Shaboozey was on hand to present at the American Music Awards this weekend — and he had no time for misinformation about the history of country music.
The country hitmaker, 30, presented Favorite Country Duo or Group at the awards show on Monday, May 26, with fellow singer-songwriter Megan Moroney, but he couldn’t hide his annoyance at one line she read off the teleprompter.
“Country music has been an important part of AMA history,” Shaboozey began. “The very first year of this show, the award for Favorite Male Country Artist went to the great Charley Pride.”
Moroney, 27, continued, “That same year, Favorite Female [Country] Artist went to Lynn Anderson, and this award went to the Carter Family, who basically invented country music.”
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It was the latter half of that sentence that Shaboozey seemingly had a problem with, as he turned to Moroney and rolled his eyes. He then let out a little laugh before continuing to list off the nominees in the category. (Dan + Shay took home this year’s trophy.)
While it is true that the Carter Family is known as the “First Family of Country Music” because of their early contributions to the genre, they drew heavily on the work of Black guitarist Lesley Riddle, who traveled around Appalachia with A.P. Carter on his song-collecting trips. The Carter Family recorded several of Riddle’s compositions, and Maybelle Carter incorporated elements of his guitar playing into her style.
The banjo, meanwhile, traces its origins to Africa, despite its contemporary association with American bluegrass.
“Black people invented the banjo!” country musician Rhiannon Giddens explained to Variety in 2023. “History isn’t simple — especially American history, which is super complicated because of the way that America came to be and the amounts of different cultures that mixed and mingled, and the economic juggernaut that was slavery. The banjo is existing in this world. And I guess what I want people to understand is that you can’t talk about the banjo without talking about slavery. You have to talk about slavery, you have to talk about minstrelsy, you have to talk about the segregation of American music. Those are the three main points. And if you’re not talking about those things when you talk about the banjo, then you’re just serving a simplified narrative that’s actually doing us harm, because it’s not just simplified, it’s actually false.”
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Giddens’ banjo-playing was sampled on Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em,” which appeared on her country album, Cowboy Carter. (Shaboozey is also featured on the record, which won three Grammys this year.)
Earlier this month, Shaboozey said that being a Black artist in country music is one of his strengths.
“I loved that there was so much room for some diversity in the space and to stand out. I love standing out,” he told People. “I love that I’m different. I think it’s my superpower. [I’m] not feeling like I’m not allowed in this space because of the way I look or the way I dress or the way I present myself. If anything, hopefully it opens doors for people.”
