Super Influencer Eli Rallo Gets Kacey Musgraves All Wrong
When TPUSA broadcast their alternative Super Bowl Halftime Show in February headlined by Lee Brice and Kid Rock, the warning from Saving Country Music went out then. Though a lot of people said the moment would be insignificant, what the alternative programming did was enact a divorce within American culture, with “country music” as the red-coded alcoholic husband that people on the left could then demonize on a regular basis.
This is exactly what we have seen in both countless viral social media posts, and in continued media coverage ever since the Super Bowl Halftime moment. You can’t navigate through social media these days without running into someone using country music as a refraction point to virtue signal the values they want to be perceived through.
It’s become chic to shit on country music, or to tout certain artists in country due to their political alignment, while lambasting others for what often is perceived to be their political affiliations. But these political assessments are often built off of incorrect assumptions or outright misnomers like we saw in the NY Mag/Vulture article from April that tried to code country artists along political lines, and had country experts on both the left and right calling foul.
There are so many examples of this country bashing happening on social media, you could post analyses and rebuttals to them on a daily basis. But a recent one by wildly popular social media influencer and Forbes 30 Under 30 personality Eli Rallo really underscores the vapid, uniformed, opportunistic, and ultimately counter-productive nature of these public moral preening exercises that come at country music’s expense.
“I’m a fan of country music in a very like The Chicks, pro human rights, pro LGBTQ rights, anti-war, pro women’s rights kind of way,” Eli Rallo says in the viral post. “Like I really love country music. But I’m not going to mess with your messed up morals and values. Like, that’s just not interesting to me. Like, I’m going to live with Chris Stapleton. I’ve going to live with The Chicks. I’m going to live with Kacey Musgraves.”
Eli Rallo continues, “And here’s the thing that’s like deeply troubling to me. It is deeply troubling to me that Kacey Musgraves is not the biggest thing in country music and quite literally also the world. Like it makes no sense and I think it’s literally because the country music industry wants to make it really difficult for people who don’t keep their mouth shut on very very concerning world and social justice issues, they want to make it really hard for them to pop off.”
In an otherwise succinct statement, Eli Rallo floats out such a litany of falsehoods and misnomers, it’s really hard to know where to start dispelling them. But lets start with the idea that Kacey Musgraves is an artist that here in 2026 is actively speaking out about “very very concerning world and social justice issues,” as Eli Rallo states.
The truth is that Kacey Musgraves really hasn’t ever been that political or outspoken in her career, despite this being impressed upon her by other people, especially in elite circles like the ones Eli Rallo runs in. Yes, Musgraves released “Follow Your Arrow” now 13 years ago, and made statements around that time supporting the LGBT community. It really wasn’t that controversial at thew time, and it’s really not that controversial now. Musgraves performed the song on the CMA Awards at that time.
But as Musgraves said back in 2019 as her music and career evolved,
“People expect [social commentary] from me, I know. And part of my creative persona is that. But three years later, it’s gotten so extreme and convoluted. There are so many issues; everyone’s on a soapbox and has an opinion. It’s just loud and churning people up in not always great ways. I wanted to focus on the beauty in the world. There are these parts of life we’re all missing because we’re getting hit over the head by the ‘fake news’ 24 hours a day. They’re—whatever side you’re on—keeping you churned up, and we’re missing all this good in our world.”
For the rollout of her new album Middle of Nowhere, Musgraves hasn’t been out there talking about the Trump Administration and Gaza. She’s been floating UFO conspiracy theories, and dressing up as an armadillo and going into big box stores to purchase her album. She also played a 3-night stint at the legendary Gruene Hall. Yes, as part of these shows, she also had The Mariachi Brothers open for her—a group that was unlawfully detained by ICE at one point. But instead of turning it into a divisive moment, she just did it and let the action speak for itself.
This is not to say that Kacey Musgraves is not an ally when it comes to “very concerning world and social justice issues.” She probably is. But she’s also made the conscious effort to not market herself through public stances on “social justice issues,” and instead wants to simply make a positive example of herself and her values as opposed to social media virtue signaling—something an influencer like Eli Rallo could perhaps learn from. In fact, Eli Rallo risks undermining Musgraves and insulting her artistry by impressing upon the country star motivations that she may not currently possess.
The next thing that must be addressed from the Eli Rallo rant is the idea that “the country music industry wants to make it really difficult for people who don’t keep their mouth shut,” and that has made it difficult or impossible for Kacey Musgraves “to pop off.”
Let’s not forget that Kacey’s last two albums were intentionally not country music releases, that she marketed them as a departure from country, and released them in part through Interscope Records to purposely push them to markets outside of country music. In other words, country music didn’t leave Kacey. Kacey left country, and that was her own, conscious artistic decision of where she wanted to take her music.
And while we’re on the subject and since Eli Rallo also mentioned The Chicks, let’s not gloss over that Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines has said many times over the years that she actually hates country music, telling CBS “it burned my ears,” and Rolling Stone, “I just didn’t like how blatant country music was. Nothing seemed poetic or subtle.” Maines has since double down on these sentiments numerous times, and The Chicks last album Gaslighter (2020) produced by Jack Antonoff was a clear departure from the country genre.
Granted, the [Dixie] Chicks were undeniably repudiated by the country music industry in the aftermath of their comments surrounding the Iraq War in 2003. But that was 23 years ago, and they have since been invited back on the CMA Awards, and the country industry has attempted to reconcile with that ugly mark on its history. Nonetheless, it remains the case that The Chicks—and Musgraves with her previous two albums—moved away from the country industry, not vice versa.
But aside from contextualizing Kacey’s previous two pop/folk albums, how has the country music industry treated Kacey Musgraves over the years? Has the industry really made it “difficult” for Musgraves to
pop off”?
Kacey Musgraves is one of the most awarded country music artists in history, and one of the most awarded artists in all of modern music. Kacey Musgraves has a total of 28 major award wins, and 82 nominations. She has 20 ACM Award nominations, and four wins, including two for Album of the Year, and one for Female Vocalist of the Year. She has 24 CMA nominations, and six wins, including New Artist of the Year, multiple Album of the Year wins, and Female Vocalist of the Year.
Kacey’s 2018 album Golden Hour won the superfecta of country awards: CMA and ACM Album of the Year, Best Country Album Grammy, and all-genre Grammy Album of the Year, making her one of the few artists to achieve this in history. In total, Musgraves has 17 Grammy nominations, and 8 wins. None of this would have been possible if Kacey Musgraves was being throttled by the industry. On the contrary, Musgraves is one of the most feted performers of our time by the country industry.
To play devil’s advocate, Kacey Musgraves was never strongly supported at country radio, which is also part of the “industry.” She wasn’t ignored, mind you. “Merry Go ‘Round” was a Top 10 hit. But she was never a star on that format. These days, that couldn’t be less relevant. Cody Johnson is one of the genre’s most popular artists, and is barely supported there. Zach Bryan is selling out stadiums, and was never supported at country radio. Many artists have tons of radio hits, and are significantly smaller than Kacey Musgraves.
During the release of Golden Hour, it was a conscious decision by Musgraves and her team to not even try for radio play, and instead spend promotional dollars on videos and other promotions. That was not on the “industry.” That was on Musgraves and her team. But she didn’t need radio, she popped off anyway, and Golden Hour won every single album award it was nominated for.
But perhaps the most deleterious, and frankly insulting part about the Eli Rallo rant is that she acts like Kacey Musgraves is somehow inferior to Morgan Wallen or any other artist just because she’s not as popular, inadvertently implying that she’s not really that successful.
“Just because Kacey Musgraves is like ‘I believe people deserve rights,’ y’all have given her roadblocks and obstacles that you wouldn’t give to say a Morgan Wallen, who also is disgusting,” Rallo asserts.
There’s no doubt that Morgan Wallen is a much more popular performer than Kacey Musgraves. But let’s not conflate that with the “industry” boosting Wallen while setting up “obstacles” for Musgraves. After the N-word incident, Morgan Wallen’s songs were removed from country radio and playlists, and he was temporarily suspended by his record label. The ACM Awards also disqualified him from eligibility for a year. Wallen remains basically banned from the Grand Ole Opry to this day.
Despite his overwhelming commercial success, Morgan Wallen’s haul of industry awards has been pathetic. Morgan Wallen has won a total of two CMA Awards, one ACM award, and zero Grammys. He’s not even in the same universe as Kacey Musgraves when it comes to industry award support. In fact, it’s all the negative press coverage Wallen has received, the systematic snubbing by the industry and awards, and viral posts like the ones by Eli Rallo that have galvanized Morgan Wallen’s fan base, and inspired them to double down on their support. Wallen fans believe he is the one being hit with obstacles.
It is very common among people who put political motivations ahead of everything else to believe the rest of the world takes a similar, cynical, politically-motivated approach to everything. They project their same obstacle-building on people who think differently from them on the rest of the world.
That’s not to say that if you polled the people who work in the mainstream country music industry, you might find they’re more right-leaning in general, and may disagree with some one like Kacey Musgraves about certain issues. This of course overshadows Americana, and all the artists in country who lean left that Rallo doesn’t mention.
And make no mistake, there is a cynical, calculating effort by the country music industry to boost certain artists and suppress others. But it has absolutely nothing to do stances on “human rights.” It has to do with money.
The major labels on Music Row couldn’t give a damn about an artist’s politics, aside from how that might play into how they can leverage demographics and appeal to sell that artist to the masses. In fact, the directive that regularly comes from major labels, booking agents, and personal managers to performers is to absolutely avoid speaking about politics at all. It’s toxic, and parses your fan base.
Right-leaning commentators like John Rich have been complaining about this for years, saying it’s actually the right that is being suppressed in country music, not left-leaning voices. And if you do come out espousing left-leaning views, the media and influencers like Eli Rallo are going to laud you for it. If you come out with right-leaning politics, you’re likely to get attacked and demoted, like Rallo, NY Mag/Vulture, Rolling Stone, and Stereogum have done to Morgan Wallen. So in truth, the incentive structure is opposite to the one Eli Rallo is portraying in her video.
Why do influencers like Eli Rallo continue to go after Morgan Wallen when two years after his N-word incident, Jelly Roll was caught on camera saying the N-word three times? It’s because these people are not informed. This is boiler plate rhetoric, cut and pasted, taken from passing notions. It’s like the AI version of an opinion on country music. That’s why Rallo is singing the praises of The Chicks who haven’t made a country record in a quarter century, and Musgraves who hasn’t been political in a decade.
Then Rallo proceeds to Stan about Musgraves, “This woman is my Beatles. This woman is my Shakespeare. ‘I’m in a bad girl good mood, wearing my gold hoops, lining my lips in the rear view mirror, baby don’t even play.’ That’s prolific to me. That’s Shakespearean to me … and it really pisses me off that country music is conflated with some of the most disgusting views ever, and just horrific atrocious values.”
Shakespearean? Those might be the most shallow lyrics of Kacey’s entire career. And what exactly are these “horrific, atrocious values”? It feels like you have to be specific in this moment if you’re going to paint an entire genre with such a broad brush. Is Brad Paisley and his local food pantry in Nashville part of these “horrific, atrocious values,” or Tim McGraw and Faith Hill with their pro-choice stances? What are we doing here? Who and what are you talking about?
Is it Morgan Wallen being a yahoo and whipping a chair off the roof of a building “horrific, atrocious values”? Clearly, he’s an idiot. That’s doesn’t make him complicit with genocide in Gaza, if that’s what you’re implying. Morgan Wallen doesn’t even know where Gaza is. Nor is he representative of the entirety of country music, nor do we know what Morgan Wallen’s stances are about certain issues. And by the way, Kid Rock is not a country artist.
Eli Rallo concludes, “And you know who I was really rooting for? I was rooting for Ella Langley. I was in her team, I was in her corner .. and then she’s got to go perform at the Kid Rock music festival … You just lost a listener. I was pumped and I was excited, and was into it. And now we’re headlining the Kid Rock festival, and you lose me. As a country fan who also believes people deserve rights, you can see where you lose me. And it’s tough out here. Go give Kacey Musgraves a stream. Let’s oust Morgan Wallen, please!”
But the irony here is Morgan Wallen already has been ousted, and it happened via Ella Langley. In fact this week, Ella set a new record by being the first woman in country history to have a #1 and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Choosin’ Texas” and “Be Her.” But somehow we’re supposed to hate on her too, not because of any political stances she’s made, but via guilt by association with Kid Rock.
Since Eli Rallo is so obsessed over “rights” (that she refuses to really define), what about the rights of Ella Langley to not be found guilty by association, and her right to the privacy of her political beliefs if she chooses to not share them, or may not even possess them in any any significant way? Because make no mistake about it, if people like Eli Rallo were in charge of the mechanisms of power in country music, they would absolutely do everything they could to stifle, downgrade, if not outright censor voices they disagree with.
Ella Langley has the right to pursue opportunities in her country music career, and not be the victim of wild-eyed assumptions by Eli Rallo or anyone else. Ella Langley also has associated herself with Kaitlin Butts, and featured her prominently in her “Choosin’ Texas” video. Kaitlin Butts has come out strong for women’s rights over the years, and once featured a drag queen in one of her videos.
Should we then assume that Ella Langley has the same exact social justice stances as Kaitlin Butts? That would be as silly as assuming she has the same lock step ideology as Kid Rock just because she was booked on his festival. In truth, Ella Langley is her own women, and should be judged on her own merit, not overshadowed by men in the industry, and have their history impressed upon her.
What Eli Rallo is right about is that people should go listen to Kacey Musgraves. Her new album Middle of Nowhere is great, is country, and is likely headed to more nominations and awards for Album of the Year. The album is likely to retrench Kacey’s country career, and be a step in the right direction for country and women in the country genre.
But instead of enticing people to listen, the vapid, down-looking Eli Rallo runs the risk of making listening to Musgraves uncool. Looking through her social media feed full of resort getaways, lavish dinners, designer fashion, lattes, and excessive cosmetics, Rallo carries the carbon footprint of a small country. By deflecting toward Ella Langley, Morgan Wallen, and “country music,” she doesn’t have to reckon with what her own outcomes actualize for the everyday people who get crushed beneath her feet—a common elitist tactic.
Kacey Musgraves has the #3 album in all of music this week, beating out Morgan Wallen’s latest at #4. Ahead of her is Ella Langley at #2, and Noah Kahan at #1. If you’re into good music, this should be a moment to celebrate, not act like Kacey Musgraves is being downgraded. She’s playing arenas. Kacey’s estimated wealth is $12 million to $45 million. Stop acting like she’s a victim of the country music system, and downplaying her success to create rage bait.
Kacey Musgraves is an overwhelming success story of country music, and one who has risen through the ranks despite being left of center, and held onto her artistic integrity through the years while still achieving commercial success. Thousands of independent artists would kill to be in Kacey’s position. Thank God she never sold out like Morgan Wallen, yet still found overwhelming success.
If Eli Rallo was truly such a superfan of Kacey Musgraves, she would listen to Kacey when she said about public discourse, “It’s gotten so extreme and convoluted. There are so many issues; everyone’s on a soapbox and has an opinion. It’s just loud and churning people up in not always great ways … Focus on the beauty in the world.“
The beauty in the world is the new Kacey Musgraves album Middle of Nowhere. That’s what we should focus on, not trying to use “country music” as a dumping ground for the power elite to distract from their privilege and excess.
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May 13, 2026 @ 8:28 am
“Social Media Influencer” = Grifter. Full stop.
As a side note, we truly live in the dumbest timeline when someone can gain influence not via talent or brains, but because some black box social media algorithm boosts them.
May 13, 2026 @ 9:30 am
Yeah I can’t take anyone seriously who is recording themselves talking from their car. This reminds me of the social media warriors who tried to accuse the Seinfeld show of being homophobic spefically the “not that there is anything wrong with that” episode as having aged poorly and being homophobic. That episode received praise from gay groups in the 90’s. I can’t stand these virtue signalers with zero skin in the game as far as having actual creative output who go back and criticize the people in the past for not having esposing talking points that people today are using.
May 14, 2026 @ 7:04 am
10000%. Not just grifters, but using the absolute dumbest things to lure people into the grift and getting into the dumbest fights with the other grifters. Social media is a cancer that is killing society, spreading lies and hatred and dividing people who have more in common than they realize.
May 14, 2026 @ 8:23 am
That’s the point with hooking us on the social media.
Control of the masses.
May 13, 2026 @ 8:34 am
Liberals have no shame.
May 13, 2026 @ 10:09 am
This cuts across the political divide. Sorry, but if you go on some of these same platforms you will find conservatives bitching about stuff as well and attempting to “virtue signal” to their audience.
We can stick our heads in the sand and pretend “only THAT team does it” or we can face reality that this cuts across political divides. Because the economic incentive is there for everyone to do this. So long as the social media algorithms (be it Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc.) incent folks to whip up emotions in viewers, videos like this will continue.
We live in an “attention economy” and if you ain’t grabbing peoples attention on these platforms you aren’t being noticed. Shit, this article (in a perverse way) accomplished exactly what Rallo set out – get eyeballs on her good or bad.
May 13, 2026 @ 10:16 am
Agreed. And as I tried to express at the beginning of this article, it really was the TPUSA alternative halftime show that sparked off this most recent string of “country music is morally reprehensible” rhetoric that is now so pervasive.
May 13, 2026 @ 11:04 am
I don’t align myself to the left or the right completely (it depends on the specific issue). But man, the incessant preaching, meltdowns and outrage from the left these days, done got out of hand.
To a certain demographic, this behavior and what she is saying makes perfect sense. But to everyone else with half a brain and no blind loyalty to a superficial 3rd grade level ideology, these “public moral preening exercises” are beyond laughable.
Trigger you completely dismantled her entire argument “with facts.” But of course none of that matters to her or the people she is “influencing.”
May 13, 2026 @ 11:38 am
Again, I don’t disagree about Rallo or the cut of her “social justice warrior” vibe one bit.
But “preaching” is not just a left thing either. Plenty of Conservatives irritate this libertarian by attempting to restrict or outlaw the activities of consenting adults.
See the push in deep red states like Utah to outlaw VPN usage or various laws being passed that require adults to submit their ID’s to use adult entertainment sites or social media sites like Discord.
I’ll get plenty of hate for this – but is there THAT big of a difference between some social media influencer melting down in her car while virtue signaling and some conservative lawmaker pushing to outlaw VPN’s? Either way you are trying to foist your beliefs on others; which ironically is what most people loathe more than anything period.
May 14, 2026 @ 6:08 am
This isn’t about “issues” Jake it’s all culture war BS. Realistically this is happening because the organized and well financed right wing meltdown rules the country now. We have a far right president who spends his nights melting down on his own social media platform and a well heeled media ecosystem full of grifting bottom feeders who propagandize for him. Pretending like this is all about silly influencers nobody knows is absurd and transparent.
May 14, 2026 @ 8:34 am
left be true now
we are in may and the biggest faux outrage has been from the right an their super bowl grift
but then again charlie kirk was factually a racist who spread hate and division no difference from nick fuentes so turning point did a lousy job carry out his legacy with their nonsense superbowl alternate show that was as racist as fck
May 13, 2026 @ 2:19 pm
Hilarious to hear this on the day that we learned that the vast overwhelming majority of posts on the r/conservative subreddit (which was a huge influencer of it’s own) are actually coming from three bot farms in Russia.
Folks, social media is the problem. Algorithms are the problem. They’re showing you shit that’s not real. They’re showing you age cases and exaggerated stupid shit like this woman.
Meanwhile tech companies, private equity, and grifters are very busy using your outrage to pick your pocket.
May 13, 2026 @ 8:39 am
Stupid “influencer” who contributes nothing to society says something idiotic, shallow, and trendy. Sounds about right in 2026. Stop taking these hollow and narcissistic clowns seriously.
May 13, 2026 @ 8:40 am
Social media is one of the worst things to happen to the world. This is a drunk-at-a-party rant, not something that deserved to be broadcast beyond this woman’s friend circle.
Incidentally if you want country music explicitly about LGBT issues and social justice stuff, I highly recommend Chris Housman. Think he might be starting on an album cycle now? Anyway he has some pop country bangers.
May 13, 2026 @ 8:49 am
Ninety percent of the media is woke, liberal, and 90% of singers and actors are. But they don’t accept that there are people with different ideas, so they create imaginary monsters, insulting those who don’t think like them every day. And this hatred spreads on social media and even infects minors who grow up hating. The woke are the new fascist Nazis. The phrase “Morgan Wallen doesn’t even know where Gaza is” is embarrassing and denigrating. Continuing to make one of the best-selling singers of all time look like an ignorant idiot isn’t much different from the argument of that hater.
May 13, 2026 @ 9:10 am
Morgan Wallen has given every single indication that he’s not a very thoughtful person. When you’re whipping a metal chair off the top of a building and almost braining police officers after you’ve already been in trouble with the law numerous times, and yelling the N-word out into the Nashville night while your record is #1, there’s indications you’re not that bright.
That said, I’m wholeheartedly against lumping all of the sins of mankind on the shoulders of Morgan Wallen and turning him into some sort of evil creature so that Eli Rallo can feel better about herself and morally superior. I would be surprised if Morgan Wallen knows where Gaza is. But that proves my point. Wallen has given no indication about any political affiliation ever. So why are we attacking him for things he’s never espoused?
May 13, 2026 @ 6:17 pm
“So why are we attacking him for things he’s never espoused?”
If you are quiet comrade, it means insufficiently on board. You might be kulak lying low hoping revolution blows over. Everybody must be vocal about glorious future, create safe space for revolution. Party loyalty, comrade. You want successful music career, da?
May 13, 2026 @ 10:55 am
“Woke” is not the insult that you think it is.
May 15, 2026 @ 9:11 pm
Well, it is.
Being woke is not a healthy attitude.
May 13, 2026 @ 3:39 pm
Could you please post a link to the scientific research that provided the empirically produced “ninety percent” and “90%” statistical figures? Thank you.
May 13, 2026 @ 8:53 am
I could listen to Ella Langley and Kacey Musgraves back to back all day, and that would be a perfect day.
I understand everyone’s got to take a side these days, but it sucks when it comes to music. I’ve loved Springsteen for over 40 years, and Meat Loaf about as long. Hell, Lee Brice’s “One of Them Girls” was my most-listened to song the year it came out.
There are a lot of media/influencers that want to put everyone in a box, and that is not the way forward.
May 13, 2026 @ 9:12 am
The worst part about all of this is stratifying artists across a politically-coded spectrum based on assumptions, and then attempting to sway the outcomes of their careers based on these assumptions. If you love the music of Ella Langley, why wouldn’t you love the music of Kacey Musgraves? Why wouldn’t we celebrate that they’re at #2 and #3 on the Billboard 200 at the moment? Why does it have to be one or the other, especially since we don’t even know what Ella Langley’s politics are?
May 13, 2026 @ 9:34 am
This obsession with the N-word is unique to the United States, and unfortunately, it’s starting to spread here in Europe as well. It’s so embarrassing that a word is seen as worse than the acts of p*dos, murd*rers, and mol*sters (typical profiles of African-American rappers and singers). It’s just an excuse to play the victim and apologize for any action.
May 13, 2026 @ 5:41 pm
Can you show me one example of someone saying that using the N word is worse than being a pedophile, murderer or molester? Can you show me any evidence that the “typical African-American rapper” is one of those things? While Trigger may be correct in most of what he said in his article, it didn’t take us long to get to the “horrific, atrocious values” here, now did it?
May 13, 2026 @ 9:06 am
Interesting post. I think the truth of the matter is that Eli Whoever is closer to Morgan Wallen or a label exec than anything else. She couldn’t find Gaza on a map, and only genuinely cares about progressive values to the extent that what she’s saying gets her views.
As a side note, I’m 23 and well within her target demographic, but I don’t understand the influencer world at all. After five minutes of Googling, this woman appears to have gotten famous by putting different snacks in the same snack jar on TikTok and then spun this into a grift where she gives young women dating advice despite never really having dated and (allegedly) being an abusive fiancée. Her family and her fiancée’s family are both richer than God and she’s probably never known a blue-collar person. I understand that you are using her as a bellwether to talk about the perception of country music among her ilk, but she is the furthest thing from qualified to speak on either music or social change.
I am, however, loving the Kacey record. Eli and I can certainly agree on that.
May 13, 2026 @ 9:17 am
Just like when I totally like thought we couldn’t stray like any further from God I learn that ‘Super Influencer’ is a term.
May 13, 2026 @ 9:33 am
“It’s because these people are not informed. This is boiler plate rhetoric, cut and pasted, taken from passing notions. It’s like the AI version of an opinion on country music.” Yeah it’s just run of the mill rage bait. This chick has never once thought about this issue until the moment she posted this rant and now she will never think about the issue again. She’s riffing. It’s all improv. The goal is to be inaccurate and uninformed to farm engagement, then its on to the next culture war moment to be exploited for views
I respect and understand why you feel the need to respond to the many inaccuracies, but putting this much effort into a response feels misguided because she put zero thought into her initial statement, and she or anyone who sees her video will never care that what she said is not true. It’s a different game.
Jeremy pinnell rips
May 13, 2026 @ 9:53 am
“She’s riffing. It’s all improv. she put zero thought into her initial statement, and she or anyone who sees her video will never care that what she said is not true. It’s a different game.”
Strongly, strongly disagree. First, everything in that video has been carefully calculated and orchestrated. You can tell by the cuts in the edit. She knows exactly what she’s saying, and she knows exactly HOW she is saying it. The setting of the car, and throwing her stuff around like this is just a stitch in time in her day is all calculated. She is doing this to inflict damage on the institution of country music, and to try and rewire people’s brains to fit her worldview. And she will be and has been overwhelmingly successful. Furthermore, she has followed this up with numerous other posts about country music, pushing this same worldview. These types of influencers are using country music as a whipping boy to garner themselves attention and social clout. This is not just about Eli Rallo. As I’m typing this, there are dozens of similar threads going viral. Hating on country music is elite America’s new sport.
May 13, 2026 @ 11:20 am
Fair, i still strongly disagree. While the car and the grabbing stuff is planned and calculated for sure, she doesn’t care about tearing down country music or making people agree with her – she cares about making money and preserving her image. Which you say as much here “These types of influencers are using country music as a whipping boy to garner themselves attention and social clout”.
It’s clear from the video she knows nothing and researched nothing about country music. She just has a passing knowledge of kacey musgraves and used that to get views. She followed up with more country music stuff because that content performed well.
It’s not a master plan to tear down country music or rewrite american political opinion, its far more selfish and far less sophisticated than you’re making it out to be
Jpr
May 13, 2026 @ 9:34 am
It’s interesting that even back in the 1960s, the left tried to harness rock bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to their political purposes, but the bands rejected it (“But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao / You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow”; “But what can a poor boy do /Except to sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band / (…) There’s just no place for a street fighting man”).
Oasis boss Noel Gallagher has repeatedly used very blunt language to criticize the political agenda of events such as the Glastonbury Festival: “It’s getting a bit woke now, that place, and a bit kind of preachy and a bit virtue-signaling. I don’t like it in music — little f–king idiots waving flags around and making political statements and bands taking the stage and saying, ‘Hey guys, isn’t war terrible, yeah? Let’s all boo war. F–k the Tories man,’ and all that.”
Perhaps I lack the cultural background knowledge for this, but: Why does this English working-class lad have the balls to speak plainly, while country musicians hold back almost fearfully?
May 13, 2026 @ 9:53 am
Initially I wanted to disagree with your claim that it was more English artists who spoke about but in recent years Eric Clapton and Roger Waters are massive artists who have also spoken out.
Pre-9/11 there was more diversity of thought. Bill Maher’s show in the 90’s had shows with a wide variety of famous people who were free to speak their minds. You can find clips of Waylon saying things that aren’t “talking points” from either party. 9/11 and the Iraq war galvanized people into two seperate camps. Obama’s second term was the beggining of social media having a strong influence over public discourse and that ended moderate discussion.
90’s and early 00’s Country didn’t have much freedom to speak out because of the absolute hold that the corporate Christianity had over them.
May 13, 2026 @ 10:14 am
Bob Dylan was arguably the first to push back against imposing activist ideology upon his art. He saw how people were using his image and music to push things that he didn’t necessarily agree with. That didn’t mean he wholeheartedly disagreed with the protest movement at the time, but he didn’t want to be a puppet for other people to assert their ideology through. So he went electric, and never looked back.
That same imposing of ideology upon Kacey Musgraves is what Eli Rallo is doing. It is insulting to Kacey Musgraves’ artistic intent to use her music to attempt to inject more positivity into the world. That doesn’t mean Musgraves fundamentally disagrees with Rallo. It just means she wants to use her art and expression in a different way.
May 14, 2026 @ 1:02 pm
I’m sorry, are you trying to say that the Beatles were not political generally and specifically not left leaning politically? Maybe the band as a whole wasn’t out there leading the charge in 1963, maybe not fans of any existing political parties or ideologies, but they absolutely were political. The song “Revolution” was absolutely political. “But when you talk about destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out”? “You say you got a real solution, well, you know we’d all love to see the plan”? It’s absolutely a political song, but the message is not the left is correct or the right is correct, or that we don’t need a revolution, it’s that peace is correct and love is correct, that you should be skeptical of leaders or cults of personality, but it absolutely is pushing the idea that there should be a revolution. Look at it through the lens of “Imagine” and realize that “Revolution” is about the sort of revolution needed to get to that future. Or these two quotes from a John & Yoko interview in Playboy in 1980:
“It’s like learning how to swim. The swimming is fine. But forget about the teacher. If the Beatles had a message, it was that. With the Beatles, the records are the point, not the Beatles as individuals. You don’t need the package, just as you don’t need the Christian package or the Marxist package to get the message.”
“Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It’s quite possible to do anything, but not to put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don’t expect Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself.”
Paul McCartney has said that “Blackbird” was inspired both by hearing a blackbird and also by the civil rights movement in the US, and while the notion of a song in support of Black women portraying them as blackbirds might be cringe to modern American ears, it’s so plainly a supporting and loving song that it’s clear he meant well.
The Beatles refused to play segregated shows in the US south in 1964 and openly talked about the Black artists that influenced them, really the first artists to do so at least in the US. Stadiums in the American south that were otherwise entirely segregated were forced into desegregated shows to get the Beatles.
McCartney has also talked about meeting with Bertrand Russell in 66 and being turned against the Vietnam war and the role that meeting had in turning the whole band against the war and leading to a bunch of work, including an effort at making a 3rd movie, remaking Oh! What a Lovely War as an anti-Vietnam movie.
There’s a ton of John Lennon activisim to point at too, like the infamous bed-ins, “Imagine”, hosting the Mike Douglas show for a week and bringing on Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale as guests, returning his MBE and citing the Vietnam war as the cause, referring to all of their songs as anti-war.
George Harrison’s activism was about the environment, putting together a concert to raise funds for Bangladesh after a cyclone and their war of independence from Pakistan, being an outspoken supporter of Greenpeace and the Committee for Nuclear Disarmament, and helping Terry Jones launch an environmentalist magazine. The fundraiser concert for Bangladesh basically launched the notion of the giant charity concert.
Ringo, I got nothing, maybe he’s the anti-politics Beatle, although I did hear he thought Brexit was a great idea.
Anti war, anti racism, pro environment, pro peace and love, all that lefty hippie shit that gets dismissed as being ‘too woke’ today.
May 13, 2026 @ 9:41 am
Waaaaaay too many words wasted on this moron.
May 13, 2026 @ 9:52 am
Ask yourself two questions:
1. Who the heck is Eli Rallo?
2. Why should anyone in the world care about this person’s opinion?
May 13, 2026 @ 10:04 am
If you think someone with the audience of Eli Rallo is irrelevant, you’re either uninformed, or exercising cope. What’s irrelevant is Saving Country Music. What’s irrelevant is Rolling Stone and Taste of Country. Eli Rallo and influencers like this are the only thing that’s relevant to large swaths of the population. They don’t even have any idea what a website is, let alone a website like this.
If folks want to act like all this social media/influencer chatter is irrelevant just because it’s unfamilar to their worldview, so be it. To me, my eyes are wide open, and I understand how all of this affects country music. Because that’s my job. And I’m going to use whatever gas is left in this dying medium to offer whatever counter-programming I can, for as long as I can. Because it is my job to challenge misnomers about country music wherever I might find them.
May 13, 2026 @ 10:03 am
Man, you gave her attention. The way to defeat this absurd victim mentality narrative is to let these morons speak into the wind.
Nobody cares who their favorite musicians vote for…until their favorite musicians tell them who to vote for. Kacey hasn’t done that, so that’s not why she’s not the biggest thing.
May 13, 2026 @ 10:08 am
Trigger is just Eli Rallo in a sweat-stained cowboy hat.
May 13, 2026 @ 10:09 am
This is cope and vanity. The amount of inadvertent attention I might give to Eli Rallo with this post is infinitesimal to the amount of attention she’s already received. So we’re supposed to just now allow canards to fester under the conceit that nobody’s paying attention to these people when that’s an empirically false notion? I don’t have the option of lying to myself about the influence of these people because I wish it wasn’t the case. I have an obligation to respond.
And again, this isn’t just about one post, or one influencer. This is happening every day, all over the place. I can’t and won’t respond to everything. But I think it’s important we recognize this shift in American culture, and how it is affecting the perception of country music.
May 14, 2026 @ 8:43 am
Agree with North Woods. Stop giving these losers attention Trig.
May 13, 2026 @ 10:27 am
Literally the hand movements are deeply concerning to me
May 13, 2026 @ 10:41 am
Social media is the bane of our existence in 2026. Why would anyone give a shit what this woman is saying? I don’t get my music advice from some random internet chick in her car just as I wouldn’t get my religious perspective from some bro in his truck. I mean who the hell are these people and why does anyone care what they think? I guess my age is showing (63).
For perspective I’m a purple speck in deep red upstate NY. I can’t stand AOC liberals and I am most definitely not Maga. I don’t choose my music based on the artists politics. I really love most of what Isbell has done but don’t follow his social media. I don’t care for Kacey or Ell or Morgan Wallen because they do not speak to me, not because of their perceived political views.
The whole idea that people can make a significant living being “influencers” or “content creators” speaks to how generally fucked up we have all become. Life isn’t always about picking sides on every point. Just my opinion, YMMV.
May 13, 2026 @ 10:45 am
Preach, Brother!
A lot of people are telling you not to bother, not to engage, not to give this influencer any more oxygen.
I remember reading a NY Times article about country where they quoted you. You are a well known defender of and advocate for Country Music.
I say, do whatever you think is right.
May 13, 2026 @ 11:35 am
Kacey Musgraves and Morgan Wallen are both largely apolitical — as are most country artists, for that matter.
May 13, 2026 @ 1:55 pm
Progressives like Eli Rallo will never forgive the white working class for not being a reliable vote bank for Progressive candidates, so this is what we get.
May 13, 2026 @ 1:59 pm
Whatever.
May 13, 2026 @ 4:05 pm
OK, what’s your explanation for this, then?
May 13, 2026 @ 7:40 pm
Right now, I’m not concerned about an explanation for this, John. Anymore, I’m finding all the political commenting on this Country Music website comments section to be tiresome. That’s all.
May 13, 2026 @ 2:53 pm
Honestly, more than “Progressive”, she seems to be more in the vein of a new “mutant” political faction that has sprung up in the Democratic Party. Folks who love to virtue signal by being progressive about social issues, but are more in the “Corporate Democrat” wing when it comes to the stuff that actually matters to working class (white and otherwise) folks – economics.
Maybe I am wrong – I sure as shit ain’t gonna give her a click – but something about her screams “Black Lives Matter” bumper sticker, but is horrified at some in the left wing of the Democratic Party denouncing Israel. I think the term is “Abundance Democrat” thanks to those chuds Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein.
May 13, 2026 @ 5:48 pm
Hey Mike W,
Usually I think your comments here are pretty spot on, but it’s clear from this one that you don’t have an understanding of the “abundance agenda” you referenced. You might actually enjoy looking into it; it’s quite different from what you seem to think it is. Not endorsing or opposing it here, just noting it’s not what your comment suggest you believe it to me.
May 14, 2026 @ 9:12 am
I saw a clip on social media yesterday about how the identitiy politics agenda sprung up when the Occupy Wall Street protests were in full force. Regardless of whether or not that was coordinated it sure shifted away public focus from Wall Street and big corporations.
May 13, 2026 @ 2:00 pm
I can’t get past the fact that people like this influence anyone — let alone a “super” number– to even consider the issue further.
A(nother) comet can’t hit the Earth soon enough. I suspect the dinosaurs will have gone out with more dignity.
May 14, 2026 @ 5:04 am
Access to the internet will make us all smarter, they said. However many years later, there was the Tide Pod challenge and it became clear that access to the internet hasn’t done much other than speed up the evolutionary process.
Then they started using buzzwords like “misinformation” and “disinformation” which both essentially translate to, “Not in alignment with my political preferences.”
On the flip side, you’ve got artists out there like Wyatt Flores who might never have been discovered without the internet and subsequent social media platforms.. Does every Wyatt Flores come with 10 hacks who don’t deserve their fame? Sure, but I’ll take Wyatt Flores and let the others drift off into obscurity after their 3 seconds of fame.
Yes, I omitted ZB from my comment on that matter on purpose. There’s some appropriate proportionality issues that are still being worked out over time.
The internet and all that has come with it is a double-edged sword, but one side gets sharpened much more often than the other, unfortunately.
May 14, 2026 @ 7:14 am
*devolutionary*** process! Damn, do I wish there was an Edit button.
May 14, 2026 @ 9:20 am
The internet amplified choice. On one hand it gives access to knowledge and information that was harder to get before, and on the other hand it gives easier access to “feel good” mindless content and it’s in human nature to make bad choices. It’s the duality of human nature to both want something greater and better, and to also want to break things.
May 13, 2026 @ 2:24 pm
“The beauty in the world is the new Kacey Musgraves album Middle of Nowhere.”
I’m holding onto this one. It’s direct, succinct, and true.
May 13, 2026 @ 3:17 pm
I had never heard of this apparently affluent, celebrity wannabe before this. I’m glad I hadn’t.
This young woman is another soul entrapped by ideological possession – espoused most popularly by Jordan Peterson. Ideology crowds out critical thinking and individual conscience in favor of an ideology. There’s more to it than what I’m citing here, but I hope you get the picture.
I like Kacey’s more country-based music and I’m glad she’s gotten past whatever possessed her to make her last two albums which seemed like something had convinced her that embracing country influences was not a good thing.
She’s probably left-of-center in socio-political areas as much of the artistic crowd is. I don’t care as long as she doesn’t turn into Maren Morris or whatever pompous, marginal talent gets foisted on us by partisan media or alt-media outlets. If I eliminated all left-leaning artists from consideration, I’d have a fairly small number of artists to enjoy.
May 13, 2026 @ 8:59 pm
Like, I’ve never, like heard of this mental midget Eli Rallo before, and like, I could, like, give two fucks what she has to say. The fact that people pay attention to ‘influencers’ tells me the world is more fucked up than we realize. Every pinhead on the planet, mostly young people who don’t know their ass from their elbow, wants to be an influencer. Morons influencing morons, this is where we’re at.
May 13, 2026 @ 9:22 pm
deport Eli Rallo
May 13, 2026 @ 11:49 pm
“Morgan Wallen’s haul of industry awards has been pathetic.”
Didn’t you mean “appropriate” instead of “pathetic.”
People on both side are guilty of being preaching, lying, worthless douchebags. But our side has fewer of them.
This many words based on what a moron in a car with a phone had to say? BTW, to refer to Rallo as a “wildly popular social media influencer” really understates who she is, something you at least hint at by noting she was on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list (btw, Forbes is not a publication known for screaming for the socialist revolution to begin). But she has also written two well reviewed books with another on the way. I have less interest in what she has to say than I do hearing a Morgan Wallen “song” but she is pretty accomplished beyond being a moron in a car with a phone. In other words, while we/I may disagree with her here it doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve some modicum of respect.
May 14, 2026 @ 6:25 am
However you want to characterize it, clearly Kacey Musgraves has been significantly supported by the industry via awards, and Morgan Wallen, despite being the most popular artist on just in country, but one of the most popular artists in all of music, has not.
I didn’t set out to write a 3,000-word article, but I did set out to write this article correctly and thoroughly, regardless of how many words it too. If Ms. Rallo had not floated out so many misnomers, it would have not taken as many words.
One of the issues with this article is that a lot of folks are focusing on this specific moment as opposed to understanding how it fits in the greater picture, which is what I tried to do through the article. You also have a lot of older readers here who just don’t understand the influence of these types of people, and so I might as well be speaking a foreign language to them. This isn’t just about Eli Rallo. It’s about how country music is being perceived, and why, and how it could affect the genre moving forward.
May 14, 2026 @ 3:01 pm
It’s funny how you said you didn’t intend to write such a overly wordy piece on the topic but you ended up doing so and seem to have a war and peace level backlog of thought in addition to the article as you’ve replied to a dozen comments now! I’m glad you are getting it all off your chest thought. For someone who seems to feel their 3,000 word rant wasn’t needed, you published it and expanded on it a dozen fold! Looking forward to the next comment reply, my man, I’m sure it will be as concise as your articles are.
May 14, 2026 @ 6:41 am
You are correct in your critique of her content Trigger but in all honesty what’s the point of engaging it in this kind of personal call out manner? You put a lot of thought into what you write about country music and culture but this manner of approaching it is representative of the problem we have in the first place.
What you get in response is the usual vapid and hypocritical tribal virtue signaling via repetition of propaganda. I think that’s exactly why people like Kacey Musgraves have moved away from it. Social Media is a toxic waste dump full of people who don’t really know what they are talking about posturing and reactively defending whatever they think generates clicks.
That aside, my one critique of your actual point here is that this is not in any way a new view of Country Music so I’m not convinced that this is as specifically tied to TPUSA as you think particularly because it was mostly Kid Rock making a fool of himself and I don’t see many people who confuse him for a country singer. I think the real problem for Country Music is that the business has organized itself around the culture war cash register in a way that ends up alienating artists who have the potential to be the kind of crossover success Dolly Parton was in the day.
May 14, 2026 @ 7:19 am
To me, true popularity comes from the long term ability to sell tickets. In today’s world that is also where the majority of money is made. I am sure it is mind boggling and frustrating to the industry and also to the left leaning influencers and media that someone like Morgan Wallen is the most popularity artist in country and close in all genres, at least in the US. It also must frustrate them artists they try to force on the public don’t sell as well or don’t have any long term success.
May 14, 2026 @ 8:40 am
Holy fuck could liberals get any more insufferable. Wish I hadn’t watched that clip.
May 14, 2026 @ 1:06 pm
I’m a Kacey fan. Always have been. She’s one of the more talented writers of her generation and is underrated in that regard. I prefer the older country albums but she’s always going to be someone I check out every album and project.
That said she has some screwy political takes. One positive is for the most part she doesn’t let politics seep into the music (yes I know the obvious exceptions) and I also like how she isn’t constantly in the media talking politics and that for the most part it’s relegated to pull quotes from interviews or her social media.
That said I think the rubber meets the road here. If the argument is overtly conservative country artists Like jason Aldean, Brian Kelley, and Coffey Anderson, are bad because the media lambasts us all as ignorant racists the reverse also must be true too. There are liberal country artists who pop off and get uppity and let the media and us all know what they feel about the president or those who us who voted for him. Jason Isbell, maren Morris. Mickey guyton all come to mind. But with all due respect so does Kacey. While an amazing artist her values don’t align with mine and I wouldn’t want her in charge of politics in America. She has views that I find offensive, out there, and detrimental to the nation. She also paints a portrait of rural country life that I don’t co-sign: namely that rural America is full of trans supporting allies who want nothing more than Kamala to run in 2028 to restore sanity to America.
Kacey contributes to this misperception and it paints a negative portrait, oddly parallel with the opposite, that rural America is full of racist bigots who if they only heard the wisdom from metropolitan city dweller Kacey, well we’d all be donators to planned parenthood. She has a view of rural America and Conservatives that is inaccurate and as someone who is conservative it absolutely is a net negative to have someone say we are like that, let alone have it be one of the genres biggest names.
I think what’s good for the goose, is what’s good for the gander. If your moral outrage and vitriol for Morgan’s antics or Aldeans songs or the TPUSA show begins and ends there, you aren’t a critic, you actually are a partisan hack and are ethically evil. If however you call out the actions of both sides, and also admit when Isbell acts like the insufferable woke loser he is or when Mickey Guyton tries to reverse engineer Nashville to become some dei sjw racial quota hiring lobby, and you call that out and admit that doesn’t do the genre any favors either then you are a legit critic and actor.
To me I find it funny how the industry seems to love overt insufferable woke jerks, like Childers, Isbell and Sturgill, writing biblical level pronouncements about how their new albums are genre changing and masterpieces, yet when conservative artists release songs or albums, that praise, love and over the top language is nowhere to be found.
May 14, 2026 @ 1:39 pm
I think the bigger question is why leftists seem so hell bent on shoehorning their politics into anything they do. For the most part country music is non partisan. The amount of artists in our genre who openly talk politics in media or song is shockingly low. The number of pro trump songs in our genre is not large. And the amount of artists who openly came out and supported him is a handful at most. Most artists don’t post about politics on their social media and a few did, after Charlie Kirk was killed and trump was shot at, you got some posts, but even then several artists who did so ended up deleting their posts or just posting instagram stories which disappear after 24 hours. So we aren’t dealing with openly trump maga super fans here.
I think most of country music understands you want the most amount of listeners to hear the music. And if you piss off half the country you are putting a cap on your success. Most artists keep their mouths shut which is a smart decision.
However I’ve noticed the Lefties don’t follow their edict. They seem to feel it’s their moral and ethical duty to explain to us why trans kids are in danger or why we need to support abortion or why trump needs to be condemned. All while ignoring the reality that half the country disagrees with them. They try to take over Nashville and the genre to shoehorn in disturbing politics and outright hire and promote artists based solely on the fact they are bipoc or queer. You see that specifically with the NPR hipster set and their approved list of lefty leaning country artists, their myopic view of the genre extends solely to artists who promote their agenda and actively “fight fascism” whatever that means.
The question though is why Maren Morris or Jason Isbell think their voice NEEDS to be heard. I’d argue their voices are completely meaningless
May 15, 2026 @ 7:06 am
Her new album Middle of Nowhere is great, is country, and is likely headed to more nominations and awards for Album of the Year. The album is likely to retrench Kacey’s country career, and be a step in the right direction for country and women in the country genre.
And the only reason Eli Rallo seems to give a shit about any of that is that Kacey has the correct political beliefs.
I want off this goddamn timeline. We were supposed to have robot assistants and teleportation at this point in time, not vapid chicks making videos from their cars in parking garages. (Anybody else catch that?)
May 15, 2026 @ 8:50 am
I don’t know about robot assistants and teleportation, but chicks are OK.
May 17, 2026 @ 9:50 am
Trigger, I’ve held off commenting for a few days to be clear what I wanted to say in my comment. You stated that Tim McGraw and Faith Hill had pro-abortion stances. I think you used the wrong terminology and using pro-choice would have been the proper term. I have never heard of anyone being pro-abortion. Abortion is a very personal decision for various reasons and therefore a very hot button for many people with strong opinions on the subject. People can be pro-life, pro-choice or truly not care one way or the other but I have never heard of any one being pro-abortion. That is my interpretation and did not want to kick the bee’s nest nor make it political because I come to this site for everyone’s thoughts on country music.
May 17, 2026 @ 10:03 am
Yes, “pro-choice” would be a better use of words there. I’ve corrected it.
May 17, 2026 @ 10:46 am
Thank you so much.
May 17, 2026 @ 2:13 pm
Norabelle,
I really appreciate your measured, respectful reply to Trigger’s article.
May 18, 2026 @ 9:16 am
Thanks Tom, the terminology bothered me and I felt I should set the record straight without causing a ruckus over something not musically related.
May 17, 2026 @ 4:48 pm
<>
AND on the 2014 Grammy Awards. Where she had a huge night and won two major Grammy Awards !
May 26, 2026 @ 4:22 am
I’ve never heard of this Eli Rallo person. I’m going on back to that now.