What’s the Hall of Fame Doing Highlighting This Charlie Handsome Quote?
It’s hard to know where to start being enraged at or deconstructing this recent piece of media released by the Country Music Hall of Fame. First off, why are we featuring a pop producer in a display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in the first place? Why are they promoting him on their social media? Why is the Hall of Fame giving him a platform to tout how country should be more pop if it wants to be more successful? And why is it this particular quote that the Country Music Hall of Fame chose to highlight?
Ryan Vojtesak, known professionally as Charlie Handsome is known for working with pop and hip-hop acts such as Post Malone, Drake, Kanye West, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Young Thug, and more recently Sam Hunt, Kane Brown and Morgan Wallen. 2021 and Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album is when he really started moving into the country space when he co-wrote and produced multiple songs, including some of the album’s biggest singles.
Every year, the Country Music Hall of Fame features artists in their revolving American Currents exhibits. There have been some very cool artists who have been featured there over the years. Currently, some of the artists being recognized in the exhibit include Billy Strings, Zach Top, Sierra Hull, the Turnpike Troubadours, Charley Crockett, Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland, and Muscadine Bloodline.
You also have Morgan Wallen, BigXthatPlug, and this Charlie Handsome character. Touting Handsome on Social Media, the Hall of Fame says, “Charlie Handsome produced and co-wrote Post Malone’s smash hit ‘I Had Some Help,’ featuring Morgan Wallen. He also has writing credits on all twenty-seven tracks from [Post Malone’s] F-1 Trillion (2024).”
In the quote the Hall of Fame chose to feature in the video of Charlie Handsome speaking, the pop producer/songwriter says with a mouthful of metal,
“I’ll say this: One of my goals moving forward is for Morgan Wallen to be able to have #1 pop songs with no features. So even though his voice is definitely country, I feel like it could be the #1 song on pop radio. And obviously we did do that, but we did it with Post [Malone] who had done it before in that space. So I think moving forward, I’m gonna merge more of the things that people could consider pop, and find a way to do that.”
First, it’s difficult to know how it’s even humanly possible to make Morgan Wallen’s music sound more pop than it did on his most recent album I’m The Problem (read review). One thing that many Morgan Wallen detractors fail to recognize is that on his earlier albums, he actually had a decent handful of strong and straight up traditional country songs. If you listen to his 2023 record One Thing At A Time, you’ll hear songs like “Devil Don’t Know,” and “’98 Braves” that are undeniably country. Morgan Wallen also cut some just great songs on his earlier albums like Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up,” and 2023’s “Don’t Think Jesus.”
But 2025’s I’m The Problem where Charlie Handsome specifically graduated from occasional songwriter to primary producer with Joey Moi is where any and all country songs, and few if any deeper songs were 86’d in the process. I’m The Problem really is Morgan Wallen’s pop record with a country voice. It’s hard to fathom how Wallen could even go more pop in the writing and production process at this point even if he and Handsome wanted.
But the greater point and concern of highlighting this Charlie Handsome quote is how it’s indicative of how so many of the producers outside of country approach the country genre. Country is a barrier to these artists’ pop success, they surmise. They need to go more pop, and even more pop, to continue to see the growth in their music and fan bases. It’s not just Charlie Handsome. It’s Joey Moi, it’s Jay Joyce, it’s Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk.
These are producers who originated outside of country who then came to Nashville and as opposed to respecting the local customs and sounds, work to erode them, gentrify them to the pop sound that’s permeated everything else, and help bleed everything that’s cool out of country music to hopefully enhance its commercial performance. Charlie Handsome’s quote is a naked example of this, and strangely, was highlighted by the Country Music Hall of Fame whose mission is supposed to be preservation.
But the ultimate irony about Charlie Handsome’s assertion that if Morgan Wallen wants a pop #1 without a feature, he has to go even more pop is Ella Langley and “Choosin’ Texas.” The single is spending its 11th week at #1 in pop this week, and as a decidedly country song, and from a woman no less without another featured artist or a remix. Marking 11 weeks at #1 is yet another historic benchmark for Langley, making “Choosin’ Texas” the first ever country single from a solo woman to spend more than 10 weeks at that position. The song is also now poised to be the 2026 “Song of the Summer.”
Sure, in previous eras, perhaps going more pop would make your single more prominent. But in 2026, the opposite is the case. It’s the country bonafides of Ella Langley and “Choosin’ Texas” that are helping to make it so successful, and historic. And the only reason Langley doesn’t have two historic #1’s through her other recent single “Be Her” is because “Choosin’ Texas” at #1 has been in the way, keeping it at #2.
It didn’t take an ultra pop song to finally get a country woman to #1, and to break the Bro-Country curse on country. It took a country one, because it speaks to the moment, and offers something distinct in the marketplace as opposed to just another monogenre single with a programmed drum track that Americans passively consume irrespective of the genre or artist involved.
But here’s the even deeper irony about Charlie Handsome’s quote, if you can believe it. Morgan Wallen actually did have a solo single top the Billboard Hot 100 without a feature. “Last Night” went #1 in March of 2023, making it the first country song by a solo male to top the Hot 100 in over 42 years, since Eddie Rabbitt’s “I Love A Rainy Night” in 1981.
“Last Night” eventually topped the Hot 100 for 16 non-consecutive weeks, surpassing “As It Was” by Harry Styles as the longest running #1 by a solo artist with no accompanying acts, as well as tying for the second longest run of all time. It was also the only single to have peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 during six consecutive months.
In other words, this thing that Charlie Handsome wants to achieve for Morgan Wallen by somehow making his music even more pop, it already happened, and in a historic fashion. And who was one of the songwriters and producers on “Last Night”? It was a guy named Ryan Vojtesak, aka Charlie Handsome. Granted, Handsome said “pop radio,” but the Hot 100 is a significantly greater achievement and more accurate gauge of consumption that any radio chart.
What is the Country Music Hall of Fame even doing platforming this guy? It’s funny that Morgan Wallen can’t even show his face at the Grand Ole Opry without a full on revolt ensuing on the internet, but the Hall of Fame launches an entire exhibit for him and his pop producer, and mum’s the word? Where are those busybodies when you need them?
The lesson Ella Langley and “Choosin’ Texas” is teaching us is that for country artists to reach the pinnacle of whatever potential their music has, it’s not via the conventional means of just going as pop as you possibly can. It’s being real, being distinct, being authentic to yourself. In an increasingly Artificial world, people are looking for real human connections. Morgan Wallen already went all the way pop, and that worked in 2023. In 2026, what’s working is staying country.
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July 2, 2026 @ 10:12 am
Daniel Tashian grew up in Nashville. His father, Barry Tashian, was in Emmylou’s Hot Band for over a decade.
July 2, 2026 @ 10:19 am
He was also in a pop rock band called The Silver Seas and was significantly responsible for pulling Kacey Musgraves pop as she was pulled away from Shane McAnally. He also pushed Sarah Jarosz’s new album more pop.
July 2, 2026 @ 1:31 pm
I agree about pushing them more pop but……..i’m going to have to admit that I loved “Polaroid Lovers” by Sarah. That made my top 10 records that year plus “Runaway Train” is a absolute banger. Kacey Musgraves “Golden Hour” made my top 25 in the year it released. Pop influenced yes but they still were great albums.
July 2, 2026 @ 1:58 pm
Sarah Jarosz’s “Runaway Train” was featured on the SCM Top 25 Playlist. “Golden Hour” by Kacey Musgraves where Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk first started working with her, and it won the Superfecta of major awards and has become an all-time album. But when she followed up with a pop record where Shane MCanally was taken completely out of the picture and it was all Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, it tanked. Then they were at the helm for another mediocre folk pop record from Musgraves that also mostly failed.
What is Kacey Musgraves doing now? She’s going back to her country roots, writing with Shane McAnally, and finding big success with it. There’s a lot of artists zigging when they should be zagging right now, and if Charlie Handsome thinks the way to get Morgan Wallen where Ella Langley is right now is to go even more pop, he could end up like Jon Pardi and wondering what the hell happened?
Charlie Handsome co-produced the latest Wyatt Flores record. The first two single were a pretty confounding mess when it came to the production. The third single “Half The Man” is at the top of the SCM Top 25 playlist at the moment, and might contend for Song of the Year.
You’re going to get some false positives. It’s not that everything Charlie Handsome, or Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk touches is trash. It’s not even that pop music is inherently bad. But there are a lot of lessons to draw from Ella Langley and “Choosin’ Texas,” and from allowing artists to be themselves and what naturally fits them. And one of them is to not even be more pop than an already pop sound because you don’t think you’ve been pop enough with a country artist. That worked in 2023. It won’t work in 2026.
July 2, 2026 @ 11:26 pm
With all due respect, Ella Langley’s album was actually very pop-oriented. It was a different kind of pop than, say, Morgan Wallen’s sound, but still very much pop. I don’t understand why you keep hyping this album up as a purely traditional-sounding country record. What exactly is – as an example – country about “Be Her” (the song, not the perfume)? And what makes “Half the Man” better than Wyatt Flores’s previous singles? For me, his shift from the Red Dirt sound to a Nashville pop sound is the biggest disappointment of the year.
July 3, 2026 @ 7:57 am
Akade,
I feel like I’ve answered this comment from you a dozen times at this point. First, I never mentioned Ella Langley’s album in this article. I mentioned “Choosin’ Texas” which is a very traditional-oriented country single with prominent steel guitar about heartbreak and two-step dancing. You can’t really get more country than that. “Be Her” is the most pop-oriented single from Ella Langley as the obvious radio single, and i said as much in the review for her album.
This article is about pop and hip-hop producers coming into country and turning country stars into pop. The album “Dandelion” by Ella Langley was produced by Ella Langley and Miranda Lambert. So it most definitely doesn’t fit that profile.
Citing pop country influences from 40-50 years ago and calling a record like “Dandelion” “pop” is to completely misunderstand what pop music is in 2026. It’s strictly 808 beats. It’s mostly Auto-tuned with hip-hop cadences to the vocal delivery. It’s Olivia Rodrigo and Doja Cat, not Olivia Newton John and John Denver.
I understand that some are tired of hearing about Ella Langley and “Choosin’ Texas.” But if it had faded in March and wasn’t continuing to set records, we wouldn’t be talking about it. It already might be the most important and popular country song in the last 50 years. It might end up the most important popular country song ever by the end of the summer.
July 2, 2026 @ 10:15 am
I never would’ve thought I’d be pining for the days when Joey Moi and Shane McAllany were the most hated producers in Nashville! For all their faults, they at least somewhat knew the genre and showed that with the right artists (including Wallen himself) they can produce good mainstream country music.
July 2, 2026 @ 10:46 am
Where to start with this ? Its complicated. The Country music industry does absolutely exist to make money, and I would argue that with the Ralph Peer sessions in Bristol, that moment in particular marked the beginning of the big business model that has forever led country music. If A.P. Carter and Leslie Riddle hadn’t driven, walked and hiked through the hills and hollers in search of authentic songs to sell, Country music as we know it, for mass market consumption might not exist. Chet Atkins and his polished Countrypolitan sound was designed to extract money from city slickers and it accomplished that remarkably well. ( yes what i said is a highly controversial opinion and I dont necessarily like it, but that is the truth)
I wrestle this thought while simultaneously juggling with the notion that true Country music as a cultural art form speaks to people who live the rural experience. Country music and country culture are and have been inextricably intertwined. And thats not a bad thing, its authentic American culture. This is a truth. But that truth is tangled with the fact that many of the bedrock legends have indeed scored numerous hits on the pop charts. Names like Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Ray Price, Charlie Rich, Waylon Jennings, Crystal Gayle, Connie Smith, Patsy Cline, Ronnie Milsap, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels and on and on have all had crossover hits that led to big career payoffs. In some cases there was a concerted effort by producers to emulate and cater to popular sounds of the day. ( see Dolly Partons disco era stuff ) In other cases, a song was plenty country sounding but for various reasons just came along at the right time and found traction in the pop world. Was this bad for country music? Certainly financially it was lucrative. Bad from a creative and artistic standpoint? Depends on who you ask.
As an SCM regular I mostly agree with the purists who gather here in that i want the sounds as founded to be preserved. I suppose at heart im a preservationist. Yet im willing to concede that some musical exploration has been good for the genre. For example, Bill Monroes foray into old- timey music led to the formation of bluegrass as a viable stand- alone sub- genre. The Seldom Scene and New Grass Revival and JD Crowe and The New South led to the progressive grass scene. The 50s era led to Rockabilly which became another intriguing branch off the tree.
Honky- Tonk sounds were all the rage in the 60s which inspired 80s guys like Dwight Yoakam and George Strait. Slide guitar and Southern Rock was huge in the 70s and continues to find relevance in modern country recordings.
In my estimation it’s easy to fingerpoint and label artists as sellouts ( we all do it) but at what point does the money become so good that artistic integrity becomes expendable to an artist who’s gone from touring in a van to tour bus or plane? And now their grandkids college tuition is paid off? Thats an uncomfortable but realistic question to ask. And im not in any way condoning selling out, but I get it.
As for this Charlie Handsome character and his cash cow Morgan, it’s very clear where they stand on the issue. Ive always assumed that ol Morgan has little to no knowledge of the actual legacy and history of Country music. Clearly his illustrious producer doesn’t have the knowledge or even care. And that IS alarming. The Hall of Fame is a conundrum and for all the good it does, it finds itself caving to popular culture because of a perception that the money will follow.
Ultimately we as consumers speak with our wallets and we do that by supporting artists who strongly share our passion for preserving the sounds and the culture that built the music. And conversely ignoring those who go the other way.
July 2, 2026 @ 11:39 am
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for the thoughts. I’m not sure how this fits in, but I’d heard years ago that some country artists that came up from poor backgrounds, and hit big, weren’t going back to poverty. And it seems that some times, some of them were trying to push the “hillbilly” thing away. Selling out? I don’t know, but in the end, they were trying to make a living. Some even kept up their old licensure— nurse, hairdresser— just in case things didn’t go as planned.
I’m glad we got to hear some good music over the years.
Thanks again, Kevin.
Tom
July 2, 2026 @ 1:39 pm
Yes indeed Tom. I agree with your point. Pragmatically, when offered life-changing money many artists followed what the industry demanded and ultimately took care of families. At least the smart ones did. Then of course you had the ones Gary Adams (guitarist for George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, Marty Robbins ) referred to when he said” there ain’t nothing worse than a hillbilly with a hit record” meaning the crazy ones who spent all that money snorting it, smoking it or drinking it up. HAHA!
July 2, 2026 @ 11:43 am
FYI…Ella Langley’s other single is called “Be Her,” not “Here.”
Also, Morgan Wallen’s music is hot garbage.
July 2, 2026 @ 12:13 pm
“In an increasingly Artificial world, people are looking for real human connections.”
One could perhaps even leave out the last two words: In an increasingly Artificial world, people are looking for real.
Perhaps appreciating and noticing realness in something like music can make one more mindful and appreciative of realness in other things. Perhaps realness can be found all around, in different ways: real and honest materials in furniture, real and natural ingredients in cooking, real emotions in writing, real talent, real craftsmanship, real passion, real poets, real artists, real musicians, etc.
July 2, 2026 @ 12:37 pm
I’m Italian, but I understand English well and listened to the interview. He isn’t talking about a number one on the Hot 100 (which Morgan has already achieved multiple times, even as a solo artist), but rather about pop radio.
July 7, 2026 @ 4:55 am
Benvenuto!
July 2, 2026 @ 12:38 pm
Ah… but he said “#1 song on pop radio.” Wallen has yet to achieve that. “Last Night” topped the Hot 100, but on pop radio it peaked at #5 (and not until July 2023, meaning that it was streaming from his fan base that got it to #1 Hot 100 four months earlier, not pop radio acceptance). And remember, the Hot 100 is an “all genre” chart, not a “pop” chart. It hasn’t been a “pop” chart since 1998 at the latest. A Hot 100 #1 these days is no more necessarily indicative of mass acceptance on pop radio than “Texas Hold ‘Em” being #1 on Hot Country Songs was indicative of mass acceptance on country radio. It means the song is streaming through the roof, and you can’t classify a stream as a “country stream” or a “pop stream.”
Exhibit 2: “Choosin’ Texas” has yet to crack the Top 10 at pop radio. On today’s Mediabase update it sits at #13, moving down one spot though retaining its bullet. This is indicative of resistance from particularly larger-market Top 40 stations. It’s actually been quite a polarizing record for CHR programmers.
That said, for a pure country song to get even that high at CHR is remarkable. And its performance at pop radio is about on par with Wallen’s much poppier “Love Somebody,” which peaked at #14.
And absolutely no argument from me about Wallen’s music being hideous.
July 2, 2026 @ 1:09 pm
This is a distinction without a difference. For the record, I did clarify this in the article, but getting a #1 on the Hot 100 is significantly more important than getting a #1 on pop radio, especially a #1 that shatters all records, and sets a historic precedent for being there for 16 weeks. If Morgan Wallen and Charlie Handsome wanted “Last Night” to be #1 on pop radio, they could have paid for that privilege, because that’s how radio singles get to #1. Making the production even more pop would not fundamentally change the outcome of that single.
This is not an article about where “Last Night” ended up on the charts. It’s an article about the systemic way country artists are pulled more pop by pop producers who set arbitrary goals for themselves like “I want a #1 on pop radio with a Morgan Wallen song” as opposed to centering artistry and personal expression through the medium of music.
July 2, 2026 @ 1:30 pm
Funny that the Country Music H-o-F seemed to have a strict genre filter for inductees–unlike the Rock & Roll hall. Elvis Presley was not inducted until 1998. Getting Ray Charles into the Country H-o-F was like pulling teeth. Ditto for Kenny Rogers, one of the biggest country stars of the 1970s and ’80s, who didn’t get in until 2013. And they STILL haven’t let in John Denver, Anne Murray or Crystal Gayle–major stars in both country and pop.
I guess that attitude is out the window with the current regime.
July 2, 2026 @ 1:44 pm
They also waited until 2009 to indict Barbara Mandrell even though she was huge in the early 80s, had been active since the sixties, was the first artist to win the CMA Entertainer of the Year more than once, etc. She retired in 1997 and I was stunned she had to wait over ten more years to get in. Although she had some great real country songs, her most successful songs were heavily R&B and pop influenced.
July 2, 2026 @ 2:20 pm
Ridiculous on both counts, Lucky, & CeeCee.
It is now the Anything goes, Hall of Fame.
July 2, 2026 @ 4:19 pm
“It is now the Anything goes, Hall of Fame.”
The Country Music Hall of Fame remains one of the most confoundingly restrictive institution in the entirety of entertainment and spots, and in such an unequivocal way, you can’t argue otherwise in any reasonable manner. At least when it comes to inductees.
Their American Currents exhibits is the issue here, and this is completely separate from the inductees, which is selected in an entirely separate process by the CMA. Similar to the Grand Ole Opry, I appreciate that the Hall of Fame is trying to open itself up. But their efforts to be inclusive to everyone have at times resulted in a mockery of the institution itself.
July 2, 2026 @ 4:44 pm
“But their efforts to be inclusive to everyone have at times resulted in a mockery of the institution itself.”
Agreed.
July 3, 2026 @ 10:53 am
I would argue that the Hall of Fame itself is actually a little too exclusive. Too many deserving artists are kept out year after year as more and more modern popular artists become eligible and slots are so limited. Do Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? Sure. But certainly not before a the whole slew of other worthy artists who have been cooling their heels for years.
July 5, 2026 @ 12:44 pm
Not that restrictive.
June Carter, Ray Stevens, and Tim McGraw made it.
July 2, 2026 @ 2:49 pm
I think you meant “induct” Barbara Mandrell. Or I hope you did. Anyway, you gave me a jolt, probably in common with everyone else who hadn’t heard she’d even been arrested.
July 3, 2026 @ 12:31 pm
Hahahaha! Had to go back up and read it again. Quite the doozy of a typo.
July 2, 2026 @ 3:25 pm
Well back in the day when songs were number one on any list it usually meant that it was really great. Cant say that anymore. Morgans biggest songs far as chart success tend to be his crappiest and langleys songs are about as equally crappy. So you have that, def not solid gold.
July 3, 2026 @ 7:17 am
Maybe the Hall of Fame is low key hoping/celebrating that Wallen will be exiting the country world.
Also, I can think of a couple of funny things to do to the name Fitchuk.
July 3, 2026 @ 7:51 am
Paul B., I too had the same thought as you about the name Fitchuk.
July 5, 2026 @ 12:44 pm
Because Nashville is full of carpetbaggers and scalawags.