Overview

• At the 2025 American Music Awards Megan Moroney read that the Carter Family “basically invented country music,” prompting Shaboozey to side-eye the claim and laugh onstage.
• Shaboozey posted on X to stress that his reaction was aimed at the overstatement itself and urged fans to research contributors such as Lesley Riddle and DeFord Bailey.
• The Country Music Hall of Fame honors the Carter Family as country’s first family, but music historians trace the genre’s roots deeper into African-American folk and banjo traditions.
• Beyoncé’s country album Cowboy Carter won Favorite Female Country Artist and Favorite Country Album at the AMAs, underscoring growing recognition of Black artists in the genre.
• The exchange has intensified Nashville conversations about racial representation and renewed efforts to broaden country music’s historical narrative.