During the American Music Awards aired, there was a strange moment when breakout country stars Megan Moroney and Shaboozey took to the stage in Las Vegas and presented their favourite country duo or group awards.
After being a vocalist for “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Moloney, who focused on the groundbreaking victory of African-American performer Charlie Pride’s 1974 Best Country Album and genre favorite male artist of the year, stated that in 1974, his favorite female artist went to Lynn Anderson and his favorite country duo or crew invented country music.
At that point in the script, Shaboozey paused, pulled out his eyebrows, then gave him a short laugh and presented the candidates for the category. Dan + Shay won.
Shaboozey had a reason to be unsatisfied.
The basic country icon The Carter family was one of the early breakout stars of the genre, but they were far from the genre’s inventors.
Here’s what you need to know about the Amas moments and the Carter family:
Who are Megan Moloney and Shaboosie?
Megan Moloney, a native of Georgia, was the 2024 Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association’s best new artists.
Over the past two years, she has released two Billboard Top 10 Country and Top 10 All-Genre Albums. “Lucky” and “Am I OK?” – we got a consistent top 20 country radio rotation for songs like “Tennessee Orange” and “no caller id.”
As for Shaboosie, her Virginia career began in 2024 after appearing on Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album, which explored the black roots of country music. He tracked the guest spots with his own large single, “Bar Song (TIPSY).”
This isn’t the first nasty interaction he’s had with the music industry since. His name is a punchline of some jokes at the Country Music Association Awards in November, and not all of them have landed. Born in Collins Ovinna Chibueze, he told Billboard that he picked up the stage name in high school when a soccer coach mistook him.
Who is the Carter Family? How do they fit into the history of country music?
Many returned the roots of country music to the West African instrument banjo, and went back to the 17th century, when black Africans were first brought to America as enslaved people. The third century, when this tradition intertwined with English, German, Latin, Scotch-Irish folk traditions, ultimately created the roots of what is considered “traditional” country music.
Record executive and producer Ralph Pier recorded acts in 1927 in Bristol, on the border of Tennessee, Virginia, in which he recorded acts including the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers (fame of “Blue Yodel No. 9”). Black inspiration wasn’t too far away.
Shaboozey will be attending the 2025 American Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 26, 2025.
Leslie Riddle, a black artist familiar to the nearby Appalachian Horrors, taught Associated Press Carter, her sister-in-law “mother” Mabel Carter and Mabel’s sister Sarah the best songs from the area.
“I was (AP’s) tape recorder,” Riddle once told the birthplace of the Country Music Museum.
In particular, he was taught songs such as “The Cannonball,” “Let the Church Roll On,” and “Coal Miner’s Blues,” a six-month trip that Associated Press Carter filmed with Riddle. Not happy to stop there, he helped Mabel Carter develop the famous “Carter Scratch” guitar style, featuring in many Carter family songs, including “Wildwood Flower.”
By the time of 1974, the Carter family mentioned at the 2025 American Music Awards had become a legacy of two generations. After the death of Associated Press in 1960, “Mother” Mabel Carter and the Carter Sisters began using the name “Carter Family” for their actions.
Leslie Riddle’s Legacy
Although he was instrumental in the Carter family’s legacy, in the 1940s, Leslie Riddle left music.
“There was no music career that year, but Leslie didn’t try to create a music career,” African-American author singer-songwriter and ethnomusicologist Don Fremons told Tennessee for a 2019 story.
However, in 1965, at the request of folklorist Mike Seger, who recorded Riddle’s songs and stories before his death in 1980, the legendary performer began to perform again.
Riddle was one of many black musicians who influenced the country’s first boom. Arnold Schultz, Western Kentucky, influenced bluegrass legend Bill Monroe. Young Hank Williams received “all the music training I’ve ever had” from Black Alabama Bluesman Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne.
This article originally appeared in Nashville Tennessee: What you need to know about the Carter Family’s response to Shaboozey’s AMAS script.
