Sony Pulled Maren Morris Last Minute from Appearance on Wheeler Walker Jr. Album
WARNING: Some Language
Dirty country comedy personality Wheeler Walker Jr. just released his sophomore album Ol’ Wheeler on Friday (6-2), and it will be competing for the #1 spot on the country albums chart, as well as a Top 10 showing on the Billboard 200 this week, but it will be without a high-profile collaboration that was supposed to make the record, but got scrubbed last minute by Sony Nashville.
Upcoming country starlet Maren Morris, who’s been making waves of her own with a #1 song and Grammy win for “My Church,” was supposed to appear on Wheeler Walker’s duet “Fuckin’ Around.” Despite the racy name, it is one of the tamer tracks on Wheeler’s new record. Maren even recorded the track with Wheeler, and Sony Nashville originally signed off on the collaboration. But at the last minute, the label apparently got cold feet, and permission was pulled.
The song still made the record, and with a duet partner. Though it’s credited as “Kacey Walker” singing on the track, many independent country fans will recognize the voice of east Nashville’s Nikki Lane on the song. However the last minute switch did cause drama for the Wheeler Walker camp, necessitating a delay in the pressing of vinyl for the project along with other production issues.
“Sorry again that vinyl is going to be late. Did ALL we could,” Wheeler Walker Jr. tweeted out on Friday, June 2nd. “Any complaints, send ’em to Sony Nashville. Long story, but their fault.”
Fans who were able to secure a physical copy might have noticed a veiled reference to the issue in the liner notes for the album. Thanks is given to “Maren ‘Maybe Next Time’ Morris”. Though Wheeler Walker and Maren Morris might seem like an odd couple to some, they actually shared the stage together this time last year at a show during CMA Fest, with Morris singing backup for one of Walker’s raunchy songs.
Sony Nashville’s decision to yank Maren Morris’s participation on the record came right at the same time Wheeler Walker Jr. was yanked from pre-order site Pledge Music due to the adult nature of his music. Walker made veiled references to production issues beyond Pledge Music in late February, but no reason was given.
“A MAJOR record company has tried to halt production of my new record,” Wheeler said on Twitter. “Nashville is officially ‘scared.’ But I will get the album to you. They know I will bring down the Music City Machine. This is war now. And I will win. They want you to open wide and shove the new Florida Georgia Line/Backstreet Boys shit down your throat. Fight them and listen to Wheeler.”
Saving Country Music reached out to the management of Wheeler Walker Jr. to comment on the issue, and received the reply, “Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are not authorized to comment at this time.” Saving Country Music also reached out to Sony Nashville, who did not return calls or emails.
The issue also might dovetail with an Op-Ed Maren Morris published on Lenny Letter in April, where she talked about the struggles of being a country music performer who happens to be female.
“The frustration I’ve had with the perspective of women in country music is that you either have to sing about being scorned by a lover or sing about thinking a boy is cute and wanting him to notice you. That’s about as edgy as you can get,” says the Op-Ed. “I write about sex and the self-inflicting pain of being the asshole at the end of a long relationship, being young and drunk with your girlfriends, or just having a meaningless but fun (and sometimes necessary) fling. Things that don’t always make me look like a puritan saint, but they’re unflinchingly honest, and I couldn’t write it down on paper or sing it unless I went through it personally.”
June 5, 2017 @ 8:17 am
Oh well..Nikki Lane is great on it.
Actually a pretty good song..
I’ve noticed, Walker sings like people talk at bars..
June 5, 2017 @ 8:28 am
Miranda has made a career not being the sterotypical country girl & I seriously hope we get more of those type of songs from Maren (one reason I can’t stand the constant need to make Miranda into a victim).
That being said, if I’m Sony, I’m not letting a young up & coming mainstream star anywhere near this album.
June 5, 2017 @ 9:07 am
Completely agree. Even though we may like to hear Maren on the song, if I am Sony, I am not letting her anywhere near a Wheeler album. Why deal with the possible backlash crap of it if you don’t have to?
June 5, 2017 @ 9:14 am
Country doesn’t need another source of sass. Miranda has run that train into the ground. I’d rather see more Kacey Musgraves wit in upcoming female artists.
I’d also like to see a male artist with the guts to sing about being mistreated in the same way female stars sing about it. It’s not that we need to hear that women can horribly mistreat men, too, it’s that it does happen and therefore should be written about, but I think people are scared to do it for fear of being labeled sexist. People hurt people, period, so fucking write and sing about it from your perspective.
On topic–Sony is so ball-less. Morons.
June 20, 2018 @ 4:57 pm
Miranda never cla
June 5, 2017 @ 9:04 am
He’s a,comedian?
June 5, 2017 @ 12:12 pm
The Ben show was hilarious imho
June 8, 2017 @ 12:40 am
The football coach sketch is one of the greatest scenes in sketch comedy show history. Right up there with a lot of Key and Peele stuff.
June 5, 2017 @ 9:57 am
He’s way better off with Nikki anyway,over that overrated pop singer Maren Morris.
June 5, 2017 @ 11:16 am
This is ever so fascinating, because as a country album, Maren’s album is more profane and obscene than anything Wheeler Walker, Jr. could ever hope to come up with.
June 5, 2017 @ 10:57 pm
Maren is very overrated. I was tired of her by her second single. I don’t understand what it is that people see in her, except that there are other mainstream artists whose music is even worse.
June 6, 2017 @ 7:11 am
Cookie cutter country princess. She’ll be a distant memory soon.
June 5, 2017 @ 8:06 pm
so you dum-dums haven’t realized that this whole Wheeler shitshow is a Nashville middle finger to you traditional country fans…?
June 6, 2017 @ 7:39 am
It’s half homage, half parody.
Sounds like this whole thing is typical major label BS. Maren, herself, seems to be down with Wheeler. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
It’s probably best that Wheeler deliver the album straight and not lard it down with guests like a certain other Country Comedian, who shall remain nameless, lest Wheeler be lumped in with him and his shtick.
In the end Nikki Lane is a perfect substitute with cred to boot. Even she doesn’t guest under her own name by the way. Js.
June 7, 2017 @ 8:00 am
I think the name was used both to protect whoever was originally supposed to be on the track and make it seem like Wheeler’s wife by making it Kacey Walker. It did make me wonder before this article came out if Kacey Musgraves was the original artist. I figured her or Miranda Lambert made the most sense. In the end I’m glad it’s Nikki Lane since it’s my favorite song on the album and I’m in the camp that doesn’t get why Maren is being pushed so much as the next big thing.
June 8, 2017 @ 12:50 am
It’s definitely not “a Nashville middle finger to you traditional country fans”
If you listen to any interview of Hoffman or him in the character it’s obvious how much he cares and knows about traditional country, that’s why the music is as good as it is, regardless of your opinion about the lyrics it can’t be denied that the music is country.