Once Again, The Criticisms of Zach Bryan Deserve Context

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So once again we find ourselves in a situation where the public is being asked to judge the personal character of Zach Bryan, and potentially question their fandom after a couple of his fellow performers have come forward to accuse Bryan of basically not being the greatest of people. But it feels like there is a lot of nuance, and a lot of context missing from this situation, as is common in these instances.

The latest accusations are not stemming from an arrest like they were in September of 2023 when Bryan was taken into custody in Vinita, Oklahoma as part of a routine traffic stop, which ultimately ended up being a big nothing burger. Zach Bryan was well within his rights to observe the traffic stop before getting booked on “Obstruction of Investigation” charges. The most damaging part of that incident is Bryan was caught on camera basically doing the “Don’t you know who I am?” thing, while at the same time trying to be conciliatory and respectful.

The latest accusations are also not stemming from a big breakup like they were when Zach ended his relationship with podcaster Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia—who by the way, trades in celebrity gossip as a profession. Were there concerning accusations that came out in the dissolving of that relationship with LaPaglia? Absolutely. Has Brianna ever accused Zach Bryan of being physically abusive toward her, or any incidents of sexual assault or anything similar? Absolutely not.

Even the worst of the accusations boil down to “bad boyfriend” stuff about being moody and possessive. None of it looks good for Zach Bryan, but some, most, or all of the accusations are stuff that you could get most any ex-girlfriend to complain about from a former beau. There’s also two sides to every story, and when it comes to the Chickenfry stuff, we’ve only heard one side.

If you interviewed the ex-wives of Jason Isbell—Shonna Tucker and Amanda Shires—they would likely tell you things similar to what Zach Bryan’s ex has said. In fact, in the promotion of Isbell’s album Reunions, they used Isbell’s rude behavior to Amanda Shires as the foundation for a New York Times spread and an HBO documentary. Somehow in those moments, Isbell’s bad relationship behavior was portrayed as humanizing and erudite.

And by the way, ever since the revelations from Ms. Chickenfry came out, further revelations have come out about her. She’s received criticism for allegedly dumping her best friend of 15 years and fellow podcast co-host Grace O’Malley as soon as LaPaglia became super popular, in part due to the Zach Bryan relationship. Another co-worker named Kurt Minihane also has said about Brianna, “…she’s a repugnant human being … And everybody at [Basrstool Sports] hates her.“

And let’s all acknowledge that all of this is veering well into the realm of celebrity gossip and social media pot stirring, which should probably tell you the lack of severity behind the accusations. Zach Bryan’s relationship with Brianna Chickenfry was a messy situation between two messy people. It’s probably unfair to completely write off Zach Bryan over the matter. Brianna promised there was “more” coming. That “more” has never really materialized.

But the Zach Bryan revelations over the last week or so do not stem from any scandalous romantic relationship or a legal spat. They’ve come out in the aftermath of Bryan re-signing with Warner Records for two more albums, and reportedly signing a massive $350 million publishing deal—an unprecedented figure for an artist of Zach Bryan’s age. For context, Bob Dylan sold his publishing catalog for $300 million.

The $350 million figure has inspired some anger, and some envy within the artist community. On Wednesday, May 7th, fellow Oklahoma songwriter John Moreland took to his Instagram story to post, “$350 M is a lot of money to pay for the fu–in off-brand version of me. Y’all have a great day.”


For the record, John Moreland shortly deleted the post, but not before it had been screenshot and spread all over the internet.

Zach Bryan has regularly praised Moreland throughout his career, saying Moreland is “on a level all his own” and “precise, deeply thoughtful, and truly monolithic.” Moreland also appeared on Zach Bryan’s song “Memphis: The Blues” from the 2024 album The Great American Bar Scene. The song was Moreland’s most-streamed track from his catalog.

Moreland was not the first beneficiary of a Zach Bryan guest spot. Sierra Ferrell and the song “Holy Roller,” and The War and Treaty collab “Hey Driver” both are the top streaming songs from their respective catalogs thanks to Zach Bryan, with “Hey Driver” now being Certified Platinum. Charles Wesley Godwin received a big boost from Bryan who took Godwin out on tour, and featured Godwin on the track “Jamie” on his Summertime Blues EP in 2022.

Arguably Zach Bryan did more for the career of Kacey Musgraves than the entire country industry ever did, with their collaboration “I Remember Everything” now Certified Double Platinum, and receiving over 1 billion streams on Spotify alone. Noeline Hoffmann has a promising music career thanks to Zach Bryan covering her song “Purple Gas.”

But after John Moreland’s Instagram story post got to Zach Bryan, he responded on May 9th saying, “yooo just saw this from an artist I’ve always respected and supported. Not trying to be dramatic but refuse to have anyone with a problem with me on my records. Replacing Memphis the Blues. If it goes down for a bit just know this is the reason! No hard feelings! Confused as s**t, Tulsans look out for Tulsans!”


This in turn had John Moreland posting another video to his Instagram story, saying that he didn’t know who Zach Bryan was when Zach asked him to be on his record, only that he was a really big artist also from Oklahoma, and so he decided to accept. Moreland went on to say,

At this point I’ve hung out with him five, six times. I don’t like this motherfu–er. Am I supposed to be upset? If I was asked to be on the album today I wouldn’t do it.

I don’t want to be on an album with a dude who is a dic-head to my wife and my friends right in front of me every time I see him. I don’t want to be on an album with a dude who I’ve heard tell borderline racist jokes more than once. I don’t want to be on an album with a dude who brings a 19-year old girl in the bar, and then when they tell him she can’t be in there, looks at me like I’m supposed to have his fuc-ing back. I don’t like that person.

That’s who thinks I’m an as-hole? Fine. As far as I’m concerned, getting kicked off a Zach Bryan album is way fuc-ing cooler than being on a Zach Bryan album.

Is it disappointing to hear that Zach Bryan was allegedly rude to John Moreland’s wife and friends? Sure it is. But again, there’s two sides to every story, and the problem with these quotes is the same problem with the original quote from John Moreland, which is it comes in the aftermath of Zach’s big payday, and Moreland now trying to save face after he came across as jealous.

If John Moreland didn’t know who Zach Bryan was, why didn’t he ask around and get a sense of Zach’s character before he decided to collaborate with him? If Zach was so rude to Moreland’s wife and friends, why did he hang out with Bryan five or six times? It’s also a little bit hard to believe Moreland hadn’t even heard of Zach Bryan before cutting a song with him, though maybe it’s true.

But one of the reasons it’s so hard to believe that John Moreland didn’t know about Zach Bryan or his behavior until recently is Zach Bryan has been polarizing among his fellow performers for years, partly due to jealously, partly due to a sense that Bryan hopscotched the process due to his viral success, and partly stemming from Zach Bryan’s own personal behavior, similar to the stuff alleged by Moreland.

In 2021, Zach Bryan played a pre-party show at the Born & Raised Festival in Pryor, Oklahoma, not far from Tulsa where John Moreland is based, and where Zach Bryan was raised in Oologah. This was right after Zach Bryan had quit the Navy, and right as his popularity was exploding. As reported by Saving Country Music at the time, the reception for Zach Bryan was insane.

Zach Bryan performing at Born & Raised Fest in 2021


But even this early on, Saving Country Music heard chirping about how Zach Bryan and his entourage were stirring dissent among fellow artists backstage. Along with people feeling like he was getting too big in his britches too quickly, apparently Zach and his buddies stole someone’s golf cart and went joy riding backstage, and raided the coolers of other performers when they ran out of complimentary beer provided by the festival. In other words, it was redneck yahoo stuff. Nobody got hurt, and nothing really happened. But acrimony among his fellow performers was already beginning to foment.

Also, some folks forget that as Zach Bryan was exploding in popularity, he was married to a woman named Rose Madden. The two married in July of 2020, and she was seen in the short documentary made for Zach Bryan’s second album Elisabeth. Just like Zach Bryan, she was in the Navy. As soon as Bryan’s musical career started taking off, the marriage dissolved, with some feeling like Bryan decided that now that he was big time, he should play the field as opposed to honor his vows, so to speak.

Meanwhile, on Sunday (5-11) as the most recently imbroglio between Zach Bryan and John Moreland swirled, Alabama-based singer/songwriter Drayton Farley took to X/Twitter to say,

In ‘21 while opening for him he was backstage telling my wife how cute he thought she was and how much he loves mother’s. He also said things about other artist friends of mine along the lines of ‘I’ll make sure I ruin their career.’

He’s even personally texted another artist friend of mine demanding that they remove a simple social media post they made about them opening an upcoming show for him (they made their post because he didn’t even put their name on the show flyer).

I have no reason to respect people that have no respect for me and I won’t. Deceivers deceive, artists make art, and mediocrity is often rewarded. ‘Plastic flowers, plastic business.


Just like John Moreland, eventually Drayton Farley took the post down and left an explanation. But just like John Moreland and everyone else who posts things on the internet, the words remain.

Drayton Farley’s revelations once again underscore what most anyone following Zach Bryan since 2021 probably knew, which is that he’s awkward and sometimes outright rude in social situations with other artists and their friends/family. And just like Moreland and others, Zach Bryan used his popularity to help support Drayton Farley.

But what are these accusations really, that Zach Bryan was rude to wives and girlfriends? That he asked to take a social media post down? Only one person in this whole imbroglio has put his hands on someone else in anger or violence, and that was John Moreland when he punched Kyle Nix of the Turnpike Troubadours in the face in an incident that stemmed from John Moreland insulting Kyle Nix’s girlfriend. Moreland then took to social media to insult the entire Turnpike Troubadours band, sans Hank Early.

At that time, everyone thought the incident between John Moreland and Kyle Nix was cute. Now it looks like a pattern of behavior for John Moreland himself.

But in the meanwhile, you have artists like Nelly and Diplo, who’ve both been credibly accused of rape and sexual assault by three separate women, and not 1% of the outrage is flowing to them from the country and roots community. In fact, mum’s the word. Both Nelly and Diplo performed at the massive Two Step Inn Fest in Texas, and the Stagecoach Festival in California in April, with the only individual or outlet raising a stink about it being Saving Country Music.

Nick Carter of The Backstreet Boys just had a fourth woman come forward to accuse him of sexual assault, and this one says he gave her an STD that resulted in cervical Cancer. And still, Nick Carter and The Backstreet Boys were invited to perform at the Stagecoach Festival as well, and capped off last week’s ACM Awards in collaboration with Rascal Flatts. And again, there is no criticism flowing to Nick Carter like you see going to Zach Bryan for being rude or weird to people, and for making “borderline racist jokes.”

And so when you read all of these accusations against Zach Bryan, they certainly deserve some context, especially when both of the original posts were removed by their authors, and were inspired by Zach Bryan’s recent $350 million deal.

Zach Bryan was never meant to be a superstar signing $350 million contracts. Saving Country Music was the very first outlet to interview Zach Bryan, and at that time, he spoke intently about not wanting to quit the Navy, still wanting to pursue music, but wanting to honor his commitment to his country first.

“I’m in the Navy and I love being in the Navy,” Zach said. “I think I might just keep being in the Navy and writing songs, and that’s about it—keep writing music that people might like … There are thousands of kids sitting in their rooms right now playing guitars that would beg to be in the position that I’m in right now. That’s out of no arrogance. I feel responsible and an obligation to write more music, and pursue it as well as I possibly can just for those kids. It would be wrong not to chase it, if the songs can get to more people with no stipulations attached, no dollar amount, nothing like that. I would really like for people to hear music they need to hear, my songs or other songs.”

But eventually, Zach Bryan had to quit the Navy because his music became too big, and he was becoming a distraction in his position. We saw this same scenario befall punk band Green Day after they released their 1991 album Kerplunk. The album did so well, they were forced to sign to a major label, which in turn had the hardcore punk scene labeling them sellouts.

Zach Bryan is just a small-town kid from Oklahoma whose mother died early who probably wasn’t born with the disposition to consume, digest, let alone excel when navigating his inadvertent and completely unplanned mega superstardom. On September 27th, Zach Bryan will be playing the biggest single ticketed show in North American history at Michigan Stadium. When you’ve found yourself at the very height of human popularity, how you envision yourself in personal situations and interfacing with fellow artists is of course going to be incredibly awkward. Of course you’re going to come across as out-of-touch, because you are.

Zach Bryan has spent his career saying he’s not a musician, shouting out and giving credit to the artists who came before him—especially John Moreland—and doing what he can with the opportunities he’s been bestowed to turn that attention back on the artists and performers he admires, like Drayton Farley. He’s not perfect, but nobody is. Nor should he be excused for any concerning behavior.

But too many fans are letting their fandom get in the way of regarding these conflicts with an even keel, and an open mind. Some folks are engaging in straight up character assassination in and effort to defend John Moreland. And these conflicts are eroding the strength and integrity of important grassroots networks that have allowed artists like John Moreland and Drayton Farley to be supported, and artists like Zach Bryan excel so he can subsequently turn around and help support those coming up behind him.

None of this drama is healthy, including the fact that so much attention is being sucked up by this situation. Kristina Murray, Caitlin Cannon, and Americana supergroup I’m With Her all released albums on Friday when all of this erupted, and those releases felt overshadowed by the controversy.

So everyone take a deep breath, work to chill tensions, and understand we’re all tugging at the same yoke here in the same general direction. You don’t need to take a side. You don’t need to measure who is more right, or more wrong. Listen to the music of Zach Bryan, John Moreland, and Drayton Farley, because they represent some of the greatest singer/songwriter material of this generation, all from slightly different perspectives, but with music that has put songwriting and songs back to the forefront of the American music consciousness.

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