Charley Crockett is on a tear right now, and has been on a tear for years really, finally putting him at or near the top tier of independent country performers not supported by radio, and threatening to break into the mainstream now that he’s on a major label. Crockett’s new album Dollar A Day released on August 8th is a killer, cinematic work with both stellar singles like “All Around Cowboy” and “Tennessee Quick Cash,” and a great cover to cover listen as well.
Crockett has also been making more and more public pronouncements that make you want to pump your fists, ranting about the music business, and making David Goggins-like motivational points that get your blood pumping. His recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience really gave some great insights and exposed the wisdom behind Charley Crockett’s rise.
But during the Joe Rogan appearance, and as part of a recent social media rant, Crockett also exhibited his propensity sometimes to get slightly ahead of his skis. Some of the things he said in the viral post making reference to Morgan Wallen, Beyoncé, and Gavin Adcock were spot on. Other things he said were just empirically false. And now of course, country music’s Town Drunk in the form of Gavin Adcock has chimed in.
Here is the Charley Crockett post in total. Then we’ll break down some of what he has to say.
Hey country folks. @beyonce ain’t the source of your discontent. It was 25 years of bro country. #1 country artist on earth listen’s to nothing but rap. Openly says he doesn’t really know any country music. Gotta respect his honesty. The machine points to a black woman who’s making a statement about marginalized people being removed from the conversation altogether, and somehow we all act like the entire pop industry didn’t just ambush roots music. These “country boys” been *singing* over trap beats for years. So what’s different now? Authenticity. Many of those business folks called me early on. They had whole albums pre written and recorded ready to just plug me in. I have receipts. It’s harder than ever to keep the public’s attention. They said and I quote “we wanna get into country music where you have audience loyalty.” Hot today, forgot tomorrow. I don’t need to put down a black woman to advance my music. That’s just embarrassing to the idea of America and I got no respect for it. Somebody asked me why I listen to @bigxthaplug the other day. Easy. He’s genuine. A true story teller. The best hip hop sound to come out of Texas in this century. The challenges country music faces aren’t unique. It’s an issue in every *genre*. I don’t have a problem with Americana. I have a problem with being compartmentalized by the music business. Outlaw as a *sub genre* of country was artists standing up for their rights against a rigid system. Ain’t no reason to imitate @officialwaylon and @willienelsonofficial if you ain’t about the fight. Texas forever.
Hey country folks. @beyonce ain’t the source of your discontent … These “country boys” been *singing* over trap beats for years.
Charley Crockett is 100% right about this. Though there hasn’t been “25 years of bro country,” being permissive to the Bro-Country era, and allowing artists like Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and even Blake Shelton to have country rap hits with trap beats is what created the avenue for someone like Beyoncé to release a song like “Texas Hold ‘Em,” and it not be entirely far afield from what country radio already featured, including from appropriating White dudes like Morgan Wallen.
This is the reason it was so important to fight back against Bro-Country in its era, and to continue to criticize Morgan Wallen’s music as being characterized as “country,” especially his current album I’m The Problem, which actually leans into these hip-hop influences even more compared to his previous albums that featured a surprising amount of more traditional country sounds.
Morgan Wallen is “the problem,” and it does create a double standard when you accuse Beyoncé of not being country, but give Morgan Wallen a pass.
“It was 25 years of bro country.”
This is just a unfortunate, false characterization, even if perhaps slightly unimportant to Charley’s overall point. Even in the most liberal interpretations of the Bro-Country era, the subgenre hasn’t been around for 15 years, let alone 25. Even if you put the start of Bro-Country with Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem” from 2011, and assume we’re still in the Bro-Country era today, that still only gives you 14 years. The widely-recognized start of Bro-Country is Florida Georgia Line and the song “Cruise” from 2012. This was the moment that had journalist Jody Rosen coining the “Bro-Country” term.
Also, some mark the end of Bro-Country as early as 2015 with Chris Stapleton shocking the country world at the 2015 CMA Awards, and the explosion of “Tennessee Whiskey” with Justin Timberlake. Sure, some consider us still in the Bro-Country era with Morgan Wallen and some others, but that doesn’t take into account the rise of independents like Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers, and now the neotraditional resurgence with Zach Top.
What preceded Bro-Country? It was an unprecedented era of pop, with Taylor Swift winning the CMA Entertainer of the Year in 2009 and 2011. It was Kenny Chesney winning Entertainer of the Year all but one year between 2004-2008. It was the rise of Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, and Sugarland. There was nothing “Bro” about it, and there was little rap, Black, or electronic beat influence to the music. Some do finger Toby Keith as the godfather of Bro-Country, but he wasn’t dominating or a major force in country after the mid oughts.
“#1 country artist on earth listen’s to nothing but rap. Openly says he doesn’t really know any country music. Gotta respect his honesty.”
This is mostly true, but not 100%. Morgan Wallen is definitely the #1 artist in country. And when Theo Vonn asked him what he thought about Zach Top, Morgan Wallen answered that he “doesn’t listen to country music a whole lot.” Yes, this says a lot about country music and its #1 star, and how he’s just as much influenced by hip-hop as he is country, if not more.
“The machine points to a black woman who’s making a statement about marginalized people being removed from the conversation altogether, and somehow we all act like the entire pop industry didn’t just ambush roots music.”
This is where Crockett starts getting a little confused and in the weeds with his statement. First off, “The Machine” of country music in no way pointed to a Black woman as being a problem. A two-bit, third tier up-and-coming mainstream country star did in Gavin Adcock, while outlets like Saving Country Music, NPR, The Washington Post, and others pointed out the empirical fact that Beyoncé said herself, “This ain’t a country album.”
Nonetheless, when serviced to it, country radio played “Texas Hold ‘Em.” When submitted to them, the Grammy Awards accepted Cowboy Carter in country, and gave it a Grammy, and the all genre Album of the Year. Cowboy Carter was placed on Billboard’s country charts. The reason Gavin Adcock ranted against Beyoncé is because she was beating him on the country iTunes charts.
At no point was Beyoncé denied entry into country. Cowboy Carter was in no way gatekept or marginalized. It was given carte blanche in the country arena. Yet still, people love to point back at her as some sort of victim. She was incredibly successful in her country era, at least from a critical standpoint.
Then when Crockett says, “we all act like the entire pop industry didn’t just ambush roots music,” he seems to be attempting to marginalize Beyoncé’s major role in this very ambush. In large part, she spearheaded it.
We talked about the eras of country music above, and when Bro-Country might have started and ended. What era are we in now? It’s a double era, existing in two completely separate worlds. The first era is a massive resurgence in the roots of country music, bringing back twangy sounds, strong songwriting, and “authenticity,” which Crockett also talks about in his statement, and which Crockett is very much a part of.
The other half of this era is this “ambush” of roots music symbolized by Beyoncé, Post Malone, and BigXthaPlug, who Crockett also brings up positively later in his statement. While potentially trying to defend diversity in country music which is adminrable and important, Crockett sort of misses the problem people have with Beyoncé and BigXthaPlug being called country that goes beyond race.
There are plenty of Black artists already in country making actual country music. Charley Crockett is one of them. And unfortunately, Beyoncé didn’t really shine a spotlight on them, however much she might of tried (or didn’t). She overshadowed these Black country artists with her celebrity.
“I don’t need to put down a black woman to advance my music. That’s just embarrassing to the idea of America and I got no respect for it.”
This is clearly a call out of Gavin Adcock, though it would have been better if Charley Crockett had named names here. When you don’t name names, you create collateral damage. In this case, it can come across like Crockett is saying the entire country industry was trying to “put down” Beyoncé because she was a Black woman.
That said, as Saving Country Music proclaimed at the time Gavin Adcock called out Beyoncé in late June, this is not the buffoon we want representing country music, or taking up the mantle of attempting to explain the important, but complex and nuanced argument of why Cowboy Carter shouldn’t be considered country. Also, at this point, it really is time to let the Beyoncé issue go. It happened. Cowboy Carter wasn’t even called country by Beyoncé, but it won the Grammy. Present all the facts to the public, and let history hash out what happens from here.
And in fact, perhaps that would have been sage advice for Charley Crockett here too, because now Gavin Adcock has responded, which only keeps this whole issue in the news a little longer, and continues to help make Gavin Adcock an undeserving folk hero among that low information crowd in country that includes a lot of racists. Upon Crockett’s pronouncement, Adcock fired back,
“Somebody needs to tell the ‘act’ that has let out (the cover) of James town ferry 6 times he should just work on letting out quality original music. I got more cowshit under my pinky then you have seen your whole fuc-in life. Hank sr called and asked about the cosplay cowboy”
And so now you have folks tearing apart Charley Crockett—one of the few Black artists in country music actually making country music.
Charley Crockett does make a very important point about the hypocrisy some bring to the table when they criticize Beyoncé being called country, but stay mum when it comes to Morgan Wallen. But Crockett’s statement perhaps wasn’t thought out as well as it could have been. That has created openings for folks to tear it apart entirely, and to attack Charley.
That said, Crockett wasn’t trying to make some grand pronouncement. It was simply a social media post. But as Crockett continues to rise in popularity and prominence due to the strength of his music and his dogged worth ethic, he might be smart to try and choose his words a little more wisely. Because if not, the Gavin Adcock’s of the world will come knocking, trying to bring Crockett down to their level where he doesn’t belong.
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