Super Influencer Eli Rallo Gets Kacey Musgraves All Wrong

Random Notes 32 Comments


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-abortion 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.

– – – – – – – – – – –

If you found this article valuable, consider leaving Saving Country Music A TIP.

© 2025 Saving Country Music

, , , , , , ,