMA Female Vocalists Who Have Also Won the Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female/Solo:
Lynn Anderson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Crystal Gayle, Emmylou Harris, Faith Hill, Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Kathy Mattea, Reba McEntire, Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, K.T. Oslin, Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Gretchen Wilson, Tammy Wynette, Trisha Yearwood
Winners of the Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female/Solo That Have Never Won the CMA Female Vocalist Award:
Rosanne Cash, June Carter Cash, Donna Fargo, k.d. lang, Jody Miller, Maren Morris, Anne Murray, Juice Newton, Jeannie C. Riley, Linda Ronstadt, Jeannie Seely, Sammi Smith, Shania Twain, Dottie West
Women Who Have Won All Three Industry Vocalist Awards:
Lynn Anderson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Crystal Gayle, Faith Hill, Miranda Lambert, Kathy Mattea, Reba McEntire, Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris, K.T. Oslin, Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Gretchen Wilson, Tammy Wynette, Trisha Yearwood
How wonderful to see incredible female artists like Lynn Anderson, Janie Fricke, Kathy Mattea, Pam Tillis, and Patty Loveless get recognition in their day.
and at the same time, I never realized how ad nauseum some winners were in this category.
The nineties spoiled us. There was a stretch from 1994-1997 where there was a new winner every year, and that seemed to pick up again from 1999-2001, until Martina McBride came back to win three in a row. The Lambert streak has been unbelievable. I can’t get my head around the fact that we’re six years into this decade and it’s been the same Female Vocalist every year!
McBride and Lambert have both won more times than the quality of recorded output would seem to justify.
For several artists the CMAs came around too late, If the CMA awards had started in 1960 I suspect that Connie Smith and Dottie West would have each won one or two awards and Jeanie Seely might have won one as well (not to mention Patsy Cline)
I remember Carrie winning for the 1st time in 2006 like it was yesterday! I was shocked, because she was, well, still so new. I didn’t think that the CMAs would award her so quickly like that.
I have always liked Miranda, but her streak makes me shake my head. Carrie should have won a couple on between it. Here’s too hoping Carrie wins Female and Entertainer on Wednesday! :)
The last ten years would’ve been Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, and Kacey Musgraves passing the award back and forth between them if I was in control!
I couldn’t agree more with you, Kevin! If I had my way, I would have gone like this:
2006, 2007, 2008 – Carrie
2009 – Taylor (CU was quiet mostly in 2009 anyway – I hate saying that, LOL! :))
2010, 2011 – Miranda
2012 – Carrie
2013 – Kacey (my personal choice would have been Carrie, again, though)
2014 – Miranda
2015 – Carrie (Greatest Hits, Something In The Water, and Little Toy Guns are hard to ignore. ML only because she toured, when CU didn’t)
2016 – Carrie
I’d have to look at the specifics of what was eligible, but in general I think Lambert deserves about 5 wins. I’d have actually given her a win in 2008. I would have given Underwood 2 wins that Lambert then received later on, though. So, 4 wins for Underwood and 5 for Lambert, with Underwood then tying Lambert this year in my personal awards.
This was a wonderful review of the award’s history. I came of age with country in the early to mid-70s. I had the biggest crush as a kid on Lynn Anderson; my first concert ever was with Loretta Lynn around 1976; and I remember going to one of Boston’s best radio stations at the time and being given a 45 (remember those?) of Anne Murray singing Snowbird. To see all of these names though – ie, Donna Fargo (Happiest Girl), Tanya Tucker (Delta Dawn, Jeanne C. Riley) and then the changes over by decades. I admit that life was distracting in the 80s, so I missed a lot of the talent that emerged during that time, yet I have become a huge fan today of Emmy Lou Harris and Rosanne Cash and others like them. And the 90s! If I had a crush on Lynn Anderson in the 70s, well, there’s Martina McBride today. (My loyalty there will never budge.) It’s amazing to see the female talent in country over the last 20 years or so such as Patty Loveless, Pam Tillis and Lee Ann Womack. And Mary Chapin Carpenter. My wife and I had many of her albums in the early 90s, yet her album released this year is so hauntingly beautiful. And Reba McEntire. I really think the album she released last year is her best yet. Thanks for putting this post up here and triggering some wonderful nostalgia. This has been wonderfully distracting.
I agree that Olivia’s 1974 CMA win, ultra-controversial as it was, would presage by 35 years what Taylor Swift would do, though I kind of have to chuckle that ‘Livvy’s mere presence on the country singles chart was all that big a deal, given that some of what she was doing was arguably no less country than some of the Nashville material that found its way onto the pop charts during that time.
Linda Ronstadt’s 1975 CMA nomination (her only one, as a solo artist), meanwhile, arguably set the stage for Trisha’s and Martina’s wins in the late 19990s and on into the 2000s, since neither of those two was ever shy about claiming Linda as a reason they sought out singing careers in the first place. Given that Linda, of course, never really considered herself a country artist in the strictest Nashville sense of the tern (she was, after all, a Hippie from the Far West), and even with her four appearances on the Johnny Cash Show from 1969 to 1971, it’s kind of amusing to think they’d let her through the door on her own even that one time.
I think a key difference between Olivia Newton-John and Linda Ronstadt was that Ronstadt was completely aware that she was making country music. She was familiar with the history that she was pulling from.
I’m working on a deep dive into Olivia Newton-John’s career that will be more extensive than anything that exists online right now. I’m still heavily in the research part. Her recording in England, where such distinctions as country and pop weren’t commonplace, had her fairly oblivious that she was making country records. There are country tracks on all of her early albums, and the twang is heavy on her first series of hits – “If Not For You,” “Banks of the Ohio,” and “Take Me Home Country Roads” were big hits in England and Australia, though only the first one had any impact in America, and only on the pop and A.C. chart.
I think that she made a comment about wanting to meet the long dead Hank Williams, and that sealed the deal for her reputation as an interloper. Still not sure if that’s an apocryphal story or not.
Newton-John and Ronstadt definitely made some great country music in the seventies, but even then, their albums borrowed as much from other genres. I’d put them both in the Country Music Hall of Fame, particularly Linda Ronstadt for her influence, but I’d have them waiting in line for a while unless they revamp the categories to include genre influences.
I agree with what Kevin said. The 90’s definitely spoiled us when it comes to the variety of female artists. Not only were there many more being played on the radio, the winners in this category were much more diverse and spread out. I like Miranda, but there is no way she should’ve won six times in a row. I would’ve rather seen Carrie get it at least a couple more times and Kacey win at least once. That being said, I do think this is Miranda’s award to lose this year, mostly on the strength of The Weight Of These Wings and “Tin Man.” That is unless Maren Morris somehow pulls off an upset.
Great feature — and I’m enjoying all of the comments too.
KJC, I’m really looking forward to your write-up on Olivia Newton-John’s career. While I never really thought of her as a country artist, I can easily see how her early hits resonated with country music listeners. I’ve been hopelessly devoted to, and in love with, ONJ ever since I recall first seeing her perform on the Mac Davis Show in the early-to-mid 70s. While I realize her catchy songs may have lacked the depth/integrity of country music’s best material at the time, it saddens me to read/know that she encountered such a hostile reception with so many of the established Nashville artists from my favorite musical decade.
In looking at the history of this award category, I also find it interesting to see the legendary Dolly Parton missing from the list of female artist nominees during all of 1979-1986. It seems odd to me that this period of her absence should coincide with the releases of some of her biggest country/pop chart-topping hits (9-to-5, Islands In the Stream, etc) and, arguably, the peak years of her world-wide fame and popularity. What explains this? Could there have been jealousy/resentment in the country music industry at the time over Dolly’s crossover successes? I do, nonetheless, prefer Dolly’s 70s material for which she was frequently nominated.
Interesting comments about Olivia Newton John. In the 70s, I was in love with her music (and had a number of – brace yourselves – her 8Track tapes!). Yet, I listened to her more on pop radio stations. In the day, I am not sure that I considered her a country artist. Her song selection (or much of it anyway) certainly rings country now though. I think the last I saw her though was on a PBS retrospective concert for the BGees! That was hardly country. This helps us remember though that the 70s had some great country music and Olivia Newton John clearly was an important part of that.
As much as I love Carrie, Faith Hill was right to freak out in 2006. She deserved the award.
(I know she was (probably) joking. The one Jeff Foxworthy joke I’ve ever liked was from the following year’s CMT awards. He said she wasn’t angry Carrie had won. She thought they said Sara Evans.)
Wow. 2018 looks exactly like 2016, and 80% like 2015 (thanks, Lee Ann) and 2017 (thanks, Reba). If this stagnancy keeps up in 2019, the state of women in Nashville’s NOT gonna look great in the future.
It should be noted that Jody Miller’s Grammy occurred the year before the CMA awards began. Jody was a very good singer who wasn’t terribly active as a performer while her daughter were growing up, and except for a brief period in the 1970s didn’t really focus on her recording career
So true, Jody has always been exceptional in many ways. She was the total package as a recording artist and entertainer, but she loved her family too much to be away from them too often.
I happened to remember the other day that Jason Aldean was awarded the ACM’s Artist of the Decade award last year and got to wondering why that hadn’t been Miranda Lambert. After all, I believe she is the ACM’s most awarded artist now (or close to it) and she won Female Vocalist a staggering 9 times in a row (yes, a few of those times probably due to bloc voting, lack of strong competition, etc.). It turns out Aldean was actually a logical choice, however. He has won Entertainer of the Year at the ACMs three times and Male Vocalist three times as well. I had no idea they had awarded his mediocre talent that many times. I thought I remember him complaining on social media or in an interview a few years back about not getting the recognition he felt he deserved. Maybe that was specifically targeted at the CMAs.
Sara Evans was hugely overlooked by the Association in 2005. The CMA award should have been hers instead of Gretchen Wilson’s. What a shame and pity.
…browsing quickly from top to bottom – what a fine and gifted batch of singers carly pearce is, quite deservedly, joining. also great to see that she is confirming her new status with that great single “never wanted to be that girl” performed with the equally fine vocalist ashley mcbryde. actually, the number of outstanding female vocalists has possibly rarely been richer than today. what a perversion that country radio still puts almost all the emphasis on rather pedestrian male voices. having said that, this rubbish “fancy like” is really catchy and rather country – like without really sounding like it. You cannot use “like” often enough in a sentence these days, can you?
I don’t think this category has ever embarrassed itself. Maybe I’d make some different choices here and there, but the CMA can be proud of this entire list.
I enjoyed reading this entry very much. Could I ask the author to please correct the spelling of Jody Miller’s name in the text and tag? It is J-O-D-Y. Incidentally, Jody was one of the best all-around vocal interpreters you’ll ever hear, in addition to her being a gem of a lady. Her recordings definitely merit a deep dive. She is deeply missed. Thank you!
Fixed! Thanks for the catch and for sharing warm thoughts about a great artist who has passed on.