If Morgan Wallen was a young male suitor in pursuit of your sister or daughter, he would be one of those beaus where it is undeniable they are trouble, with not just red flags flying right out in the open, but a rap sheet to back up these presuppositions. This is Morgan Wallen’s career and music in a nutshell.
You can palpably feel the IQ points fleeing your gray matter while in audience with this audio monstrosity. It is not scientifically possible to engineer a conflagration of audio signals that is more indolent, and damaging to the psyche and intellect than this abomination.
It’s not what Florida Georgia Line said. It’s what they didn’t say, and what they felt compelled to answer when really nobody was asking any questions. Now many are wondering about the future of one of country music’s most popular and vilified duos.
The accolades keep pouring in for Tyler Childers and his 2017 album Purgatory. The latest distinction is the album itself officially being Certified Gold by the RIAA for selling 500,000 copies in physical sales and streaming equivalents. It is the first independently-released title to achieve this distinction in over 18 years.
Due to COVID-19, and then the protests and riots, the Saving Country Music snark machine has been pretty much powered down and collecting dust for the better part of 2020. But there has been as few instances of country music malfeasance so egregious, it would be unconscionable to not address.
Country legend Charlie Pride passed away on Saturday, December 12th due to complications from COVID-19, his family and representative have confirmed. Amid his death, much speculation arose of where Charley Pride may have contracted the virus, and if it was at the 2020 CMA Awards on November 11th
It was just a bit under two weeks ago when breakup rumors surrounding the Bro-Country duo Florida Georgia Line were all the rage of the country music internet. So what is the duo doing to help mend fences? They’re making a musical.
An Instagram post from Brian Kelley nearly resulted in the greatest fears of Florida Georgia Line fans coming to fruition, and the greatest hopes for many actual country music fans who are often furious at the musical output of the Bro-Country duo.
The 2020 CMA Awards will transpire on Wednesday, November 11th (make sure to follow along with Saving Country Music’s LIVE blog), and this year it will be a tribute heavy affair. Tributes, remembrances, and the marking of anniversaries will be a big part of the presentation.
Morgan Wallen, Chase Rice, Brian Kelley and others were wrong to advocate for big shows. But when it comes to the claims of these artists of hypocrisy, they’re completely right. Since the beginning of the pandemic there has been a glaring double standard in how social distancing is demanded, and excused.
Five years ago today—on November 4th, 2015—the biggest event and paradigm shift in country music occurred most certainly in the last 10 years, likely in the last quarter century, and possibly one of the biggest moments in the totality of country music history.
In 2013, rock icon Tom Petty had some unsavory words for what was happening in modern country music. “Well, yeah I mean, I hate to generalize on a whole genre of music, but it does seem to be missing that magic element that it used to have.” Chris Stapleton responded with a letter, and an offer.
Despite George Strait officially retiring from full-time touring in 2014—a commitment he’s actually stuck to unlike other superstars, only playing sporadic stadium shows and limited-run Las Vegas residencies—Strait surprisingly walked away with Billboard’s “Top Country Tour” award.
Here comes the Brothers Osborne’s new record ‘Skeletons,’ which most certainly has it’s moments. But where Port Saint Joe surprised us for all the right reasons, Skeletons is decidedly much more rock than country, more boisterous than understated, and more riff-driven than lyric-driven.
Dozens of TikTok videos of the 27-year-old’s maskless partying with college-aged girls emerged, and specifically of Morgan Wallen sucking face with half a dozen of them. This has resulted in ‘Saturday Night Live’ canceling his appearance.
Florida Georgia Line has the #1 song on country radio this week with their latest single “I Love My Country.” But buried deep in the songwriting credits and the history of this song is one of the most uncovered scandals in country music in 2020.
There should be no shame in major music outfits taking money through the government’s Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, to keep their road crew and support staff financially stable, despite it being characterized as the cash grab of millionaires by some, aided by certain embellished and misleading headlines in the media.
Due to COVID-19, and then the protests and riots after the George Floyd killing, the Saving Country Music snark machine has been pretty much powered down and collecting dust for the better part of 2020. But there has been as few instances of country music malfeasance so egregious, it would be unconscionable to not address them.
They always say to watch out for a hillbilly with a hit record, and the week that the mustachioed and mulleted Morgan Wallen minted a #1 at country radio with the R&B-infused and derivative “Chasin’ You,” he was arrested by Nashville’s finest outside of Kid Rock’s “Big Ass Honky Tonk” bar.
It turns out Saving Country Music wasn’t the only one that thought the chorus of the recent new single from Florida Georgia Line called “I Love My Country” sounded eerily similar to the chorus of a Kane Brown song called “Short Skirt Weather.” Now Kane Brown and his co-writers have officially been added as songwriters.
The song Florida Georgia Line played a snippet of appeared to have the title of “Feels Good.” But apparently Carrie Underwood was not feeling good about any of it. Underwood never replied or even addressed the duo’s proposal publicly, which left many speculating if Carrie had snubbed them.
And we’re not talking close approximations here that come up commonly in music. Whether it’s the latest symptom of the sameness permeating much of mainstream country at the moment, or a straight up ripoff is a matter for audio experts and the courts. But the similarities are patently obvious.
Our worst fears when seeing that the name of Florida Georgia Line’s new song was “I Love My Country” is that we were in store for some jingoistic anthem slathering it on thick about how much they support the troops and the good ol’ stars and stripes, exploiting people’s patriotism circa Toby Keith 2003. Oh, if we could have only been so lucky.
In a teary-eyed address on Instagram Wednesday night (3-18), Zac Brown explained that after 15 years of touring, he was having to let go of 90% of his full time employees as part of his road crew due and support staff due to the Coronavirus cancellations. Though there is no doubt this was a tough decision for Zac Brown, some are questioning if it was necessary.