About Zach Bryan's exit from the Grammy Awards

It seems like everywhere you look right now, music channels, artists, and trade publications are talking about the Grammy Awards, which are currently in the preliminary voting round that will determine the final 2025 nominees.

Apparently most average music fans don't seem to care either. While the music industry seems obsessed with this process, fans in general have more important things to do. Maybe they'll take a look at the nominees when they're announced in November and look at the winners when they're announced in February 2025. But all the lobbying and predictions seem silly and exaggerated.

It turns out that Zach Bryan might very well agree with that assessment. In a move that can only be described as unprecedented and perhaps even career-defining, Zach Bryan has refused to turn in his latest album The great American bar scene or consider any of their respective songs for the 2025 Grammy Awards. This means he is one of country music's greatest artists all Music will not be represented at the Grammy Awards at all.

What are his motives? We can only guess. Zach attended the 2024 Grammy Awards in February, carrying his girlfriend Brianna Chickenfry and posing for photos on the red carpet. Bryan has been nominated for a total of four Grammy Awards, including three last year, and won Best Country Duo/Group Performance for his duet with Kacey Musgraves' “I Remember Everything.”

There's no reason to believe Zach Bryan has a problem with the Grammys. The Weeknd, Drake and others have withdrawn from the Grammy selection in the past due to issues with the Academy, but it's unclear what's happening here. Zach was sometimes a little reserved at award shows. He once said he didn't want to get a CMA, but then he showed up at the ACM Awards in April and hung out with Jelly Roll backstage.

So what can we take from Zach's non-attendance at the Grammys in 2025? The first assessment is that it's more of a gangster or, speaking of country music, “outlaw” move. Many artists admit that they don't care about awards. But as we've seen over the last week with all the lobbying on their behalf, it's often just posturing. For many artists, the Grammy Awards have a special meaning because they are not awarded by the industry, but by other artists with peer voting.

Zach really has little to gain from attending the Grammy Awards. Unlike many up-and-coming artists whose careers could end with an award or even just a nomination, for Zach it would be more like the icing on the cake. A legitimate concern, however, is what other could benefit from Zach Bryan competing for the Grammys. As a prolific artist, Zach Bryan has brought a lot of attention to others through his efforts.

Not that Kacey Musgraves needed Zach Bryan to win a Grammy Award (she's won seven herself), but Zach's collaboration enabled Musgraves to achieve several career highlights, including Kacey's first No. 1 song. Noeline Hoffman and John Moreland had both contributed to the new Zach Bryan album, which could have been submitted to the Grammy Awards and possibly even entered into a competition. But instead he chose to remain on the sidelines while Hoffman and Moreland competed with their own music.

In a way, this could also harm the important cause of non-radio supported artists struggling for mainstream acceptance. Zach Bryan officially has his own label, Belting Bronco, but it is distributed by Warner, who cannot be happy with the decision. Labels love the big boost that Grammy wins can bring.

Perhaps Zach Bryan sees this as making a bigger statement by withdrawing from the race rather than entering what he might call a popularity contest. Maybe Bryan sees it as a fait accompli that, because of the way the press and everyone else is fawning over her, Beyoncé is going to win everything in country and in many categories across all genres. So why have any hopes for the process at all?

That's certainly what the media is thinking, and almost everyone is predicting major success for Beyoncé. Your album Cowboy Carter was accepted by the Grammys in the country, despite Beyoncé herself saying that this was the case not a country album. Cowboy Carter slipped from No. 139 to No. 171 two weeks ago and now to No. 182 on the Billboard 200 chart this week, despite the widespread press coverage of the album due to its alleged snub by the CMA Awards and all the controversy that has been circulating Grammy consideration.

Despite the sycophantic press, people just don't listen to Beyoncé's songs Cowboy Carter. At the recent fan-voted People's Choice Country Awards, Beyoncé's supposedly fervent fan base didn't show up, even though she was nominated for more awards than anyone else, and she didn't win a single award. Meanwhile, Zach Bryans The great American bar scene is at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, while Zach, like Beyoncé, makes no effort to promote it.

As we watch Beyoncé and her surrogates slavishly gush over her, to the point where, despite being the most awarded artist in Grammy history, she is still viewed as disrespectful for never winning “Album of the Year.” “Has won, Zach Bryan is withdrawing from the whole process. It's really about ego and priorities. While other considerations could also come into play, it's clear that Zach Bryan is signaling that he wants to focus solely on the music and not turn the art into a competition.

The Grammy Awards are not the CMA Awards. They hand out trophies to unknown classical ensembles, children's composers, liner notes writers and bluegrass pickers. It is said to be the most worthy award of all. But Zach Bryan wants nothing to do with it, at least not this year. Draw the conclusions you want from this. But it certainly adds to the mystique that surrounds one of the most mercurial and influential musical artists of our generation.