3-Time Accused Rapists Diplo, Nelly, Nick Carter Make 2025 Stagecoach Fest

Random Notes 68 Comments


Every year it seems the lineup for the Stagecoach Festival out in Indio, California causes some consternation and heads to spin. Since it’s inception, country music’s version of Coachella has booked independent, up-and-coming, and legendary country artists to go along with the major mainstream country headliners. And though independent fans have often felt like the font sizes need to be inverted, it’s also allowed big opportunities for grassroots artists.

The Stagecoach Festival was a pretty novel concept when it first commenced. But now that non radio-supported artists like Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, and Sturgill Simpson are just as popular or more than mainstream’s middle and even top tier stars, the tables have turned.

Seeing Zach Bryan as a top line performer at Stagecoach, Sturgill Simpson as as second line performer, and Sierra Ferrell and Flatland Cavalry as third line performers really speaks to how far things have swung. The font size has inverted, at least to some degree. It’s now a lot of the mainstream middle lineup who make up the smallest font, while Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Morgan Wallen, HARDY, and other artists of that ilk are nowhere to be found.

You add Luke Combs, Midland, Carley Pearce, Ashley McBryde, and Brothers Osborne who are considered more palatable options from the mainstream, and the Stagecoach 2024 lineup really doesn’t look that bad, even with the Shaboozey and Jelly Roll outliers, who still aren’t nearly as reprehensible as the country rappers of the past.

The Stagecoach lineup has always been a good litmus test for where country music is at any given moment in time, and it’s hard to not look at the lineup in 2024 and not come away with a overall positive assessment. But there are some glaring exceptions. And they really don’t have anything to do with country artists at all.

At a time when country music has never been more popular, Stagecoach has decided to pad the lineup with more rehashed rock acts than ever before. Sure, over the last few years, the promoters of the fest have been adding a few more rock acts, likely to try and seal the deal for fans on the periphery of country.

But this year you have butt rockers Creed, boy band Backstreet Boys, and Auto-tuner T-Pain as part of Diplo’s “Palomino” stage. You also have Nelly, The Goo Goo Dolls, and Sammy Hagar as major acts. Do you really think this is what fans of Zach Bryan, Sturgill Simpson, and Whiskey Myers want to listen to? These names are like punch lines to these fans.


Stagecoach is not alone in attempting to use this cross-genre programming to lure in patrons. The Two Step Inn in Texas has also employed this practice, including booking T-Pain and Diplo in the past. It’s also common for independent country festivals to work in a few more indie rock-oriented acts. But performers like Mt. Joy and Lord Huron actually have a lot of natural crossover with independent country fans.

Some are complaining about Lana Del Rey. And sure, it would have been better to book at least one actual country woman (Lainey Wilson, Megan Moroney) to be a top name for the festival. But a lot of Del Ray’s music veers into the “Americana” space, and her upcoming album is rumored to do that even more. It’s nowhere near as big of an outlier as The Backstreet Boys.

But there is a much bigger issue here.

Though long-time Saving Country Music readers will feel like they’re listening to a broken record here, it’s really important to point out how irresponsible it is for Stagecoach to continue to book Nelly and Diplo for this event. Once again it begs the question of how many women need to credibly accuse these men of rape and sexual assault before we start to take those accusations seriously? Before you answer, understand that it must be more than three each.

At least three women that have accused Nelly of sexual misconduct, and he was arrested last month for alleged possession of ecstasy and an outstanding warrant. Diplo’s rap sheet includes numerous accusations of sexual misconduct as well, including pop/hip-hop performer Azalea Banks saying that Diplo groomed her when she was underage. Diplo was also served in yet another civil case accusing him of distributing revenge porn in June in an incident still under investigation by police.

Should these accusations preclude these two men from working? No. But why does country music continue to feel the need to extend an olive branch to these two guys when the line forms to the left of actual country acts that would love to get on this Stagecoach lineup? The reason this continues to come up with Stagecoach is because over the last few years, nobody has played Stagecoach more than Nelly and Diplo. They both also performed in 2022, and Diplo has been the only consistent performer on the lineup since first being booked in 2019.

Speaking of thrice accused, Nick Carter of The Backstreet Boys has been accused of rape three times himself. Are we seeing a pattern here? While some of these performers have become verboten in their native genres, Stagecoach is apparently accepting of them as if it’s a morality car wash. Meanwhile, Winston Marshall, Ryan Adams, Unknown Hinson, and other performers would be completely off limits from Stagecoach due to significantly less serious allegations, yet active cancellation campaigns.

Country music is changing. There have arguably never been so many top-level draws to fill out festival rosters, and those top-level draws have never seen more representation from the ranks of performers not signed to Music Row record labels, or supported by corporate radio. It’s a good time to be a country fan. No reason to reach for the Backstreet Boys, Diplo, or Nelly to entice fans to the event. If anything, they give the whole lineup an ick factor it doesn’t need.

© 2024 Saving Country Music

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