Jason Aldean To Zac Brown “Nobody Gives A Shit What You Think”

(This story has been updated. See below)

The war of words concerning the state of country music continues, with Jason Aldean being the latest to enter the fray. Responding to comments by Zac Brown in a recent radio interview, Jason Aldean took to his Instagram account to call out Zac Brown for calling Luke Bryan’s current #1 hit “That’s My Kind Of Night” the “worst song ever.”

I hear some other artist are bashing my boy @lukebryan new song, sayin its the worst song they have ever heard…….. To those people runnin their mouths, trust me when i tell u that nobody gives a shit what u think. Its a big ol hit so apparently the fans love it which is what matters. Keep doin ur thing LB!!!

In an interview on 93.7 JR FM in Vancouver, Canada last week with Barbara Beam, Zac Brown said in part:

I love Luke Bryan and he’s had some great songs, but this new song is the worst song I’ve ever heard. I know Luke, he’s a friend. ‘My Kind Of Night’ is one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. I see it being commercially successful, in what is called country music these days, but I also feel like that the people deserve something better than that. Country fans and country listeners deserve to have something better than that, a song that really has something to say, something that makes you feel something. Good music makes you feel something. When songs make me wanna throw up, it makes me ashamed to even be in the same genre as those songs.

Zac Brown also went on to say, “If I hear one more tailgate in the moonlight, daisy duke song, I’m gonna throw up.” 

READ: I Give A Shit, Jason Aldean. I do. (A Rant)

Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean both hail from Georgia, and both appear together on the recent single “The Only Way I Know” that also includes Eric Church. Aldean’s backlash continues a war of words, with many mainstream artists coming out against the current direction of country music. Alan Jackson last week said there was “No country stuff left” on country radio. Gary Allan in an interview with Larry King recently said, “We’ve lost our genre.” And Kacey Musgraves, who was just nominated for 6 CMA Awards, has spoken out numerous times recently, saying in late August that she was tired of Affliction T Shirts and truck songs.

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UPDATE (9-19-13 1:20 PM CDT): One of the songwriters for Luke Bryan’s “That’s My Kind Of Night” has come out in defense of Luke and his song. Professional songwriter Dallas Davidson, also responsible for such hits as “Honky Tonk Badonka Donk” and Luke’s other big hit  “Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” telling Roughstock in part:

When Luke called and told me about it, the first thing I did was sit there and soak it in. A comment like that will hurt your feelings because when you write a song, it’s kind of like one of your babies. To hear a successful artist say it was the worst song he’s heard and it makes him want to throw up, that’s just not cool. I’m sure a lot of stuff like that has been said behind closed doors, and everybody has their right to their opinion, but to come out publicity and dog on other artists and dog on a song and the songwriters, to me, is just unacceptable and it’s not nice.

Zac Brown also specifically called out the songwriters in his initial comments, saying, “You can look and see some of the same songwriters on every one of the songs. There’s been like 10 number one songs in the last two or three years that were written by the same people and it’s the exact same words, just arranged different ways.”

Dallas Davidson continues:

We write songs for a living. We write about what we know about. What I know about is sitting on a tailgate drinking a beer. Hell I live on the river. When Luke called me to tell me about what happened, I was literally smoking Boston butts on my homemade cooker at my 800 square foot river house with about four of my buddies with their trucks backed up, sitting on a tailgate. And they want to know why we talk about tailgates in songs ”¦ well that’s because we’re sitting on them. We did that 25 years ago, and we’re still doing it. I can’t write about things I don’t know about. Fortunately, there’s a lot of people in this country who do what I do. To say that that kind of song doesn’t fit in our genre is mind boggling because it absolutely does…..My mom always told me if you don’t have nothing nice to say, then don’t say it at all.

Texas country star Jack Ingram has also chimed in. Last night Luke Bryan performed “That’s My Kind Of Night” on the TV show America’s Got Talent. Ingram took to his Twitter and Instagram feed to first ask if Luke Bryan was singing a Lady Gaga song, and later said, “It’s not the words, it’s that melody..Whoa ah whoa ah oh ah from the Gaga song…is the same as “cook up catfash dinna” etc!”

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UPDATE (9-20-13 12:45 PM CDT): For those wondering why Jason Aldean came to the defense of Luke Bryan and “That’s My Kind Of Night,” it might be because Jason Aldean wanted to cut the song himself. In an interview with Country Countdown USA‘s Lon Helton, Aldean says, “I thought it was great. I wanted it. I wanted to cut it. I’ve figured that out over my career. When we put out ‘Dirt Road Anthem,’ there’s gonna be people that are gonna bash you for it. ‘Rap has no place in country,’ whatever. People either like it or they don’t. Hopefully there’s a market for it. So I think [‘That’s My Kinda Night’ is] a hit, and I was hoping Luke wouldn’t cut it so I could have it.”

Also Justin Moore has spoken out about the feud, telling Nashville Gab in part, “Everybody has their own opinions, and I don’t have a problem with people having their own opinions, but where I do have a problem with it is when you call out somebody in your fraternity.”

UPDATE (9-21-13 5:50 PM CDT): A few more country personalities have chimed in.

Will Hoge through Twitter: “Millionaires arguing about who is ‘more country’ cracks me up. Trust me, farm hands and factory workers are countrier than both y’all. Shhh!”

Blake Shelton through Twitter: “So happy there’s a shit storm going on with some artists in country music and for once I’m NOT in the middle of it.. This calls for a drink!”

UPDATE (9-26-13 7:45 CDT): Jason Aldean has spoken once again on the feud, telling The Province:

Look, as an artist you’re not going to like everything every other artist does. There’s certain artists I really like what they do and certain artists I’m not that big of a fan. But I’m not publicly going to go out and trash ’em. “I know Zac, I don’t have anything against the guy, he’s always been cool to me, but I didn’t like that. And of course Luke’s one of my best friends and it rubbed me wrong. You don’t have to go out and say those things. I don’t agree with any artist bashing another artist.

Also songwriter Adam Hood took to his Twitter page to say, “Thank you zac brown for speaking up and giving “the rest of us” a voice!”