What’s the Hall of Fame Doing Highlighting This Charlie Handsome Quote?
It’s hard to know where to start being enraged at or deconstructing this recent piece of media released by the Country Music Hall of Fame. First off, why are we featuring a pop producer in a display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in the first place? Why are they promoting him on their social media? Why is the Hall of Fame giving him a platform to tout how country should be more pop if it wants to be more successful? And why is it this particular quote that the Country Music Hall of Fame chose to highlight?
Ryan Vojtesak, known professionally as Charlie Handsome is known for working with pop and hip-hop acts such as Post Malone, Drake, Kanye West, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Young Thug, and more recently Sam Hunt, Kane Brown and Morgan Wallen. 2021 and Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album is when he really started moving into the country space when he co-wrote and produced multiple songs, including some of the album’s biggest singles.
Every year, the Country Music Hall of Fame features artists in their revolving American Currents exhibits. There have been some very cool artists who have been featured there over the years. Currently, some of the artists being recognized in the exhibit include Billy Strings, Zach Top, Sierra Hull, the Turnpike Troubadours, Charley Crockett, Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland, and Muscadine Bloodline.
You also have Morgan Wallen, BigXthatPlug, and this Charlie Handsome character. Touting Handsome on Social Media, the Hall of Fame says, “Charlie Handsome produced and co-wrote Post Malone’s smash hit ‘I Had Some Help,’ featuring Morgan Wallen. He also has writing credits on all twenty-seven tracks from [Post Malone’s] F-1 Trillion (2024).”
In the quote the Hall of Fame chose to feature in the video of Charlie Handsome speaking, the pop producer/songwriter says with a mouthful of metal,
“I’ll say this: One of my goals moving forward is for Morgan Wallen to be able to have #1 pop songs with no features. So even though his voice is definitely country, I feel like it could be the #1 song on pop radio. And obviously we did do that, but we did it with Post [Malone] who had done it before in that space. So I think moving forward, I’m gonna merge more of the things that people could consider pop, and find a way to do that.”
First, it’s difficult to know how it’s even humanly possible to make Morgan Wallen’s music sound more pop than it did on his most recent album I’m The Problem (read review). One thing that many Morgan Wallen detractors fail to recognize is that on his earlier albums, he actually had a decent handful of strong and straight up traditional country songs. If you listen to his 2023 record One Thing At A Time, you’ll hear songs like “Devil Don’t Know,” and “’98 Braves” that are undeniably country. Morgan Wallen also cut some just great songs on his earlier albums like Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up,” and 2023’s “Don’t Think Jesus.”
But 2025’s I’m The Problem where Charlie Handsome specifically graduated from occasional songwriter to primary producer with Joey Moi is where any and all country songs, and few if any deeper songs were 86’d in the process. I’m The Problem really is Morgan Wallen’s pop record with a country voice. It’s hard to fathom how Wallen could even go more pop in the writing and production process at this point even if he and Handsome wanted.
But the greater point and concern of highlighting this Charlie Handsome quote is how it’s indicative of how so many of the producers outside of country approach the country genre. Country is a barrier to these artists’ pop success, they surmise. They need to go more pop, and even more pop, to continue to see the growth in their music and fan bases. It’s not just Charlie Handsome. It’s Joey Moi, it’s Jay Joyce, it’s Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk.
These are producers who originated outside of country who then came to Nashville and as opposed to respecting the local customs and sounds, work to erode them, gentrify them to the pop sound that’s permeated everything else, and help bleed everything that’s cool out of country music to hopefully enhance its commercial performance. Charlie Handsome’s quote is a naked example of this, and strangely, was highlighted by the Country Music Hall of Fame whose mission is supposed to be preservation.
But the ultimate irony about Charlie Handsome’s assertion that if Morgan Wallen wants a pop #1 without a feature, he has to go even more pop is Ella Langley and “Choosin’ Texas.” The single is spending its 11th week at #1 in pop this week, and as a decidedly country song, and from a woman no less without another featured artist or a remix. Marking 11 weeks at #1 is yet another historic benchmark for Langley, making “Choosin’ Texas” the first ever country single from a solo woman to spend more than 10 weeks at that position. The song is also now poised to be the 2026 “Song of the Summer.”
Sure, in previous eras, perhaps going more pop would make your single more prominent. But in 2026, the opposite is the case. It’s the country bonafides of Ella Langley and “Choosin’ Texas” that are helping to make it so successful, and historic. And the only reason Langley doesn’t have two historic #1’s through her other recent single “Be Here” is because “Choosin’ Texas” at #1 has been in the way, keeping it at #2.
It didn’t take an ultra pop song to finally get a country woman to #1, and to break the Bro-Country curse on country. It took a country one, because it speaks to the moment, and offers something distinct in the marketplace as opposed to just another monogenre single with a programmed drum track that Americans passively consume irrespective of the genre or artist involved.
But here’s the even deeper irony about Charlie Handsome’s quote, if you can believe it. Morgan Wallen actually did have a solo single top the Billboard Hot 100 without a feature. “Last Night” went #1 in March of 2023, making it the first country song by a solo male to top the Hot 100 in over 42 years, since Eddie Rabbitt’s “I Love A Rainy Night” in 1981.
“Last Night” eventually topped the Hot 100 for 16 non-consecutive weeks, surpassing “As It Was” by Harry Styles as the longest running #1 by a solo artist with no accompanying acts, as well as tying for the second longest run of all time. It was also the only single to have peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 during six consecutive months.
In other words, this thing that Charlie Handsome wants to achieve for Morgan Wallen by somehow making his music even more pop, it already happened, and in a historic fashion. And who was one of the songwriters and producers on “Last Night”? It was a guy named Ryan Vojtesak, aka Charlie Handsome.
What is the Country Music Hall of Fame even doing platforming this guy? It’s funny that Morgan Wallen can’t even show his face at the Grand Ole Opry without a full on revolt ensuing on the internet, but the Hall of Fame launches an entire exhibit for him and his pop producer, and mum’s the word? Where are those busybodies when you need them?
The lesson Ella Langley and “Choosin’ Texas” is teaching us is that for country artists to reach the pinnacle of whatever potential their music has, it’s not via the conventional means of just going as pop as you possibly can. It’s being real, being distinct, being authentic to yourself. In an increasingly Artificial world, people are looking for real human connections. Morgan Wallen already went all the way pop, and that worked in 2023. In 2026, what’s working is staying country.
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July 2, 2026 @ 10:12 am
Daniel Tashian grew up in Nashville. His father, Barry Tashian, was in Emmylou’s Hot Band for over a decade.
July 2, 2026 @ 10:19 am
He was also in a pop rock band called The Silver Seas and was significantly responsible for pulling Kacey Musgraves pop as she was pulled away from Shane McAnally. He also pushed Sarah Jarosz’s new album more pop.
July 2, 2026 @ 10:15 am
I never would’ve thought I’d be pining for the days when Joey Moi and Shane McAllany were the most hated producers in Nashville! For all their faults, they at least somewhat knew the genre and showed that with the right artists (including Wallen himself) they can produce good mainstream country music.
July 2, 2026 @ 10:46 am
Where to start with this ? Its complicated. The Country music industry does absolutely exist to make money, and I would argue that with the Ralph Peer sessions in Bristol, that moment in particular marked the beginning of the big business model that has forever led country music. If A.P. Carter and Leslie Riddle hadn’t driven, walked and hiked through the hills and hollers in search of authentic songs to sell, Country music as we know it, for mass market consumption might not exist. Chet Atkins and his polished Countrypolitan sound was designed to extract money from city slickers and it accomplished that remarkably well. ( yes what i said is a highly controversial opinion and I dont necessarily like it, but that is the truth)
I wrestle this thought while simultaneously juggling with the notion that true Country music as a cultural art form speaks to people who live the rural experience. Country music and country culture are and have been inextricably intertwined. And thats not a bad thing, its authentic American culture. This is a truth. But that truth is tangled with the fact that many of the bedrock legends have indeed scored numerous hits on the pop charts. Names like Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Ray Price, Charlie Rich, Waylon Jennings, Crystal Gayle, Connie Smith, Patsy Cline, Ronnie Milsap, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels and on and on have all had crossover hits that led to big career payoffs. In some cases there was a concerted effort by producers to emulate and cater to popular sounds of the day. ( see Dolly Partons disco era stuff ) In other cases, a song was plenty country sounding but for various reasons just came along at the right time and found traction in the pop world. Was this bad for country music? Certainly financially it was lucrative. Bad from a creative and artistic standpoint? Depends on who you ask.
As an SCM regular I mostly agree with the purists who gather here in that i want the sounds as founded to be preserved. I suppose at heart im a preservationist. Yet im willing to concede that some musical exploration has been good for the genre. For example, Bill Monroes foray into old- timey music led to the formation of bluegrass as a viable stand- alone sub- genre. The Seldom Scene and New Grass Revival and JD Crowe and The New South led to the progressive grass scene. The 50s era led to Rockabilly which became another intriguing branch off the tree.
Honky- Tonk sounds were all the rage in the 60s which inspired 80s guys like Dwight Yoakam and George Strait. Slide guitar and Southern Rock was huge in the 70s and continues to find relevance in modern country recordings.
In my estimation it’s easy to fingerpoint and label artists as sellouts ( we all do it) but at what point does the money become so good that artistic integrity becomes expendable to an artist who’s gone from touring in a van to tour bus or plane? And now their grandkids college tuition is paid off? Thats an uncomfortable but realistic question to ask. And im not in any way condoning selling out, but I get it.
As for this Charlie Handsome character and his cash cow Morgan, it’s very clear where they stand on the issue. Ive always assumed that ol Morgan has little to no knowledge of the actual legacy and history of Country music. Clearly his illustrious producer doesn’t have the knowledge or even care. And that IS alarming. The Hall of Fame is a conundrum and for all the good it does, it finds itself caving to popular culture because of a perception that the money will follow.
Ultimately we as consumers speak with our wallets and we do that by supporting artists who strongly share our passion for preserving the sounds and the culture that built the music. And conversely ignoring those who go the other way.