Reba Rips the CMAs

Reba McEntire's up for the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year. She holds the record (tied with Martina McBride) for the most wins in that category, but she hasn't won the award in 20 years. Hasn't been nominated for it in three.

But Reba's miffed about her competition. Not who's nominated, but who's not. Specifically, Faith Hill.

“Why wasn’t Faith Hill nominated for Female?” she asked rhetorically during our recent interview for a USA Today piece. “She’s been out there in front of more people than anybody. I don’t get it. I don’t get the politics.”

Reba wasn’t real happy about the way the Entertainer of the Year nominees shook out, either. She believes that not only Faith but Martina McBride earned finalist spots in that category.

“It was wrong this year,” Reba said. “Martina’s really come a long way. She’s done a lot of great things for country music, and we should’ve supported her. Faith Hill, should’ve supported her. Faith Hill was in front of more people than anybody. Should’ve supported her. We should’ve put her as Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist – now, why wasn’t she either one?”

Personally, I can understand the logic of Faith not getting one of the Entertainer slots. Yes, her Soul2Soul tour with husband Tim McGraw was one of the year’s biggest – and any single headliner pulling those kind of numbers would have been a shoo-in for a final nomination. But, if you’re a CMA voter, how do you vote for one of those entertainers without voting for her/his spouse? If you vote for one, you split the vote – meaning Tim and Faith get half the votes an act of their stature would normally receive. And if you vote for both, you’re casting two votes for one tour. And was Soul2Soul really twice as big as tours from the other acts under consideration?

“It doesn’t matter,” Reba says. “They should’ve been nominated. They’re having the biggest tours out there. What is that called – Entertainers? What is this?

“No, they both should’ve been nominated as Entertainer of the Year.”

Okay, so let’s see what that would mean – and this is an area I couldn’t get Reba to bite on during the interview: If Faith, Tim and Martina all should’ve had Entertainer of the Year nominations, who shouldn't have gotten one?

Let’s assume you keep last year’s winner, Kenny Chesney. He is, after all, the only country act currently filling stadiums. It’s hard to argue with Rascal Flatts nomination. After all, they were the best-selling act in music last year – and this year, only Kanye West has beaten the first-week numbers for Me & My Gang.

That leaves Brad Paisley, George Strait and Keith Urban. Do you lose all three to get in Tim, Faith and Martina? Brad’s tour didn’t outsell Soul2Soul, but did Soul2Soul, with its two headliners, double the business that Brad did? And I don't have figures in front of me, but I’m pretty sure Brad put up bigger tour numbers that Martina. Keith’s CD sales have been a bit of a disappointment and the rehab stint put a serious drag on his momentum, so maybe you switch him out. And George – who’s one of the few artists to ever get an Entertainer of the Year nomination after going into the Country Music Hall of Fame – didn’t have a spectacular year, though he’s stronger at radio than he’s been in a while and he could’ve filled stadiums if he’d wanted to. But, really, it boils down to this: No matter how much you think Faith, Tim or Martina deserved an Entertainer of the Year nomination, do you really want to be the person who says George Strait didn’t?