Country Singer Explains Why She Steers Clear of Award Shows: “It’s Been Very Dicey”

2026 marks 10 years since Maren Morris arrived on the country music scene with her major-label debut Hero. Hitting the ground running, her first single, “My Church,” climbed to the Top 5 of the country songs chart and won the Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance.

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However, after releasing two additional albums, the outspoken social justice advocate announced she was leaving the genre behind in a September 2023 interview with the Los Angeles Times. Her latest record, last year’s Dreamsicle, somewhat defies categorization, something Morris resisted even when she was still foremost a country music performer. More than two years after that official pivot, the “’80s Mercedes” singer recently admitted that she now finds Nashville a much less hospitable place on a personal level.

Maren Morris Is Discovering Her “Own Weird Music Space”

Responding to a fan’s comment on TikTok, Maren Morris lamented the politically charged landscape of country music over the last decade.

While she is grateful to have carved out “my own weird music space,” Morris says, “It’s really heartbreaking, because I love my Texas roots. I love country music, I love Nashville… I’ve not lived anywhere else in the last 13 years.”

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“But,” she continued, “it’s been very hot. No one is very friendly. Some people are cool, but like, it’s been very dicey at these awards shows and s—. And I don’t really go to them anymore, but it’s been very heated… There are people and energies in the sphere of my work the last few years that have really put me off.”

[RELATED: Maren Morris Takes Aim at Country Music “Cosplayers”: ”That’s Never Been Me”]

While acknowledging she has distanced herself from the genre, Morris cannot simply reject her wiring. “I still love country music, obviously. There’s no choice—like, I grew up in it… It’s in your bones,” she said. “It’s in your DNA.”

So too, however, is standing on her personal values and writing lyrics that reflect them. “I’m here as an observant songwriter. I just write about what I see and what I feel,” said the five-time CMA Award winner. “And sometimes you break trends with even the machine that made you successful, and that’s OK.”

Featured image by Craig T Fruchtman/Getty Images