The Traveller and The Trucker: Chris Stapleton & Jason Isbell Dominate The Nashville Scene's 16th Annual Country Music Critics Poll

Honored to have been asked to participate in this poll.
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(Press Release) Today the Nashville Scene publishes the 16th annual Country Music Critics Poll, the genre’s most respected measure of critical consensus. The 82 voting journalists from all over North America and beyond ranked Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell #1 and #2 respectively in the categories of Best Album, Best Male Vocalist, Best Songwriter and Artist of the Year categories. The two men also placed three songs between them in the Best Singles top 10. And they did it with little support from country radio till the bandwagon was already rolling.
 
Other big winners include Little Big Town (Best Single and Best Duo or Group), Cam (Best New Artist), Bob Dylan (#1 and #2 Best Reissue), Ashley Monroe (Best Female Vocalist) and the Mavericks (Best Live Act). Kacey Musgraves, Eric Church and Willie Nelson also got a lot of support in the voting.
 
The Nashville Scene’s coverage of the poll includes all the results, an exclusive interview with Stapleton, an essay on the results by poll editor Geoffrey Himes, an analysis of the numbers and comments from many of the voters.
 
The voters included writers from for big coastal newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal as well as smaller heartland dailies such as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Woonsocket Call and Lincoln Journal Star. They wrote for big magazines like Rolling Stone, Billboard and the Smithsonian and for music websites such as Pitchfork.com, CountryUniverse.net and PopMatters.com.
 
See the results & read the essays here:
 
The results: http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/results-of-the-2015-nashville-scene-country-music-critics-poll/Content?oid=6325160
 
The essay: http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/how-chris-stapleton-and-jason-isbell-triumphed-without-country-radio/Content?oid=6325119
 
The interview: http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/a-conversation-with-chris-stapleton/Content?oid=6325131
 
The data analysis: http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/selected-factoids-from-the-2015-country-music-critics-poll/Content?oid=6325128
 
The comments: http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/the-comments-cmcp-2016/Content?oid=6325121

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