Waylon Jennings Reflects on His Complicated History with the Country Music Association: “Haven’t Agreed for a Long Time on a Lot of Things”
Few artists in country music history had a relationship with the Country Music Association (CMA) quite like Waylon Jennings. It was a relationship marked by tension, principle, defiance — and eventually, a measure of mutual respect. In rare interviews from the 1980s, Waylon spoke candidly about that complicated history, famously saying, “We haven’t agreed for a long time on a lot of things.”
And he meant it.
Waylon was nominated for 29 CMA Awards over the course of his career, winning four. But for a man who helped define the outlaw movement, awards were never the goal. Creative control was. Authenticity was. Integrity was. That independent spirit often put him at odds with Nashville institutions.
The first major clash came in 1970, when Waylon was scheduled to perform his 1968 hit “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line.” According to his 1988 autobiography, CMA producers asked him to shorten the performance due to time constraints. Waylon didn’t take kindly to being told to trim his song. When given an ultimatum — do it their way or leave — he chose to leave. In typical Jennings fashion, he refused to compromise on principle.
But the tension didn’t end there.
At the 1975 CMA Awards, Waylon was nominated in multiple major categories, including Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year. He won Male Vocalist of the Year, but even that moment carried friction. When he took the stage to accept the award, his speech was brief and dry:
“Thank you, they told me to be nice, I don’t know what they meant by that. Thank you.”
It was classic Waylon — understated, pointed, unapologetic.
Behind the scenes, he had concerns about what he saw as unfair voting practices, particularly block voting by major labels. In a vintage 1984 interview, shortly after returning to perform his full-length song “America” on the CMA stage, Waylon explained his frustration more directly:
“We haven’t agreed for a long time on a lot of things. But we talked about the voting procedure… and I think it’s fairer now. The big companies don’t control it like they did.”
For Waylon, the issue wasn’t ego. It was fairness. He believed awards should reflect artistry, not corporate influence. And unlike many artists — then or now — he was willing to speak publicly about it.
Ironically, despite the rocky relationship, Waylon was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Even then, he maintained his independence, choosing not to attend the induction ceremony and sending his son to accept the honor instead. When asked about it, he said simply that it meant something to his kids — and that was enough.
In the end, the friction between Waylon Jennings and the CMA wasn’t about bitterness. It was about conviction. He wasn’t interested in playing the game. He was interested in playing the music.
And that’s why his story still resonates.
Waylon Jennings didn’t need awards to validate his legacy.
He built it on his own terms.