Rodney Atkins says he and Rose Falcon will not attend this year’s CMA Awards after being denied red-carpet clearance for the 2026 CMA Awards, turning a private complaint into a public break with the event.
Atkins posted a video message to fans on Saturday and said the decision followed a similar post from Sammy Kershaw. He said he felt sympathetic toward Kershaw after reading that complaint, and then said the same thing had happened to him and Falcon.
“After more than 20 years as a CMA member and countless CMA Fests I’ve played for free, Rose and I were denied red-carpet clearance just like Sammy Kershaw. So we’ve decided not to attend this year’s CMA Awards,” Atkins said in his message. That is the sharp part of the story: a longtime member of the Country Music Association saying he has spent more than two decades inside the organization’s orbit, yet still says he was shut out at the door.
Kershaw said on Thursday that he had been delisted from the red carpet, setting off a dispute that now has two country artists saying the same thing. The Country Music Association had not publicly responded to either comment at the time of the article, leaving the reason for the denials unexplained and the question of whether that will change before the 2026 CMA Awards still open.
Atkins is a 90s and 2000s country scene alum whose name is tied to songs including “Watching You” and “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows).” For now, the immediate result is simple: he has drawn a line, Rose Falcon is with him, and the CMA Awards will go on without them unless the Country Music Association chooses to answer.
