The Greatest Feuds in Country Music History

[a1aara]

The last few weeks might go down in history as one of country music’s most feud-laden moments. From Gary Allan going off about country music and indirectly accusing Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood of not being country, to Zac Brown calling out Luke Bryan’s song “That’s My Kind of Night,” and Jason Aldean calling out Zac Brown in Luke’s defense.

Though country music feuding may be on a sharp rise here recently, it is not an uncommon or recent occurrence in country music by any stretch. Many artists have had a beef with the Grand Ole Opry over the years, including Johnny Cash and Stonewall Jackson. Curb Records has been in the middle of many feuds, most notably with Leann Rimes, Hank Williams III, and a big one with Tim McGraw that pitted cross-town heavyweights Mike Curb and Scott Borchetta against each other. But nothing gets folks talking like a good old artist on artist donnybrook. Here are some of the most infamous over the years.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/the-g ... ic-history

[Tiki Torches]

Whether it can ever be officially attributed to Waylon or not, "Garth Brooks did for country music what panty hose did for finger f*cking" pretty much hit the nail on the head when it came to Garth and nearly everything that followed in his wake. By the way, I think that Garth had some pretty traditional sounding stuff early on but his arena rock theatrics always seemed to be severely out of place in the country music world to me. Prior to his unprecedented stardom artists like Steve Earle, Southern Pacific, Lone Justice, Foster & Lloyd, Nanci Griffith, the Wagoneers, Jason and the Scorchers, the Lonesome Strangers and others were starting to make some pretty significant in-roads in country music (an era which Steve Earle has referred to as "The Great Roots Rock Credibility Scare of the Late 1980's"). Then, along came Garth, Clint Black and Randy Travis who all had an eye towards the more traditional sound of country. There's nothing at all the matter with that but at the same time something akin to "arena country" was also beginning to take hold via artists like Diamond Rio, Sawyer Brown, Restless Heart, etc. which pretty much sucked the life out of the movement. Thankfully, many of those artists found a warmer reception at rock n' roll radio, especially Long Justice and Jason and the Scorchers.

[chippewa]

How do country music feuds get settled? Drive-by mooing?

[jbfinscj]

Whether it can ever be officially attributed to Waylon or not, "Garth Brooks did for country music what panty hose did for finger f*cking" pretty much hit the nail on the head when it came to Garth and nearly everything that followed in his wake. By the way, I think that Garth had some pretty traditional sounding stuff early on but his arena rock theatrics always seemed to be severely out of place in the country music world to me. Prior to his unprecedented stardom artists like Steve Earle, Southern Pacific, Lone Justice, Foster & Lloyd, Nanci Griffith, the Wagoneers, Jason and the Scorchers, the Lonesome Strangers and others were starting to make some pretty significant in-roads in country music (an era which Steve Earle has referred to as "The Great Roots Rock Credibility Scare of the Late 1980's"). Then, along came Garth, Clint Black and Randy Travis who all had an eye towards the more traditional sound of country. There's nothing at all the matter with that but at the same time something akin to "arena country" was also beginning to take hold via artists like Diamond Rio, Sawyer Brown, Restless Heart, etc. which pretty much sucked the life out of the movement. Thankfully, many of those artists found a warmer reception at rock n' roll radio, especially Long Justice and Jason and the Scorchers.

did you know Verlon Thompson was in Restless Heart. Luckily he met Guy Clark. . I like Sawyer Brown, they were where I first learned of Mac McAnally a few years before I started listening to Buffett.

[pupnpony]

How do country music feuds get settled? Drive-by mooing?

now that's funny!

[Tiki Torches]

Whether it can ever be officially attributed to Waylon or not, "Garth Brooks did for country music what panty hose did for finger f*cking" pretty much hit the nail on the head when it came to Garth and nearly everything that followed in his wake. By the way, I think that Garth had some pretty traditional sounding stuff early on but his arena rock theatrics always seemed to be severely out of place in the country music world to me. Prior to his unprecedented stardom artists like Steve Earle, Southern Pacific, Lone Justice, Foster & Lloyd, Nanci Griffith, the Wagoneers, Jason and the Scorchers, the Lonesome Strangers and others were starting to make some pretty significant in-roads in country music (an era which Steve Earle has referred to as "The Great Roots Rock Credibility Scare of the Late 1980's"). Then, along came Garth, Clint Black and Randy Travis who all had an eye towards the more traditional sound of country. There's nothing at all the matter with that but at the same time something akin to "arena country" was also beginning to take hold via artists like Diamond Rio, Sawyer Brown, Restless Heart, etc. which pretty much sucked the life out of the movement. Thankfully, many of those artists found a warmer reception at rock n' roll radio, especially Long Justice and Jason and the Scorchers.

did you know Verlon Thompson was in Restless Heart. Luckily he met Guy Clark. . I like Sawyer Brown, they were where I first learned of Mac McAnally a few years before I started listening to Buffett.

Not until recently but that doesn't change my opinion of them. During a recent interview with Terri Gross on Fresh Air Jason Isbell performed a cover of "All These Years", a song Mac wrote for Sawyer Brown. He's also been known to cover it as well as several other Mac tunes in concert over the years. That doesn't really change my opinion of Sawyer Brown either. To the best of my recollection, the first song I heard by Mac was "Minimum Love" from his 1983 album Nothing But the Truth:



You're probably aware that Jason (as well as former Trucker Shonna Tucker) and others from the alt.country world such as Todd Snider, Lucero, Elizabeth Cook, etc. have recently contributed to High Cotton: A Tribute To Alabama. There's also one out featuring mainstream country artists such as Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, etc. called Alabama and Friends. I don't think they were nearly as bad as Restless Heart, Sawyer Brown, Diamond Rio, etc. but I never really was a fan and this new tribute record is unlikely to change that. Isbell and Ryan Adams were covering "Love In the 1st Degree" when they toured together a year or so ago. From my perspective, it's a generational thing. I believe the quote I posted a while back, "Taylor Swift makes Shania Twain look like Loretta Lynn" says it all. During the 80's era of country, the country artists I was into that were receiving mainstream airplay on country radio were Earle, Yoakam, Lyle Lovett, etc. which are about as far removed as Luke Bryan is from Isbell and company in 2013. It's simply not my cup of tea, much like how you're not very likely to find an Aldean fan who's also into Lucero.