It wasn't a Grammy performance or a surprise winner that seized the spotlight at the 2025 American Music Awards in Las Vegas, but it was the face of Shaboozey. The incident occurred onstage during a live presentation at the Fontainebleau Hotel, with Shaboozey and Megan Moroney present at hand to present the Favorite Country Band/Duo/Group award. The vibes flowed until Moroney hit with a line that brought Shaboozey to a standstill.
Moroney declared: "This award went to The Carter Family, basically inventors of country music."
Shaboozey, already on top of the world with the success of his breakout single "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," didn't even have to say anything. The expression he shot the audience, a cocktail of disbelief and disappointment wrapped around a tiny seed of humoristic restraint, quickly sparked memes and conversations on social media.
"Shaboozey just side-eyed the shit out of Megan for saying the Carter Family created country music. Iconic," one viewer posted. Another seconded: "Yes, The Carter Family shaped the country, but Invented it? Bit of a stretch."
Fans were on the case, leaps and bounds ahead of it, to argue in her defense using perhaps the most retold cliché of all time: " Don't shoot the messenger." But the larger tension of that moment, one that can't be shrugged off as a flub, reflects a conversation about the state of country music and where it's going that is very much still happening.
The Carter Family did contribute to defining early country music in the 1920s and '30s. Their harmonies, songwriting, and influence are undeniable. But calling them the genre's originators oversimplifies history and erases an integral part of it.
Behind Carter's music, however, was a Black man named Lesley Riddle. Call him a guitarist, songwriter, and mentor: Riddle showed the Carter Family many songs that paved the way for their legacy. His work was seminal, but his name is seldom mentioned in the popular narrative of the country's birth.
Shaboozey's response was not just a memorable moment but was a silent protest, a reminder, and a certain amount of "ahem" amid a glittering awards show.
Country music is rich, messy, and layered. It is an Appalachian ballad and Delta blues. It's cowboy hats, steel strings, and much-borrowed sound from Black America. And if anybody is in a position to keep that conversation going, it's artists like Shaboozey who are paying tribute to tradition while simultaneously deconstructing it.
Dan and Shay may have won that trophy that night, but when it comes to the most lasting moment, Shaboozey's eyebrow rise takes the cake.
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