On Paul Cauthen Calling Out Charley Crockett

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Charley Crockett / Paul Cauthen


It’s pretty clear at this point that Charley Crockett is going for it, and going for it big time. He’s feeling it now that he’s signed to a major label, and just released a killer record in the Western-flavored and thematic Dollar A Day. And so there no more biting his lip or biding his time. Full throat, he’s out there on social media and in high-profile interviews mixing it up and speaking his mind. We saw this recently when he went after Morgan Wallen and Gavin Adcock.

But the bigger you get, the brighter the spotlight shines, and the greater the scrutiny comes down, especially when you’re scrutinizing others.

Charley Crockett is most certainly one of the biggest rising stars in independent country with a super loyal fan base. He’s threatening to break out into the amphitheater level and is already headlining festivals. Yet there’s always been a certain segment of the independent country population that’s regarded him as inauthentic, if not an outright fraud. Even those who fully embrace Crockett do so understanding there’s somewhat of an act going on, but one that is an authentic extension of Charley’s persona and personal history.

When he sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with Joe Rogan in June, Charley Crockett did a great job addressing some of these authenticity concerns, specifically his time in New York City performing on subway cars with rappers and such. But this was also the first time we saw Crockett getting slightly ahead of his skis. He seemed to unnecessarily discount his original record label Thirty Tigers, and said “Waylon Jennings was always rock and roll. He was never traditional country,” which isn’t exactly true. But these were nit picks of an otherwise excellent interview.

But then Crockett’s propensity to sometimes not choose his words wisely also came up in his rebuke of Gavin Adcock and Bro-Country. Though Crockett was correct to point out the hypocrisy behind calling out Beyoncé for not being “country,” but giving a pass to Bro-Country and Morgan Wallen, he then turned around and praised BigXthaPlug who just put out a pretty terrible album marketed as country that even the hip-hop world isn’t behind. He also seemed to mish mash pop country and Bro-Country.

This garbling of opinions came up again in a recent interview Crockett did with Joseph Hudak of Rolling Stone. In the very first segment from the interview they decided to cut out and feature, Crockett expounds,

“They call the Outlaw movement a subgenre of commercial country. But today, there’s no doubt in my mind that what they’re calling pop country is most certainly a subgenre of Outlaw. Because, you know, I don’t think they stand for anything. You know, I think they stand for Auto-Tune, and songs written by a committee. It’s not to say that you have to write all your own songs. Outlaw was about standing up for your rights against a very rigid music business system in a game where you throw money at a young artist. And if it doesn’t work out, no problem, because there’s 1,000 standing behind you. Well, you know a controversial figure is unlikely to ever rise.”

Everything Charley Crockett says about Outlaw country is true. Everything that Crockett says about pop country is true. Saying “there’s no doubt in my mind that what they’re calling pop country is most certainly a subgenre of Outlaw” makes absolutely positively no sense whatsoever, and is an indefensible statement even by Crockett’s own other assertions. Yet strangely, people were praising this statement, perhaps because it included some truth.

Sure, maybe Charley just misspoke. But then it would be on the interviewer Joseph Hudak to attempt to clarify what Crockett meant. And it seems extremely curious why they would take this particular segment of the interview and lead with it. It all lends to the idea that Charley Crockett has gone from the deep and thoughtful musings he shared with Joe Rogan, to issuing applause lines on social media and in interviews that are starting to get him in hot water, and not just with his mainstream counterparts, or racist country fans.

On Thursday, August 28th, Paul Cauthen published a lengthy rant while lounged in bed on his Instagram Story that started off with this very same clip from the Rolling Stone interview referenced above. FYI, Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours as opposed to reels and posts that last forever. In the rant, Cauthen basically called out Crockett for being a fraud, embellishing his back story, and also specifically went after Crockett’s claims that he’s related to Davy Crockett.

Here is an extended segment of some of what Paul Cauthen said. (WARNING: LANGUAGE)

Charley boy, Charley boy, oh man. This fairy tale’s getting out of hand. I know that you’re a student of country music and a student of all these fairy tales that you have put out to the public, that’s really, I mean, just straight up bullshit. I mean, I met you in uptown. You were DJing, and it was a whole different vibe going on then. And then from, I don’t know that point to let’s say 2020 or whatever, I guess you busked and lived in New Orleans, in San Benito, and you went over to your uncle or granddad, Davy Crockett’s house, and it’s just all bullshit, bud.

 I mean, come on bro. Just play music and stop lying. I’m usually not the commotion stirrer, but I like to end bullshit. I really love to end it, and I want everybody to know that everything that’s been said about the past and you know, all this shit, it’s bullshit. And it’s just lies now. He kicks around, sings beats the shit out of his guitar.

Stop being a pathological liar and thinking that you’re something that you’re not. You’re just a singer that’s ripping off the past, that’s bringing it in like it’s your blood and your shit. Well, you’re not related to Davy Crockett and you’re not fu–ing Bob Wills. So just go play.

I gave you one of my granddad’s songbooks on my back porch in East Texas where I grew up in the house that I grew up in. And this is getting to a point where you’ve gotta just play music and shut up about all the past and all what you’d think about genres and everything. It’s bullshit.

And everything that you’ve said about your past is made up. It’s a lie, but that’s okay. You know, people lie, but it’s just bullshit, buddy. And you know it. And I’m not gonna let up because I’ve worked too hard in this business to watch somebody lie to the fans.

Charley, I love your music.  I think you’re a great singer and performer. Wish you the best, but lying just doesn’t sit well with me. So just come out there and get on another podcast. Do your little Ted Talk and tell people, ‘Hey, you know, I’ve embellished the truth a little bit just so that I could get another leg up in the business.’ It sounds way better that I came from disparity and hoboing and train robing and shoot ’em up cowboy cap gun shit, but it’s just fairy tales.

Paul Cauthen went on to say that if Charley Crockett was related to Davy Crockett, then Cauthen must be related to NFL running back Emmitt Smith.

For the record, Saving Country Music has pressed the Charley Crockett team to clarify Charley’s relation to Davy Crockett in the past with no answer. Crockett has said previously that it’s something that one of his grandfathers told him that he took to heart. Crockett also seems to have backed off the Davy Crockett claim recently. The name of his record label through Thirty Tigers was “Son of Davy.” Now though his deal with Island Records, it’s called “Lone Star Rider.”

Similar to the time when Paul Cauthen called out Oliver Anthony for attacking artists for using Autotune and backing tracks without naming names (inadvertently implicating Parker McCollum), Paul Cauthen is sort of an imperfect critic here. Cauthen’s music has gone from authentic county to his current cocaine-fueled disco country sound, including machine beats and pseudo rapping.

But as Cauthen says himself, most every musician on stage is doing some version of a put-on, at least to some extent. For Paul Cauthen, he purposely leans into it in a way that might be off-putting to large segments of country fans, but is also so obvious, it’s not something that could be considered as underhanded.

At the same time, Crockett has been open and honest about parts of his past, including his time in New York City and on the subways. That’s what was so important about his Joe Rogan interview. Cauthen is coming in hot with “everything that you’ve said about your past is made up.” There might be things Crockett is making up or embellishing for sure. But other things are verifiable. Frankly, it’s on the press to ask the right questions, and to try and drill down to the truth, and get past the persona an artist presents.

Charley Crockett is not going to be any more significantly injured by Paul Cauthen’s rant than he was when Gavin Adcock clapped back at him. Frankly, it’s probably good press for both performers. But as Crockett’s popularity continues to grow, and he continues to confidently throw out opinions about country music that are sometimes confused and easily refutable, the critics are going to start getting louder, and bigger, as the scrutiny will get deeper and more widespread. Paul Cauthen is right that at this point in Crockett’s career, honesty is the best path forward.

Charley Crockett can say whatever he wants. But it does feel like being more careful and calculated with his words would be in his best interest.

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