Some would argue most all music awards are virtually meaningless. But if there was one award that you could argue was more meaningless than others, it would be the Billboard Music Awards. Since they’re preordained through statistical calculations, folks can figure out the winners of most of the awards well before they’re announced if you keep up with Billboard’s charts. That’s why this week’s 2024 Billboard Music Awards on Thursday (12/12) felt perfunctory at best.
When it comes to The Red Clay Strays though, it’s the statistical nature of the award that makes their win for Top Country Duo or Group so significant. In 2024, no duo or group in the entirety of the country music industry garnered more spins or sales than The Red Clay Strays. Not Old Dominion, who’s won the CMA Vocal Group of the Year seven years running, or Little Big Town who won it the six years before that, or Lady Antebellum who won it from 2009-2011.
The Red Clay Strays also beat out all of mainstream country music’s duos like Dan + Shay, Brothers Osborne, and even Brooks & Dunn, who won the 2024 CMA for Duo of the Year in November. We know how performers not found on country radio face an uphill battle with awards. But for The Red Clay Strays, they couldn’t be denied behind the extremely strong reception for their 2024 album Made By These Moments.
This truly is yet another landmark moment in the independent/non-radio supported insurgency in country music. Despite all the adversity and discounting from the rest of the industry, The Red Clay Strays came out on top through grassroots support.
Granted, the recognition was also facilitated by the considerably weak field that country music “duos” and “groups” constitute these days. But it just might be grassroots performers like The Red Clay Strays who can return some much needed strength to this category that historically has seen some massive competitors, including The Dixie Chicks, Alabama, The Judds, and the aforementioned Brooks & Dunn.
Somewhat ironically, The Red Clay Strays have let it be known that they don’t really consider themselves “country” music. They don’t make that claim disparagingly. It’s just an honest assessment of their sound which draws much more heavily from the early rock sound of the Sun Records era as opposed to country influences. But they’re more “country” than they are anything else. And with quality songs and musicianship, country should be proud to claim The Red Clay Strays as their own.
As great as 2024 has been for The Red Clay Strays, 2025 promises to be even better. They enter the new year an undeniable headliner, crowning festival posters and selling out theaters left and right. Don’t be surprised if you see these boys from Alabama break into arenas in the coming year, and don’t pass up the opportunity to see them in relatively smaller venues while you still can.
