Johnny Cash is such a legend, surely he’s won every major award country music has to offer … right?
Wrong.
In fact, The Man in Black never won a single trophy at one of the genre’s biggest annual awards shows: The ACM Awards.
The ACMs ceremony was first held in 1966 and started being televised six years later, in 1972. Buck Owens, Roy Clark and. Glen Campbell were big winners at early ceremonies, and Merle Haggard won the show’s coveted Entertainer of the Year trophy the first time it was handed out in 1971.
Cash died in 2003, giving him a generous four decades of overlap with the ACMs. But he never won at the ceremony, in any category.
The superstar was much more successful at country music’s other big awards show, the CMA Awards, where he won nine lifetime trophies, including Entertainer of the Year in 1969 and three Album of the Year victories.
But Cash’s shutout at the ACMs wasn’t exactly a snub.
Actually, the reason why he never won there was pretty simple: The ACM Awards were started as a way to highlight West Coast country music. An Arkansas native who came up in the music world in Memphis and Nashville, Cash simply didn’t qualify as a West Coast performer.
Technically, the ACMs’ definition of “West Coast country” includes any country music made by artists in the Western 13 United States; in practice, that typically translated to California country: Legends including Haggard, Owens and Lee Greenwood either hailed from California or made their musical claim to fame in the state.
That Western focus helps explain why the ACM Awards spent so much time being broadcast from Las Vegas. Before the show moved to Sin City in 2003, the show was held in a variety of Los Angeles-area venues.
More recently, though, the ACMs has shifted away from focusing exclusively on Western stars, and more towards recognition of the format’s biggest stars, period. It’s sort of a counterpoint to the CMAs, and sometimes, the reigning Entertainer of the Year at the two awards shows is the very same artist.
The ACM Awards are country music’s oldest awards show, and the history of the event holds plenty more twists and turns.
Read More: How to Watch the 2025 ACM Awards (And When!)
These days, the ACMs take place in Texas. In 2025, the show will be held in Frisco, Texas for the third year running.
The 2025 ACM Awards will take place on Thursday, May 8 and stream live on Amazon Prime Video. Reba McEntire is hosting the show.
Remember: The best way to watch the ACMs is on CBS with ToC on your phone!
Johnny Cash’s historic former home in Memphis is currently on the market, and pictures show a charming property that’s worth every penny of its asking price.
Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker
See What the ACM Awards Looked Like in 2000: