UPDATED: John Moreland and Turnpike Troubadours’ Kyle Nix Tussle in Tulsa

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This story has been updated.

If you need any more validation about how fellow singers, songwriters, and performers feel about Jamie Lin Wilson, appreciate who showed up to Tulsa’s legendary listening room the Mercury Lounge to see her sold-out performance Thursday night, August 1st. Along with songwriter Kalyn Fay, you also had legendary Tulsa songwriter John Moreland in the house, and at some point Kyle Nix from the Turnpike Troubadours showed up as well.

All accounts are that Wilson’s set was excellent, and thanks to the Mercury Lounge live feed, you can check it out yourself. Jamie performed with legendary guitarist David Abeyta, and bassist Bill Corbin who also plays in the Kyle Nix side project, Kyle Nix and the 38’s. Tulsa-based musician Paul Benjamin also played afterwards. But apparently the tiny Mercury Lounge wasn’t big enough to contain all that Tulsa talent Thursday night, and folks started butting heads.

Though the details are sketchy and can change depending on who you talk to, what is for certain is that it got physical between Kyle Nix and John Moreland. The two were seen talking first, and then at some point a fight broke out. Nix was reportedly standing and shouting in the face of Moreland who was sitting on a stool. Moreland shoved Nix back from him, and Nix responded by pulling John Moreland’s stool out from under him, and kicking him on the ground. Moreland then allegedly got back to his feet, and started punching Nix.

Some of this is confirmed via a now-deleted Instagram story where John Moreland stated,

Hey guys, little Texas country fun fact. If you ever happen to get in a fight with Kyle Nix, the tiny fiddle player from the Turnpike Troubadours…uh, and he pulls you out of your bar stool and starts kicking you in the head a few times… Don’t worry because he’s four feet tall, and it’s just going to feel like a fu–ing third-grader is kicking you in the head. And then you can get up and start wailing on his face, and it’s all good. Fu-k that guy.”

What John Moreland left up was two textual Instagram posts that simply read, “Fu-k that whole band,” and “Except Hank.”



The “whole band” can assumed to be the Turnpike Troubadours, and “Hank” is very likely Hank Early, Turnpike’s steel guitar/accordion/dobro/banjo player who officially joined the band in 2017.

Apparently the police were never called. Multiple individuals broke up the altercation, and Kyle Nix was escorted outside while John Moreland finished his drink with a ripped shirt at the bar as the Mercury closed for the evening.

Saving Country Music has reached out to both Kyle Nix, as well as the publicist for John Moreland for comment, but neither have responded at the time of this post. More information if or when it becomes available.

UPDATE (8-3): In a further post on his Instagram story, John Moreland posted a photo of one of Uncle Bekkah’s Inappropriate Trucker Hats that simply says, “Except Hank” and states, “Ok even though this is kinda hilarious, I’d like to say I regret bringing anybody else in the band into my issue I was just angry and being an asshole, I’m sorry to those guys My problem is with Kyle only and honestly it’s not even that much of a “problem,” we just got in a bar fight and I think he sucks now. I think that’s reasonable.”


It’s unfortunate there is beef between two of Oklahoma’s premier songwriting and performing outfits. Hopefully in the future, cooler heads can prevail, and everyone can appreciate that we’re all tugging on the same yoke in independent music, and trying to bring the brilliant music of Oklahoma to the world.

This story has been updated with further details of the altercation as well as the additional statement from John Moreland.

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