Louisiana Lands Four Nominations At The 2026 MusicRow Awards
- Louisiana Country Music
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
Nashville's longest-running trade publication has its nominee list out, and Louisiana has three names and four nominations on the ballot. MusicRow Magazine, presented by City National Bank, revealed the nominees for its 38th annual awards across 16 subscriber-voted categories. Voting was limited to MusicRow subscribers and closed August 14, with winners set to be announced online on Wednesday, September 2. Until then, the rest of us are cheering these three on from home.
Here's where our home state shows up on the ballot this year.
Beau Bailey: Breakthrough Songwriter Of The Year
Beau Bailey picked up a nomination for Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year, a category that recognizes writers who broke through with a first Top 10 hit during the eligibility window of June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. Bailey is signed as a songwriter with Ashley Gorley's Tape Room Music, in partnership with Red Light Management, and the last year shows exactly why MusicRow took notice. He broke into the Top 15 of the MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart, with a growing list of cuts that includes HARDY's "Favorite Country Song," George Birge's "Cowboy Songs," Ashley Cooke's "Painted You Pretty" and Pillbox Patti's "Sober." Among those, Blake Shelton's "Stay Country Or Die Tryin'" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in January 2026, Shelton's 31st career chart-topper and Bailey's first, and likely the song that clinched this nomination. We covered how that song came together in our earlier feature on Beau Bailey and Graham Barham.
Graham Barham: Breakthrough Artist-Writer Of The Year
Graham Barham landed a nomination for Breakthrough Artist-Writer of the Year, an award that honors a Nashville songwriter and recording artist who wrote or co-wrote their own first Top 10 country song during the eligibility period. MusicRow credits Barham's breakthrough directly to Blake Shelton's "Stay Country Or Die Tryin'," which he co-wrote alongside Bailey and which marked his own first Top 10 as well. Barham, who grew up in the small north Louisiana town of Oak Ridge, built his name as an artist first, and the numbers behind that rise speak for themselves. His songs have combined for close to 625 million global streams, with two singles certified RIAA Gold, and his 16-track album Club Country includes the radio single "Breakup (Down)" alongside the viral hit "Oil Money" and "Whiskey Rain," featuring Tyler Hubbard. That momentum landed him spots in both the Opry NextStage and MusicRow Next Big Things classes of 2026, plus his own headlining Whiskey Rain Tour.
Lainey Wilson: Female Artist Of The Year And Entertainer Of The Year
Lainey Wilson rounds out the Louisiana contingent with nominations in two of the night's biggest categories: Female Artist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. The Baskin, Louisiana native's eligibility-period résumé reads like an argument for both. In November 2025, she became the first solo female host of the CMA Awards since Reba McEntire in 1991, then won three trophies that same night: Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year for Whirlwind. She tied for the most CMA nominations of the year with six. That same period saw the release of Whirlwind (Deluxe), featuring the single "Somewhere Over Laredo," which went on to earn three Grammy nominations of its own, and a Whirlwind World Tour that carried her across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. She's also set to headline Stagecoach in 2026, capping off an eligibility period that doesn't leave much room for surprise in either category.
What Happens Next
MusicRow will reveal winners across all its platforms on September 2. Bailey and Barham each carry a first Top 10 hit and a growing catalog of their own into their categories, while Wilson carries a year that already includes three CMA wins and a deluxe album into two of the night's biggest races. Four nominations, three careers, one home state watching the same night unfold.
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