Country Music Shut Out of the Super Bowl Halftime Show (again)

The announcement came over the weekend that Kendrick Lamar would be the performer for the Super-bowl 59 halftime show coming up in Feb 2025.

Every year artists show up and dazzle and every year country music gets passed by with many lamenting a missed opportunity. This year it seems a little different. Country music is more popular than it’s been since the early 90’s.

In previous years you had country artists trying to get airplay and crossover into the pop charts with Maren Morris and Dan & Shay. In years gone by Carrie Underwood and Faith Hill have blurred those country/pop lines. Last year Luke Combs recorded a straight cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” and went number one and won several awards for it.

This year though, pop artists have jumped into the realm of Nashville. Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” country album was hailed as a revelation in the industry. “Texas Hold ‘Em” shot up the charts and was number one for weeks. Post Malone had the song of the summer with his hit “I Had Some Help” with country mega star Morgan Wallen, and his “F-1 Trillion” album went number one in it’s very first week. Shaboozey’s “Tipsy” was a smash through the summer too.

It’s hard to imagine that the genre could be more “in” than now. Yet, the NFL and the Super-Bowl in New Orleans next February passed on the moment and agreed to bring rap artist Kendrick Lamar to the Superdome for the halftime show. To be fair he’s had a big year. His beef with Drake caught the attention of audiences far beyond the world of hip hop, and it might break the world if the two of them performed together during the halftime show. Other Hip Hop artists are bemoaning Li’l Wayne being left out. Maybe Lamar will reach out. That would totally work as “Weezy” is from New Orleans.

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That doesn’t mean that a giant opportunity hasn’t been missed. There are some very high profile country artists that are from Louisiana that are currently not committed to be out on tour early next February.

Lainey Wilson the current queen of country, who’s wrangled many awards over the last few years is from Baskin, La. She is also dating former Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Duck Hodges. She hasn’t accomplished enough for a long enough stretch? Okay, how about…..

Tim McGraw the Nashville Legend has cranked out hit after hit since 1994 when “Indian Outlaw” set the tone for McGraw chart toppers for years to come. He’s also married to the aforementioned Faith Hill who is no stranger to bright lights and big crowds. Plus, don’t forget Nelly’s hit “Over and Over” with Tim McGraw that crossed over to success in 2004. He grew up in Start, La.

You could layer the decades of country music with other Louisiana natives like Kix Brooks from Shreveport and Trace Adkins who is from Serepta. Then you could sprinkle in current stars Jordan Davis from also from Shreveport and Dylan Scott from Bastrop.

That’s just country artists from Louisiana, to keep it regional for New Orleans.

Could Kendrick Lamar include any of these artists in his halftime show? Certainly, he’s collaborated with Post Malone previously. There are possibilities.

The last time a country artist got a shot at the Super-bowl spotlight was Shania Twain in 2003. Thirty years ago in 1994 the NFL did lean into the genre that had been wildly popular during the previous few years with Clint Black, Travis Tritt, The Judds and Tanya Tucker.

That was thirty years ago. What does country music have to do to get the attention of the NFL for the halftime show at the football game the globe watches?