While Maren Morris Is Apologizing for Things, Here’s a Few More

In a recent behind-the-scenes clip as part of this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Maren Morris felt then needed to apologize to the drag queens competing on this season’s show on behalf of country music.
“Coming from country music and its relationship with LGBTQ+ members, I just want to say I’m sorry,” Maren Morris said. “And I love you guys for making me feel like a brave voice in country music. So I just thank you guys so much for inspiring me. I’m gonna cry.”
Maren Morris is a RuPaul’s Drag Race guest judge this season.
You’ve gotta love how Maren Morris figured out how to make her apology into a self-affirming compliment at the same time, while also using “country music” as a refraction point for her own virtue signaling. Not only is “country music” not a monolith that is regularly and unfairly stereotyped, it’s unclear exactly what “country music” has done to drag queens specifically, or even the LGBT community generally.
Dolly Parton has been one of the biggest drag queen inspirations in history, if not the biggest. Kacey Musgraves and Shania Twain have both worked as a judges on RuPal’s Drag Race previously, and when Drag Race contestant Trixie Mattel released a folk-inspired country album a few years back, it was embraced by independent country listeners, including Saving Country Music.
I guess Maren Morris is once again talking about the content of Jason Aldean’s wife’s Instagram account, which she’s used to siphon attention to herself in a culture war spat? But the Instagram account of some artist’s wife doesn’t represent “country music.” That would be like saying since Kanye West is an anti-Semite, all of hip-hop is. Or even worse, if the wife of Kanye West posted some anti-Semitic stuff on her Instagram account, then that would make all of hip-hop anti-Semitic.
Does “country music” have a glowing history with the LGBT community? Of course not. But neither does any genre of music, and many have much worse histories (hip-hop, for example).
But while Maren Morris is apologizing for stuff, here’s a few things she’s in arrears for on a personal level, including to the LGBT community.
Maren Morris is part of the country supergroup The Highwomen with Amanda Shires, Brandi Carlile, and Natalie Hemby. On the band’s self-titled album from 2019, there is a song called “If She Ever Leaves Me” written by Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires and Chris Tompkins. The group presented it as the first ever gay country song to the press and in promotional copy.
“Me and Amanda were in Jackson Hole, and I was on the elliptical and I thought about this project and went, ‘What if Brandi sang it?’” Jason Isbell said in a 2019 feature on the supergroup for Rolling Stone. “And I started going, ‘Gay country song! Gay country song!’ I called Amanda [Shires] and went ‘Gay country song! Gay country song!’”
Despite the decades-long lineage of gay country songs and artists in country music—and the participation of Brandi Carlile in the project (who is gay herself and should know better, along with the other members)—Rolling Stone, the writer of the feature Marissa R. Moss, and the media at large allowed The Highwomen to market this song as the first gay country song, enacting the erasure of other gay artists and their contributions to the country genre over the years.
Despite Saving Country Music and other outlets challenging this notion of The Highwomen’s “If She Ever Leaves Me” being the first gay country song, Maren Morris nor any other member of The Highwomen have ever taken responsibility for or even acknowledged the issue, let alone apologized to the gay country community for making such an offensive assertion.
In fact, when Saving Country Music brings this up, the whole issue is laughed off as a fabrication. But the video below of Brandi Carlile introducing the song a few years ago with a cardboard cutout of Maren Morris behind her dispels those notions.
“We’re gonna sing you guys another Highwomen song. This is a really special song, because this is the world’s first gay country song.”
In fairness, Maren Morris did not write the song, but she materially participated in it, and in The Highwomen. This issue by The Highwomen is arguably the biggest offense toward the LGBT community in country music in the last five years. If Maren Morris wants to right the wrongs that “country music” has done to the LGBT community, apologizing and setting the record straight about “If She Ever Leaves Me” publicly would be a great place to start.
What are some other instances of “country music” being offensive or exclusionary toward the LGBT community in recent times? The most obvious one is the case of Kristen Hall and the country group Sugarland. A few years the senior of fellow Sugarland members Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, Kristen Hall was the established artist in Atlanta who helped open doors for the group. According to Kristen Hall, she also financed Sugarland’s first record on credit cards, was the individual most responsible for starting the band, and gave the band the name “Sugarland.”
But just as Sugarland was starting to take off, it was announced that Kristen Hall was leaving the group. The official reason given by Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush at the time was, “Kristen has decided that she wants to stay home and write songs, and we support her in that decision.” However, the reason cited by many industry insiders and what was later claimed in court was that Kristen Hall was forced out, and possibly paid-off to leave the band because of “image reasons.” Kristen Hall happens to be a lesbian.

Kristen Hall officially left Sugarland in December of 2005. In July of 2008, she filed a lawsuit against the duo for $14 million in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta for excluding her from sharing profits as had been agreed upon after she left, and for Sugarland excluding her from other benefits of the band’s success, despite her name still residing on the band’s trademark. The lawsuit was settled out of court for an undisclosed figure in November of 2010, and all documents in the case were sealed, leaving the details of the settlement undisclosed.
Strangely, despite this rather egregious act of allegedly forcing out the only openly gay artist signed to a country music major label at that time, Jennifer Nettles became the inaugural recipient of CMT’s “Equal Play Award” in 2020, essentially for the performative act of showing up to the 2019 CMA Awards red carpet in a white pant suit with a large pink sarong which unfurled to reveal written on the interior, “Play our F*@#in Records” and “Please & Thank You.”
To read more on the Kristen Hall vs. Sugarland issue, CLICK HERE.
Often popular music artists will use performative moments like Maren Morris’s “apology” for country music to cover for their own questionable behavior over the years. But it’s not just Maren’s involvement in The Highwomen “first gay country song” falsehood that has stirred controversy.
In the wake of the George Floyd murder in 2020 and the impending riots and protests, country artist Mickey Guyton became a focal point of media coverage as one of the few black women in the mainstream of country. She was subsequently asked to write an op/ed for Billboard about her experiences in country music, and how the country music community could improve to help artists of color. In the column, the most shocking revelation was not some systemic racism she had experienced in the country genre at some point. It was how she had been excluded and snubbed by her fellow women in the genre.
I left my ailing husband, who almost died from sepsis, in California just four days after his life-saving surgery because I had been invited to be a part of a female empowerment music video full of these same women. I arrived at the airport exhausted but excited. I checked my itinerary only to find that the entry had been deleted; I had been disinvited. The song was about supporting women in country, yet they disinvited the only charting African American woman in country music. Do they know? Don’t they see that I support them? Do they care? Do they want to see me? The answer is no. Let that sink in.
Though Mickey Guyton didn’t name The Highwomen or the video shoot for the group’s song “Redesigning Women” as the offending party at the time, it soon became evident this was the case. No public explanation from The Highwomen or anyone else was ever made as to why Mickey Guyton was disinvited, or what specifically happened to where she didn’t feel welcome to attend a video shoot she had flown across the country to be a part of. And if Mickey Guyton wasn’t there, why no women of color were involved in the video shoot at all.
To the credit of Maren Morris, she did address the situation indirectly on Twitter as a response to a fan, and confirmed that Guyton was supposed to be part of the video shoot, but with little detail about what happened. However, neither Maren Morris nor The Highwomen collectively have ever addressed the issue publicly, or directly, and no apology has ever been given.
To read more about the Mickey Guyton disinvitation, CLICK HERE.
Even more recently, in July of 2022, 21-year-old up-and-coming songwriter Paige Davis had her opening set on the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion’s “Hazy Little Stage” cancelled by the Maren Morris team that cited a “no local openers” clause and a “brand activation” as reasons to not let the performance go forward. “Due to Maren Morris’ request for “no local* openers,” we are sad to share that we will no longer be playing the show at Bank of NH Pavilion on July 9th,” Davis said.
Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown, Thomas Rhett, Sam Hunt, and Luke Bryan all allowed local openers at their shows at the venue. Maren Morris was one of the few if only artists to not allow the opportunity to a local artist. No apology or acknowledgement of the issue was ever given by Maren Morris.
To read more about the “no local openers” issue, CLICK HERE.
This is not to assert that Maren Morris is not a conscientious person, or that she doesn’t mean well with her words. But her actions speak differently. It’s not even that she is directly responsible for some of the above offenses. But they are definitely within her orbit, and things she could and should address directly as opposed to apologizing for phantom offenses by “country music” toward drag queens or the LGBT community.
Of course country music could be more welcoming to all kinds of people, including the LGBT community. But it’s also important to not mischaracterize that the country music community is openly hostile to LGBT individuals, which could have a chilling effect on their participation just as much as any actual offenses towards them.
It’s also important to make sure the contributions of LGBT members in country music are put in the proper context. The recent death of songwriter, performer, and HIV/AIDS survivor Jimbeau Hinson who wrote songs for some of country music’s most conservative acts like The Oak Ridge Boys, Porter Wagoner, and Ricky Skaggs back in the ’70s underscores how country music has always been more welcoming than what certain elements of the media and others want to lead on.
If Maren Morris wants to set the world right with country music and the LGBT community, start with The Highwomen’s “If She Ever Leaves Me,” and go from there. Don’t just throw “country music” under the bus to make for a self-serving soundbite.
February 1, 2023 @ 1:12 pm
So is Angel from Montgomery the first trans country song, then?
February 5, 2023 @ 6:18 am
Trigger, I think you ended up straw manning Maren here a tiny bit, which wasn’t needed because this was cringe as Hell even if you steelman her.
Jason Aldean’s wife isn’t what she’s likely to be apologizing for so much as the overall history of country music, which you acknowledge doesn’t a sparkling record (not that any musical genre does) in the next paragraph.
It’s still inappropriate for anyone, even Johnny Cash himself in heaven, to speak for and apologize on behalf of country music, let alone Maren. It’s so big headed and cringe.
I agree the artists themselves are probably overall pretty accepting of the queer community, but the overall feeling of non acceptance a lot of us experience in country comes more from the fans than the artists themselves. If you go to a show and you’re surrounded by hundreds of fans, a significant minority of whom are hostile towards openly queer people, that’s what creates the feeling of exclusion. I will also add that every country show I’ve been to, except for a few small roots festivals deep in Eastern Kentucky, have been full of weirdos and same sex couples dancing. It’s been an amazing experience for me to be around that kind of acceptance at folk and country shows.
But what does make me hesitate to go to some types of mainstream country shows, besides the suckassery of most of them, are how people like King Honky of Crackershire up there is spewing hatred and getting dozens of upvotes. There’s clearly a significant minority who are viscously homophobic and they make their presence felt. There’s still work to be done here for sure. Thanks for being part of that work, Trigger.
February 6, 2023 @ 6:56 am
Completely off topic, but I find it ironic that you used the term “big headed” in a comment on this post given how disproportionately large Maren Morris’s head was to the rest of her body when she first came along.
February 1, 2023 @ 1:40 pm
Well, Moe and Joe showed county music’s openness with respect to the drag community some 39 years ago. Unfortunately, the official video documenting the boys in drag–and featuring a cameo by Roy Acuff–has mysteriously been removed from Youtube, where it used to be housed.
But the quality of their performance can still be seen and appreciated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql5OAMNvHgI
February 1, 2023 @ 1:44 pm
Willie’s “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other” says hello
February 1, 2023 @ 1:52 pm
I can understand if someone isn’t boned up on Lavender Country and Patrick Haggerty who was releasing gay country songs in the early ’70s, or the scores of other artists since then. But when Willie released “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other” in 2006 right around the release of the movie “Brokeback Mountain,” it was a massive news story. The song was first written and recorded in 1981, btw. The reason that The Highwomen’s claim of the “first gay country song” has gone so long is because the media has been both trumpeting it, and running interference for them as opposed to doing their due diligence and setting the record straight. As far as I know, Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, and Jason Isbell still probably think it’s true.
February 1, 2023 @ 4:33 pm
Those three people think a lot of false things are true.
February 1, 2023 @ 1:55 pm
Cher will not live forever and her fans will need somewhere to go. Maren can assume the job. There has never been a more conceited, ungrateful, bullying female in Nashville. Her virtue signaling is so transparent and passive-aggressive. Any talent she possesses is wiped out by her ugly personality.
February 1, 2023 @ 7:18 pm
Cher fans don’t want her either!!!
February 2, 2023 @ 9:18 pm
I will never forget the so-called “gay icon” Cher freaking out her gullible gay base by tweeting out that if Trump won the 2016 election, he was going to put gay people in internment camps. Of course, they never fact-checked what she said they just became hysterical. She didn’t care what her stupid lie did to them, it just satisfied her severe TDS. She was called out for it but her hatred does not justify her lies. She is a loon and they can have her.
September 16, 2023 @ 7:31 am
Cher had a right to say that, because Trump was bad for LGBT people and rights (and because of him and his MAGAotts, attacks on LGBT people, as well as the nastiness about trans people coming from the right-wing, [most likely] increased.) People like you and King Honky of Crackerville don’t want to admit the truth about Trump, and want to believe that everything was still okay when he became POTUS, but it wasn’t. He’s no longer POTUS, but the danger of his MAGAotts getting riled up after (and when) he gets tried and sentenced to prison, because said people aare violent, as shown by the Insurrection. When are people like you and King Honky of Crackerville going to stop kissing Trump’s ass, wake up, and admit that he was/is bad for the United States, and the world?
September 19, 2023 @ 7:40 am
Wow. You are deranged and angry. They should lock you up.
February 1, 2023 @ 2:08 pm
Wouldn’t one consider “Girl Crush” a gay country song? I could be wrong. But I know that was released before the Highwomen song.
February 1, 2023 @ 2:32 pm
Officially, it is not, though Little Big Town admitted at the time that the misunderstanding that it might be is one of the reasons they chose to record the song and release it as a single, hoping it would stir interest.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/little-big-towns-girl-crush-stirs-controversy-like-it-was-built-to/
February 1, 2023 @ 8:55 pm
It’s a closeted gay country song
February 2, 2023 @ 6:07 am
Exactly right. Or maybe a straight <> song
December 30, 2023 @ 9:47 pm
A love that never dies by emmylou Harris I’m broke back mountain is an example of how to be inclusive without being heavy handed
February 1, 2023 @ 2:25 pm
I think probably a majority of artists in country, even if not outwardly spoken about the issue, are supportive of the LGBT community. Thinking about the songwriters they work with, family members we know about, artist collaborations, etc.
February 1, 2023 @ 2:40 pm
I agree. Are there bigoted people in country music? Of course. There are bigoted people everywhere. But in 2022, I just don’t believe there is some significant prevailing attitude in country music against LGBT people, and even the worst characterizations of Jason Aldean’s wife’s Instagram posts don’t refute that, while Brandi Carlile, Shane McAnally, Orville Peck, and many others are succeeding just fine. If there are instances of bigotry, let’s call them out. But let’s stop acting like country music is extremely racist and homophobic as a default in 2022.
February 1, 2023 @ 3:02 pm
Trigger,
You’re extremely bigoted. But because you align with the values of the spirit of the age, you believe you’re not. It’s strange to me that you can’t comprehend that.
You accept every new standard that spews forth from the zeitgeist, as an inevitable change that you must align with, and you blindly align with them.
Prove me wrong. Are you willing to publicly denounce and condemn all forms of pedophilia and pederasty?
February 1, 2023 @ 6:44 pm
” Are you willing to publicly denounce and condemn all forms of pedophilia and pederasty?”
Well of course I am. But something tells me you’re setting me up.
February 1, 2023 @ 7:12 pm
No set up. The ever-advancing communist zeitgeist that you have continued to adapt to your entire life, has turned you into an anti-biology, anti-Christian, and anti-rural-American bigot. That zeitgeist now says that pedophilia is acceptable.
You’re calling folks slow to evolve because they believe men have penises, and that the digestive tract is not a reproductive organ. I just want to know if there’s ever a line of deviancy that you won’t cross. I’m glad to know you draw the line at pedophilia.
February 1, 2023 @ 8:54 pm
Honky,
You’re being dramatic. I said nothing about men and penises, rural America, Christians, biology, or any of the other stuff in this article. You breezed in here from your political message boards all revved up to sow your culture war vitriol, and are impressing opinions upon me that don’t exist.
This is an article about Maren Morris’s hypocrisy of calling out country music. Please stay on topic or move on.
February 1, 2023 @ 8:34 pm
I typed “pedophilia is acceptable” into Google.
The first ten results were all articles supporting it or talking about how it is becoming normalized.
The Overton window is real.
February 1, 2023 @ 9:22 pm
Trig,
Don’t play dumb man. You know exactly what I mean. Nobody believes you’re stupid. You’re just a bigot like everyone else.
I don’t interact with political websites much.
February 2, 2023 @ 1:50 pm
@ck–I just typed it into Google to see what you were talking about. And now I have that search in my history, in case the FBI ever decides to investigate me. Sheesh.
I’ll have to tell them that SCM sent me.
February 2, 2023 @ 6:09 pm
Luckyoldsun,
If you are an American citizen, the FBI has already investigated you. Doubly so if you lean conservative in any way.
February 1, 2023 @ 10:10 pm
And the king of homophobia and transphobia , King honkey shit fire had to open his flatulent mouth, please why don’t you go move to a place you would be more at home with your views like Iraq or Iran. If some one were to rub preparation H all over you , you would vanish. Nobody cares about what delusional bigoted garbage you spew from that rectum you call a mouth, you are an inbred moron who talks big, but knows nothing, just please go back to the sewer which you crawled from. Every person should be respected no matter what business you are in. You want people to respect you, well respect is a two way street.
February 2, 2023 @ 2:44 pm
Ok groomer.
February 1, 2023 @ 2:33 pm
Well done, except you forgot the apology she owes for claiming she has anything to do with country music in the first place.
February 1, 2023 @ 2:37 pm
Back when “My Church” was released, I said it was a Trojan Horse. Got roasted in the comments about that.
I was proven correct.
Country music doesn’t need to change itself to make drag queens happy. Tired of everything having to bend over backward to make LGBTQ folks happy.
Remember when the demand was just “give us marriage?” Now it includes us or be exiled.
February 2, 2023 @ 6:07 am
True equality involves indifference. It’s not normal to make sexual expression ones’ entire identity.
I wish the LGBT community didn’t just automatically champion everyone who pushes their ‘kink.’ There is a difference from the homosexual who outwardly is the same as ‘squares’ and shares many of the same hobbies. The man who gets a sexual thrill from dancing in women’s clothes in public is not the same.
It’s also ignorant to ignore the degree to which homosexuals and bisexuals have been involved in the ‘arts.’ Many Golden-age actors and theatre performers, musicians and singers, The Beat writers in the 50’s (which I didn’t realize til recently) I’m not listing Lavender Country guy because his musical contribution sucked. (no pun intended) Discounting the influence of gays in the arts is like ignoring the black contribution to modern music.
The modern trans youth push is at odds with homosexuality. It’s unchecked inclusion is baffling to me. It’s been documented that 80-90% of children with body dysmorphia accept their bodies around age 18. And around 80% of them turn out to be gay. There are biological repercussions from several altering the body and it’s not discussed openly. It’s a constant battle after those surgeries to mitigate the body reacting trying to close what it views as a massive wound. Ignorance isn’t compassion. Everyone should read about it.
February 2, 2023 @ 6:19 am
‘My Church’ being a trojan horse is as much a condemnation on the industry as it is on the individual artist. There are many singers like Maren Morris who ultimately just want fame and success and will alter who they are to get it. (No way that deep down Luke Bryan really wants to sing the festering pile of dung that is his music catalog)
Put yourself in their shoes. You can see how easy it is to ‘play the game’ in homes of that multi-million payoff. You just can’t reach the top that way and then sob when people call you a whore.
February 1, 2023 @ 2:45 pm
Uneasy Rider 2 addressed this just fine. Country music doesn’t need to address furries, transtesticles, fruit loops or any other wierdos
February 1, 2023 @ 2:51 pm
Uneasy Rider 1988
February 1, 2023 @ 9:19 pm
What are your thoughts regarding country music addressing weirdos?
February 2, 2023 @ 7:15 pm
I just listened to both “Uneasy Rider” recently! First time in years.
February 1, 2023 @ 2:55 pm
It’s unfortunate that Morris’s apology is unwarranted. I wish Country Music were bigoted in favor of the values of traditional rural Americans. If it were, it wouldn’t be in the sad shape it’s in.
February 1, 2023 @ 4:31 pm
Rural Americans are not allowed to have any areas or spaces of their own.
Every other group is allowed.
February 1, 2023 @ 9:33 pm
Hear, hear! There is not one space or place in the entire nation that rural Americans can call their own. That is a disgrace.
February 2, 2023 @ 7:26 am
ck has to be the whiniest most persecuted little baby on the planet. you just can’t catch a break! first your wife leaves you, then she takes the kids, then you’re googling pedophilia, now you can’t even have a safe space. man, thoughts and prayers.
February 2, 2023 @ 1:01 pm
And my truck died and my dog left.
It is like a country song with modern touches!
Your entire comment is whining.
February 2, 2023 @ 5:37 pm
Wait. If I may be so bold as to interject for the gentille, Pot. Kettle. Black. The comment ‘’Rural Americans are not allowed to have any spaces of their own’’ is the whiniest whine in the rural idyll of Whinyville. Even you must admit that. To quote Charlie Brown, ‘’Good grief!’’
February 2, 2023 @ 6:08 pm
Please, we all know that you play the white knight for thegentile (even as you misspelled here name).
It is not a whine. It is a statement of fact. Country music is the one genre that is for rural Americans. It has been taken over by carpetbaggers and urban influences. Trigger has written extensively on the subject, on how anything rural has either been astroturfed or lampooned.
February 2, 2023 @ 8:49 pm
You do not seem to be very skilled at this. You said, ‘’Rural Americans are not allowed to have any areas or spaces of their own. Every other group is allowed.’’ Now you are saying, ‘’Country music is the one genre that is for rural Americans. It has been taken over by carpet baggers and urban influences.’’ You originally said there is no ‘’area or space’’ for rural Americans. When called on how ridiculously absurd that sounds, you shift to how rural Americans had a music genre, now they don’t. Which is it? Do rural Americans have no ‘’area or space’’ in the entire nation, or do you feel a genre of music that you believe the alleged monolith that you seem to think rural America is, has been taken from them by urban infiltrators? Also, Trigger writing ‘’extensively’’ on a subject does not equate to empirical evidence.
February 2, 2023 @ 9:22 pm
Douglas,
Sorry to be nosy, but I’m watching this back-and-forth play out, and I can’t figure out what is so hard for you to understand. You being a classic mid-wit should not prevent you from understanding the very simple point that CK is making.
Please make me feel better by telling me you’re just trolling. You’re smarter than this, Douglas; you’re middle of the pack.
February 2, 2023 @ 10:07 pm
The only point he appears to be making, is that he isn’t very adept at making a point.
February 3, 2023 @ 7:52 am
i’m just really enjoying that CK is crying about not having a safe place. surely, not even CK can escape the irony of this. CK, a man (?), who has certainly called someone a snowflake for even uttering the term safe place is now sad that other people are making country music.
this man (?) can’t catch a break! he is being assaulted on all fronts!
i should also note that i am enjoying the bigot brigade ‘white knighting’ for each other.
February 1, 2023 @ 7:44 pm
Renounce your dated backwards Christian values and allow the drag queen to wave their penis in your child’s face, bigot.
February 1, 2023 @ 3:12 pm
There’s also “Tequilla Sheila,” Bobby Bare’s song wherein he employs a bit of “strategic transvestitism” (though we never find out how it turns out); and the ultimate “anti-trans” anthem, Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue.”–both of those coming from the diabolical mind of Shel Silverstein.
February 1, 2023 @ 3:31 pm
Maren Morris looks like Dustin from Stranger Things, so there’s that…
February 1, 2023 @ 3:56 pm
Hi, known homosexual here who happens to love/write more traditional country music and RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“I guess Maren Morris is once again talking about the content of Jason Aldean’s wife’s Instagram account, which she’s used to siphon attention to herself in a culture war spat?”
This season of Drag Race filmed early summer 2022. Their spat happened a little later in the year. Not that it changes your argument, but just for clarification.
February 1, 2023 @ 3:59 pm
I’m a little surprised you didn’t address the issues around Chely Wright’s struggles in country music 15 years ago. Her first album after coming out, “Lifted Off the Ground,” caused quite the controversy. One could argue the first “gay” country song was “Like Me” off that album. There’s little doubt that her coming out torpedoed her country career. A lot has thankfully changed since then, and the same circumstances today would not nearly cause the waves that happened back then.
February 1, 2023 @ 7:28 pm
I don’t think her coming out “torpedoed” her career. She came out in 2010; five years since her last charting single, and 10-11 years from her last major hit.
February 1, 2023 @ 8:44 pm
Like Carter said, in Chely Wright’s case—similar to Ty Herdon—she had already been put out to pasture by the industry as a performer by the time she came out, which was just as much an age discrimination issue as anything. Then they tried to use the discrimination card for marketing.
I’m seeing some folks here and on social media saying that I didn’t spend enough time enumerating the issues country music has had with LGBT artists over the years in this article. The point here was not to be a deep dive into the history of gay country artists. The point is that instead of Maren Morris apologizing for country music’s infractions—which remain nebulous and undefined—perhaps she should start my apologizing for her own. I would say The Highwomen erasing every single gay country song and artist before 2019 is a pretty big one, including Chely Wright.
February 2, 2023 @ 4:30 pm
The point is a deep dive into country music and it’s history with gay culture MIGHT be an interesting article if you were interested in tackling it.
February 1, 2023 @ 4:11 pm
i feel like nothing maren gets attention for now revolves around music.
February 1, 2023 @ 4:42 pm
That’s because her music is barely attention worthy.
February 1, 2023 @ 8:27 pm
Well, when the music is crappy, the singer must find alternative ways of grabbing attention to deflect.
February 2, 2023 @ 8:42 am
Seriously…I’m pretty sure “The Highwomen” didn’t erase every single gay country song and artist before 2019.
February 2, 2023 @ 10:00 am
Of course they didn’t. But it most certainly worked to spread that falsehood, especially through the press and people who knew it was false when they dutifully reported it, and continue to not correct the record.
February 1, 2023 @ 4:27 pm
While I think she was trying to promote herself, to suggest that country music fans and artists have been historically pro-LGTBQ people and rights is not just naive, but deliberately false. Anyone who comes from a rural part of the country, where country music is vital to a majority of people, knows that homophobia and bigotry against anyone that went against traditional gender norms was pervasive among the culture. Country music, historically, has appealed to a certain segment of the population (i.e., Southern white, rural, often religious people), and this population has been among the most bigoted, violent, and hateful towards anyone in the queer community. Trigger, you have this habit of cherry-picking a couple of people in the industry that are queer friendly in order to deflect the truth away from anyone who dares to criticize your precious Southern white culture. Maureen Morris is, first and foremost, an advocate of Marueen Morris. That doesn’t mean, though, that her point isn’t true.
February 1, 2023 @ 5:11 pm
Hey Mike,
Thanks for your feedback.
“to suggest that country music fans and artists have been historically pro-LGTBQ people and rights is not just naive, but deliberately false.”
I most certainly did not mean to suggest that at all. I would agree with you that generally speaking, country fans have been slower to evolve to accepting people of all stripes. I believe that’s so self-evident, it probably doesn’t even need to be said in an article like this. But there is also no doubt that some in the media, academia, and elite society love to widely stereotype country music and its fans as being racist and homophobic to a degree that is not accurate either historically, or especially in the present day.
As I said in the article, this stereotyping can have a chilling effect on folks who may want to go to a country festival or become a country artist, thinking they will never have a chance of being accepted. This scripted, choreographed moment by Maren Morris certainly can lend to that concern, just like claiming a gay country song wasn’t written until 2019 does. To me, explaining that gay contributors to country music have been around for years is a better way to break down bigoted mindsets.
February 2, 2023 @ 9:33 am
A couple things:
1. No group has been historically pro-LGBTQ by modern standards, sometimes not even people covered by that acronym. Go back a century and the most “progressive” minds of the day discussed those issues in terms of mental illness rather than sinfulness. Better but still not acceptable to our current understanding.
2. We learn about attitudes through surveys, for the most part, but we often forget what they actually measure. Not what people actually think but what they feel comfortable committing to a record, even just an anonymous one. It’s entirely possible that prejudiced attitudes occur among people at the same rates but certain cultures are more okay with being open about it. Neither acts of bigotry nor country music acts are confined to the South. Both are part of a general American heritage.
3. This is more of a question than a statement but how is a genre responsible for the actions or attitudes of its fans when none of the musical and lyrical standards of the genre bear any relation to possible motives for those thoughts and acts? A love of acoustic twang and narrative songwriting don’t have anything to do with racism or prejudice. Correlation is not causation.
People who hate gay and trans people probably listen to a wide variety of music, some of it even by people who are gay, trans or otherwise outside the norm. Just like racists enjoy music by Black people. This whole idea of some stereotypical redneck as representative of your average racist or average homophobe is just cover for all the ones that look like everyone else, that say the right things on social media and in comment sections. It reminds me of a poem by Leonard Cohen “All There Is To Know About Adolf Eichmann”. I encourage you to read it
February 1, 2023 @ 4:46 pm
Good grief, she’s annoying.
I could expand on that subject but instead here’s a (I think) funny country story:
Carlene Carter was signing stuff after a concert a few years ago and I was the last one in line. I’d bought a poster that I thought I might hang up in my office at work.
I worked for a women’s rights nonprofit and the poster was about a songwriters in-the-round series of concerts featuring all women. So when she asked what I would like her to write on the poster, I awkwardly asked her if she could write something about women (?) that would be work appropriate (??).
She responded with something like, “so, um, what should I write?”
“Well, not “think dirty”” I replied.
She paused a few seconds and then seemingly remembered that she’d recorded a song early in her career by that title.
“When you stink you make me think dirty”, she slowly, quietly said.
Then after a second, she said “how about I write “Bring Love”?”
Every now and then I look for that song on YouTube. Hopefully I still have the cd somewhere.
February 1, 2023 @ 4:51 pm
“Me and Amanda were in Jackson Hole,”….
Putting yourself first in a sentence like that pretty much tells you all you need to know…. me, me, me, I,I I, self centered people make me sick to my stomach
February 2, 2023 @ 3:23 am
That is a really petty thing to pick out of the article considering the subject. Says more about you than Jason Isbell.
February 3, 2023 @ 6:59 pm
Jason, is that you? I know you troll here. Go back to twitter and and spew your leftist garbage. ????
February 1, 2023 @ 5:09 pm
Dick Feller could be a candidate for early LGBT involvement in country.
As Dick Feller, he had written “Any Old Wind That Blows” for Johnny Cash, “Lord Mr. Ford” for Jerry Reed and “Some Days Are Diamonds” and “East Bound and Down” for John Denver. He also had a Top 10 with “The Credit Card Song”. He also had a small hit with the storytelling song “Biff the Friendly Purple Bear” and “Making the Best of a Bad Situation”
In 2014, he transitioned to a trans woman known as Deena Kaye Rose and still is active.
.
February 1, 2023 @ 5:13 pm
Sorry, I flipped the order. It should be “East Bound and Down” and “Lord Mr. Ford” for Jerry Reed and “Some Days are Diamonds” for John Denver
February 2, 2023 @ 7:58 am
I will refrain from swinging at the lobbed softball and will keep the smartassed bon mot to myself. Talk about fish in a barrel! Haha. Thanks for the laugh.
February 1, 2023 @ 5:34 pm
She’s a flaming narcissist and utterly cringe every time she opens her mouth. I’m ashamed to wear her Houston Rodeo merch now. She’s just completely deluded. Unfortunate.
February 1, 2023 @ 8:18 pm
I will agree that the culture of country has come a long way and is open much more to LGBTQ+ and non-white performers, but there is still a long way to go. I myself an LGBTQ+ and Non-white. I find at some shows I go to I don’t always feel safe, you hear some people in the crowd making remarks and it instantly takes away from being able to enjoy the show. Just look at some of the comments here for this article.
February 1, 2023 @ 8:49 pm
I agree. I’m not saying this isn’t a problem. But you can’t just go on Twitter or a behind-the-scenes clip of a TV show and say, “Hey, I support women in music, LGBTQ+, Black artists in country music, and apologize for everything that’s happened to them” and then not apologize for the things that have happened in your personal orbit. In fact, it’s those symbolic gestures that insulate people like Maren Morris from receiving the fair criticism they deserve.
February 2, 2023 @ 8:39 am
Oh 100% agree with that, I am a fan of Maren’s but I would like her and the rest of the Highwomen crew to address the issues you have stated. I am able to still enjoy the music regardless of those issues. The one involving Mickey might’ve been handled in private, but the “first gay country song” one deserves a public address. Doubt we get either.
I am a fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race as well and even i rolled my eyes at Maren’s apology. I get on a surface level where that comes from but it didn’t sit well with me having her do it.
February 2, 2023 @ 6:19 am
Non-White*
Capitalize the W, please.
February 2, 2023 @ 8:57 am
Are you valid for white supremacy criteria?
February 2, 2023 @ 1:03 pm
??
Black is capitalized. White should be as well. Equal is equal. We are all equal, after all, aren’t we?
February 24, 2023 @ 7:34 pm
I dunno, bub, you tell me: are we?
February 1, 2023 @ 8:38 pm
Morris feels like she’s “a brave voice in country music?” ???? The girl isn’t even the beginning of a pimple on the ass of country music. She will be gone and forgotten in a few years, along with the woke clowns and virtue signallers.
February 1, 2023 @ 8:53 pm
I wish little kids would stop being bigots and just let the drag queens do stuff to them. (Sarcasm)
Grown men who dress up in women’s clothes are doing it for the sexual thrill of it.
February 2, 2023 @ 5:26 am
What if they’re gunning for a Section 8 discharge?
February 2, 2023 @ 5:45 am
HA! Do you remember the episode with the Swedish Dr who joked to Klinger about the ‘transition’ surgery at the time which involved cutting off….and Klinger said “you’re crazier than I am.”
love MASH
February 2, 2023 @ 12:22 am
Is everyone too afraid to tell her to her face that she doesn’t speak for country music?
February 2, 2023 @ 3:40 am
I’m not sure what she did to trigger (pun intended) such a lengthy post, but I’ve seen enough over the years to come to the conclusion that she’s one of the good ones.
February 2, 2023 @ 6:18 am
Then you are not a fan of country music.
February 2, 2023 @ 7:01 am
Maybe good for the D.E.N.N.I.S. System, but for country music or entertainment? Good for what, I’m not so sure.
February 2, 2023 @ 7:36 am
What triggered such a lengthy post was the importance of this topic. These days, the context and nuance is bled out of everything, and it’s distilled down to buzzy soundbites. That’s the way Maren Morris’s “apology” was choreographed so it would go viral on social media, which is what happened. Offering the context of how Maren Morris and The Highwomen have actually treated some of their fellow performers and refused to apologize for very serious incidents I think is very important context. If you want quick, quippy newsbites, you came to the wrong place. That’s the problem with today’s media.
February 3, 2023 @ 7:02 pm
One of the good ones? You mean the leftist retards? She’s definitely good to that crowd.
February 2, 2023 @ 4:30 am
Why does she always look like she had bad Taco Bell and she needs to run for the border before she has an accident?
February 2, 2023 @ 6:03 am
Dolly Parton has been one of the biggest drag queen inspirations in history, if not the biggest.
I see what you did there! Sorry, in a silly mood this morning.
More seriously, maybe it’s just because I’m a geezer but I’m really done with all of the fake White Knights who want to be seen as “stunning and brave” when the reality is they only popped their heads up and started talking when it became relatively safe to do so. In the entertainment world you’re not likely to wreck your career for supporting LGBTQ; you’re very likely to wreck your career if you don’t.
February 2, 2023 @ 6:29 am
Marin Morris is like that drunk younger cousin who finally showed up from college to a family reunion and claims to speak for everyone.
February 2, 2023 @ 8:49 am
*REPOSTING FROM FACEBOOK*
As a long-time reader, I’ve always appreciated your thoughtful research and arguments, even when I disagreed with your point of view. However, I’m really struggling with this article, which doesn’t appear to contain much newsworthy info, but instead reads like a “hit piece” (as suggested elsewhere), created from a strawman of recycled stories to discredit Maren Morris and ensure your readers know what a horrible human you think she is.
A few thoughts/comments for your consideration:
You seem intent on suggesting that Maren and her fellow Highwomen took undeserved credit for creating the “first gay country song”, while everything I’ve seen/heard them say about this song was completely in jest and NOT intended to be historically accurate. As you know, The Highwomen didn’t release this track as a single nor have they ever gone on tour. And, given how few press appearances and tour dates they have done, I find it completely implausible that: “…the media at large allowed The Highwomen to market this song as the first gay country song, enacting the erasure of other gay artists and their contributions to the country genre over the years.”
Do you have any evidence to support this beyond Moss’s Rolling Stone article? Have other gay artists weighed in on this “erasure” you claim? You do mention that Maren did NOT write or perform the song (which your video proves) but, if your argument stands, she is simply guilty by association for something that happened 3 years ago and, as such, an apology is warranted.
You boldly assert that The Highwomen—including Maren–were intentionally exclusionary to a woman of color, based on an incident that occurred for a video shot nearly 3 years ago at the height of the pandemic. While I certainly don’t discount Mickey Guyton’s account of what occurred nor how this made her feel, I think we can all agree that social media is NOT the avenue for apologies or delicate conversations about race (particularly against the backdrop of all that happened in 2020). We have zero proof that fences weren’t mended nor that apologies didn’t occur outside the public eye. Thus, to continue to rehash this issue—when it seems Ms. Guyton herself isn’t still talking about it and has appeared publicly with these artists since then—as proof that Maren is a jerk just strikes me as odd.
As you well know, the original (4) Highwomen all have reputations for supporting, touring among, and collaborating with female artists—many of whom are also LGBTQ+ and BIPOC. Maren’s touring band is comprised of both women and gay members, and her “Humble Quest” tour last summer featured Brittney Spencer, Joy Oladokun, and other women of color as opening acts. Brandi Carlile, in particular, has introduced her fans to legions of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC artists by producing their music, inviting them on tours, etc., including Brandy Clark, Katie Pruitt, Allison Russell, YOLA, Sista Strings, and many many others. (Please also refer to the lineups from the past 4 years of Brandi’s sold-out all-female headlined “Girls Just Wanna Weekend” in Mexico.)
I’m further confounded by the whole “no local openers” clause and what this has to do with Maren’s character (or conversely the character of those who apparently do allow this—including Kane Brown or Thomas Rhett). I presume this has more to do with her label or LiveNation than it does with Maren, whom you suggest is “one of the few if only artists to not allow the opportunity to a local artist”.
How do you know this? And why is this relevant at a single venue? And, most important, is Maren even aware this happened?
Oddly, when I Google this, the only stories I find are written by you. It appears it was truly a non-issue that you attempted to make newsworthy for reasons that remain unclear.
Hooking readers in with a Maren-related headline, then dedicating 4 paragraphs to something that happened with Sugarland 15 years ago feels like a stretch. While I agree Kristen Hall’s story is incredibly important as it relates to country music’s reputation of being offensive/exclusionary toward the LGBTQ community, I’d suggest this would’ve been better served as a link versus a long tangent that was completely unrelated to Maren and all the apologizing you suggest she needs to do.
I’m appalled you chose to use the late Jimbeau Hinson’s success as a songwriter for conservative country acts as proof that “country music has always been more than welcoming”. You tokenized Mr. Hinson—who was openly bi-sexual and married to a woman until his death—to give country music at-large a pass it simply doesn’t deserve. You well know how many artists have been forced to remain closeted or had their careers ended before they started simply because of whom they loved. See the “Sugarland” comment above.
Again, this has nothing to do with Maren Morris, whom I’d suggest has landed in your crosshairs simply because she’s outspoken and/or hasn’t responded directly to your repeated critiques of her over the years.
Perhaps this was exactly your intent when posting a Maren Morris article…to pander to your target readers who, based on the comment section on Facebook, appear largely misogynistic with an uninspired “Shut up and Sing” attitude that is tired and predictably *always* directed at talented women with (gasp!) their own opinions and (gasp!) the nerve to make those opinions known! How dare they!
However, I’d suggest it would be a far more interesting exercise to write about all the artists who choose to remain completely silent—presumably because they fear alienating a portion of their fan base or at the request of their all-powerful labels—and have never uttered a word or sang a note supporting LGBTQ+ rights or anything else remotely political.
We all know that list is long–and includes a lot of white cishet men who own namesake bars on Broadway, hold dozens of CMA/ACM/Grammy awards, and will no doubt find their way into the Country Music Hall of Fame in years to come.
{DISCLAIMER: I don’t know Maren or any of these artists personally. I don’t work in the industry or have an iota of insider info. I am simply a reader/music fan who is simply exhausted by this ridiculousness.}
February 2, 2023 @ 9:58 am
IcedBramily,
Thank you for your opinions, perspective, and lending to this conversation.
First off, I never said that Maren Morris is a “horrible human.” On the contrary, I said in the article, “This is not to assert that Maren Morris is not a conscientious person, or that she doesn’t mean well with her words.” I have said this in all of my reporting on these respective issues with Maren and The Highwomen. I don’t question their authenticity in wanting to be inclusive in country music. My issue is with these very specific instances. It’s easy to think of me as a “Maren Morris hater,” or as a Maren Morris fan, to run your interpretation of this article through that filter. Everything I have stated in this article is empirically true with all sources cited. If this was a hit piece on Maren Morris, you would have known. This was simply an observance.
You mention how Saving Country Music is the only place you see citing these stories. This is the exact problem. This is a media issue as much as anything. If Morgan Wallen or Jason Aldean had disinvited Mickey Guyton from a photo shoot last minute, it would have been a Class A controversy, with 200 published articles about it, and months worth of revisits in major periodicals. But the media is running interference for The Highwomen and Maren Morris. That is why you didn’t see any reporting on the “First gay country song” issue, you saw a parroting of that false information. It’s in the press releases, and it was reported by the media. Every time I’ve brought the song issue up, I’ve been accused of spreading a falsehood. Now that I displayed video evidence, I’m being told it was done in jest. That is incorrect. My guess is Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, and others still believe it is the first gay country song, because nobody will challenge it. I did, and that makes me a public enemy whose credibility and motivations must be called into question, since the truth of the matter can’t be denied.
The Highwomen claimed to write the first gay country song. End of story. The public deserves a clarification and apology for that. If they would offer one—similar to the Mickey Guyton story—we could finally move on. But they won’t. This was an article about apologizing for things. They continue to refuse to do so, so the issues persist. I don’t care how unpopular it is, I will continue to ask for apologies and explanations until we receive them, because that’s the job of the media, to hold power to account.
As for the Jennifer Nettles story, I included that because it was a good example of how symbolic gestures can be used to shield powerful people from criticism. I also wanted to include it as an important story to underscore how exclusion of LGBT people in country music HAS happened in recent memory, as to not falsely act like it hasn’t. Similarly to all the other stories, the press is completely absent on this issue except for myself—the racist, sexist, homophobic guy. The press should be pressing Jennifer Nettles, the Sugarland label, and anyone involved on this until we have answers as well. If you truly care about these issues, you forget about the popularity contests and symbolism, and you drive for the truth. That is what I’m doing.
I believe country music still has work to do to be more inclusive. But I also feel like certain artists and media members love to overplay country music’s exclusionary past because it allows them to virtue signal. That is why I brought up Jimbeau Hinson, who very few if any of these outlets, journalists, or artists that claim to champion inclusion even know existed. They still think The Highwomen wrote the first gay country song. These canards persists, because they’ve all been walled off in echo chambers and believe country music is a bastion for extreme white supremacy and Maren Morris is the sole voice of reason, because nobody ever challenges that notion.
The inclusion issues in country music are ones I’m passionate about. It’s my job to call out the hypocrisy. That’s all I’m doing here. I invite Maren Morris and The Highwomen to apologize for these issues so we can all move on. That was the whole point of this article. Until then, I will continue to cite these moments, because it’s important we receive explanations if we truly care about being inclusive in country music.
February 2, 2023 @ 12:21 pm
I love when “CIS” is attempted to be used as a pejorative.
Wrong, I’m ok being normal
February 2, 2023 @ 1:53 pm
To be fair, it wasn’t used in the pejorative whatsoever. My use of this adjective was very much intentional as I was referring to their gender and sexuality.
I’m lucky that my life has been immeasurably enriched by a plethora of amazing trans/non-binary/gender-fluid folx who are as “normal” as anyone else–and simply want to be treated as such. Chances are you do, too, and simply don’t realize it.
February 2, 2023 @ 2:57 pm
A plethora? You either don’t know what that means or you’re full of it. I suspect the latter.
February 2, 2023 @ 10:25 pm
So normal they need their own parades and flags?
February 3, 2023 @ 7:56 am
yeah, straight white dudes have no flags or parades or historical reenactments or…
February 2, 2023 @ 1:05 pm
It is not cisgender or cishet. It is heterosexual or straight.
Quit with the incorrect labels.
February 2, 2023 @ 5:44 pm
Language changes. Always has, always will. By your faulty logic, this is just as sensible: ‘’It’s not Black or East Asian. It’s Negro and Oriental.’’
February 2, 2023 @ 6:10 pm
Actually, my analogy was clunky due to your ignorance. Cisgender and heterosexual are not synonyms. Someone can be cisgender, and hetero, homo, bi, pan, etc. Cisgender means you identify gender-wise as the sex assigned at birth. It has nothing to do with sexuality. Cis Het means you are both cisgender and heterosexual. You should speak about things you do not understand.
February 2, 2023 @ 10:57 am
Blow up your TV, throw away your paper, move to the country and build you a home. Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches and try to find Jesus on your own.
February 2, 2023 @ 12:59 pm
Still on that Humble Quest, apparently.
February 2, 2023 @ 1:14 pm
I get the cringy obnoxiousness of Morris, and the fair criticism of her self serving motives. But is it really the biggest issue of the day? Take a look at some of the most up-voted comments on this post. It could be that there is actually a bigotry issue in the country music scene.
February 2, 2023 @ 1:44 pm
When the clip of Maren Morris from RuPaul’s drag race was released, it most certainly was a big topic of the day. It took me two weeks to get to it because there were more important and pressing things to address.
I don’t thing most anyone would deny there is bigotry in the music scene, and unfortunately, actions like Maren Morris’s comments tend to stir it up as opposed to challenge or diffuse it. That is the endless cycle of the culture war, with both sides slap fighting each other like two kinds who can’t keep their hands to themselves. It’s interesting that some are criticising this article as being anti Maren Morris or anti LGBT when the most upvoted comments are the ones criticizing me for even caring about these issues.
February 2, 2023 @ 1:54 pm
Sorry, didn’t see this before I followed up. I agree the culture war is exhausting and endlessly co-opted for selfish purposes. I get why Morris is obnoxious. I just think her obnoxiousness is probably causing less damage than those trying to push people out because “rural Christian values”
February 2, 2023 @ 2:35 pm
Funny…as you clearly haven’t been to the comment section of your FB post attached to this article. It’s a cringe-worthy collection of folx who definitely aren’t actually interested in what you wrote, but rather find immense joy in criticizing Maren’s looks and opinions and attacking anyone who’s dared to question the article.
Trust me…you’re just fine. =)
February 2, 2023 @ 2:53 pm
Oh trust me, I have seen the comments here and elsewhere. I will not defend them. But they are just that, internet comments.
February 2, 2023 @ 1:47 pm
This just kind of comes across as picking someone apart for trying to do something and doing it imperfectly.
I’ve been a reader here for a long time, and I genuinely admire your writing and your contributions more generally. I pretty regularly find disagreement when you wade into “culture wars” topics but I don’t think you’re a bad guy.
I would just suggest that the next time someone criticizes county music for being less than inclusive, the more noble path is to eat a slice of humble pie rather than get defensive. The longtime, apparently very popular commenters on your own site are more than ample evidence that uninclusive and bigoted viewpoints are far from a thing of the past. You should stick to highlighting the contributions of lesser known and forgotten acts outside of the majority, something this blog does so very well.
February 2, 2023 @ 2:37 pm
Yep…I wrote a dissertation here with a similar sentiment.
This article with a hot mess of strawman arguments and old news (that was never, and still isn’t, newsworthy).
I can’t figure out what his angle is, but begging for an apology for a 3-year-old infraction by The Highwomen–regarding a song Maren didn’t write or sing–is *so* bizarre.
I’m completely befuddled by this one.
February 2, 2023 @ 2:52 pm
“I can’t figure out what his angle is, but begging for an apology for a 3-year-old infraction by The Highwomen–regarding a song Maren didn’t write or sing–is *so* bizarre.”
Then why does Maren Morris feel the need to apologize for country music’s past infractions?
Because righting these wrongs is important.
Look, I’m not trying to cancel Maren Morris here. In the culture war, folks like Maren Morris have won. They can do whatever they want, and the media and public society will not hold them to account, and those that attempt to like myself will be ostracized and laughed off as making mountains out of molehills.
All I’m sayin is, “Hey Maren, while you’re apologizing for stuff, maybe apologize for these things too.”
February 2, 2023 @ 2:49 pm
“You should stick to highlighting the contributions of lesser known and forgotten acts outside of the majority, something this blog does so very well.”
When multiple fans of up-and-coming artist Paige Davis reach out to me, incensed that her opening set was cancelled by Maren Morris in New Hampshire, and I choose to write a story about to address the issue, that is exactly what I’m doing.
When The Highwomen downgrade the contributions of lesser-known and forgotten LGBT contributors to country music by saying they wrote the first gay country song and I try to set the record straight, that is exactly what I’m doing.
When Mickey Guyton gets disinvited from a photo shoot and no explanation or public apology is given and I advocate for one, that’s exactly what I’m doing.
I totally understand and respect that none of these issues may appeal to you or others personally. But this isn’t just something well within the coverage area of Saving Country Music, it’s downright compulsory that I address these issues.
February 2, 2023 @ 3:55 pm
I shouldn’t have said “you should stick to.” It’s your blog and you ought to write about whatever you think is important. What I meant was, a better approach might have been “Maren Morris apologized for country music. While it’s true pockets of bigotry remain that may be impossible to totally erase, there has also been a decades-long struggle for equality and inclusion that has gone largely unreported.” Which I think was your point, but the article you wrote was a list of Morris’ past misdeeds. It reads as if you’re playing devil’s advocate, but for who? Offended homophobes? I sincerely doubt that was your intent, but it comes across as confusing at the least
February 2, 2023 @ 4:36 pm
Well, unfortunately that title won’t fit in the title bar. 🙂
But I will say this: I could have spent some more time going back and enumerating previous infractions against the LGBT community to underscore that I’m not saying it’s not a problem. That was actually the reason I mentioned the Sugarland incident, because that was an actual incident that nobody seems to want to talk about, or even seems to know about. To me, saying over and over that country music could be more inclusive is redundant. I take that as being understood and a default, and then start the conversation from there.
February 2, 2023 @ 8:08 pm
No confusion here.
February 2, 2023 @ 2:42 pm
The Bama Band (former backing band for Hank Williams Jr.) once charted a song that touched on this topic, among others. Check it out. “What Used to Be Crazy” peaked at #60 on Billboard’s country chart back in 1985.
February 2, 2023 @ 3:44 pm
everything she does, is for attention. she has taken the lane, there is no such thing as bad publicity if it keeps your name in the papers
she is so thirsty she will be performing topless when she hits 40, and is no longer relevant.
sadly no one has told her she is 30 and irrelevant
February 2, 2023 @ 4:22 pm
Isbell & Morris, serving up a buffet of virtue signaling.
February 2, 2023 @ 9:41 pm
And attacking anyone who doesn’t want children to take puberty blocking drugs that sterilize them. To people like Maren and Casadee Pope, you MUST embrace mutilation and the whole transgender belief system that an alarming number of people were assigned the wrong gender or you’re a bigot and arrogant Maren will apologize for those who follow actual science and not virtue-signaling opportunities. Jason Aldean & his wife are attacked for not being in Pope and Morris’ Thought Cult and apparently are not entitled to their own opinion about a very serious, life-changing choice that an 8 yr old can’t possibly understand. What they are doing to children is pure evil and stupid.
February 2, 2023 @ 4:50 pm
I actually think Trig’s take is measured and fair. I consider myself a fan of Maren, even when she veers way more towards pop stuff. I think a lot of that comes from discovering her music while I was fighting covid in a hospital bed. So even though I don’t think of her as the ideal country artist, I still really like her music.
As for the other stuff, I think the issues Trig brings up are valid and deserve answers. People have good and bad, and nobody is going to get it right every time.
And I’ll just bypass the pearl clutching about the dangers of drag queens and pronouns and marriage and the poor rural white people who are ticked off about not being able to flout their ignorance so freely.
February 2, 2023 @ 9:27 pm
You can call it pearl clutching but I applaud parents who do NOT take their children to drag shows to watch grown men dressed in lingerie who want to roll around on the floor with them. Drag Shows are for adults not children, otherwise it’s a grooming event and extremely creepy.
February 3, 2023 @ 12:31 pm
I think “flaunt their ignorance” is what you were digging for there.
February 2, 2023 @ 7:55 pm
I do enjoy when Trigger shows up with the receipts.
February 2, 2023 @ 10:15 pm
Good article, but since when is contempt for the LGBTQFJAISDPJFPIA community a bad thing?
February 2, 2023 @ 11:51 pm
I could give a shit who someone sleeps with. If they like good country music, they’re a friend of mine, and if they make good country music, I’ll help spread the word about them.
February 3, 2023 @ 6:33 am
Trig,
Serious question:
Are you pretending that “who people sleep with” is the crux of this issue? If so, why? Do you truly not know what’s going on, or are you just refusing to acknowledge it?
“Who people sleep with” was at the top of the slope. We’re now to “forced sterilization and genital mutilation for minors” and “grown men wagging their genitals in front of kindergartners.”
Perhaps you really are so closed off to everything outside of music, that you really have no idea what’s going? I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt.
February 3, 2023 @ 8:04 am
“forced sterilization and genital mutilation for minors”
“grown men wagging their genitals in front of kindergartners”
this guy and his perverted dreams. i swear!
February 3, 2023 @ 11:11 am
Honky,
As always, you try to stretch the issue way far beyond the current topic at hand. I understand you think this is all part of a more slippery slope that ends up in polite society accepting pedophilia, and I’m not say that isn’t a concern. But here I’m broaching a very concrete subject: Maren Morris apologized for country music’s treatment of LGBT people in country, while she’s been a part of a project that owes an apology itself.
I find it interesting when the whole ‘”Jason Aldean’s wife’s Instagram account” fracas ensued, so much of the media just took for granted that what she was saying was “transphobic.” Now very similar opinions have been shared by The New York Times, The Atlantic, and others about surgical forms of gender affirming care. I frankly think some folks have overplayed their hand here. Am I concerned where all of this leads? Yes, I am. But this is a country music website. The only reason I chose to broach this subject so close to a culture war issue is because country music was directly indicted by Maren Morris, and a greater conversation and context was needed.
February 3, 2023 @ 11:56 am
…..”As always, you try to stretch the issue way far beyond the current topic at hand.”…..
As always Trig, you fail to understand that all of these things are intrinsically tied together.
Morris apologized for Country Music being “transphobic” and “homophobic”, and instead of explaining that those words aren’t real and have no applicable meaning, and then explaining the disgustingly wicked and vile things that Morris defends, you go, “Yeah Maren, you’re right, but you’re a hypocrite, so nanny nanny boo-boo!”. Instead of honestly evaluating what’s actually being debated (pederasty and mutilation), it’s like you try to out “virtue” the “virtuous”.
……”I understand you think this is all part of a more slippery slope that ends up in polite society accepting pedophilia.”……
No, I don’t “THINK” jack. That’s literally what’s happening, right now, in your country, heck, in your city. It’s happening right there in Austin. You want to pretend like this is a debate about who people sleep with, even though everyone knows we’re way beyond that now.
When you use euphemisms like “gender affirming care”, you’re a bad person. It’s not okay. You are part of the problem.
But it feels more like you’re a coward who lacks a spine, who, like I said, adapts to the zeitgeist without questioning it, than you are a true mover.
You accept and adapt to the premises of the zeitgeist, and you operate as though that is your basis for truth, even if it occasionally leads you to conclusions that might place you in minor opposition to the zeitgeist.
If I’m wrong about you, I’d love to know how.
February 3, 2023 @ 5:54 pm
I’ve never heard of a pedophile drag queen. But, I know of white men a plenty in the clergy and white married men in leadership roles of young men (Boy Scouts, HS wrestling coach, and a famous college defensive coordinator) whom were convicted of child molestation and pedophile crimes.
It’s been the way of the white man forever and the reason we are in this strange time of men wearing dresses and questioning their gender – centuries of abuse. There is no slippery slope, we are already at the bottom of the slope.
And people like Honky know it. That’s why he screams and calls people names and perpetrates ridiculous conspiracies theories. People like Honky are no different than members of the Taliban, Isis-k, or Al Qaeda. People who fear their reign of terror is coming to an end.
And this is why Marren Morris is apologizing.
February 3, 2023 @ 9:49 pm
So you acknowledge we’re at the bottom of a slope of perversion, and you agree men wearing dresses is weird and molesting kids is bad?
I mean, other than you being a self-hating race-baiter, it sounds like we’re almost on the same page.
February 4, 2023 @ 10:47 am
If you want to disagree with Honky’s values (mostly what this comes down to), then fair enough. I don’t agree with all of that he says, particularly because I’m not religious. But your cherry picking, false equivalency of an argument is incredibly weak, not to mention perpetuating tribalism, the scapegoating of the other, and causing further division. Almost every culture throughout history has been complicit in barbarism and corruption. There are still 40 million people in slavery today in non-white majority countries. If you pay attention to anything more than NPC news, you’d notice there do seem to be issues with sexual identity “warriors” getting caught grooming. That’s not a condemnation of the entire culture, I’m just saying cherry picking the abusive priests to fit your one-sided, narrow, racist, and scapegoating argument, is weak. Not to mention the eye-rolling hyperbole of you continuing to call him a terrorist.
While you attribute Maren’s comment with some valiant effort against “white men,” I agree 100% with Trigger…They seem more like self-affirming virtue signaling. Kind of like most of the comments here…on both sides.
February 6, 2023 @ 10:24 pm
“I’ve never heard of pedophile drag queen” is one of the stupidest things ever written. Is your google machine broken? Just type in pedophile drag queen and several results show up. Thats not a conspiracy theory.
Dont worry though, Maren Morris apologized for country music fans being concerned about it so everything is ok now in ostrichland.
February 3, 2023 @ 9:25 pm
You honkyblahblahblah (use your actual name, you brave defender of alledged rural American values) are a vile human being. Our nation is not a theocracy, though you obviously want it to be one. Just pray to your Holy Trinity to smite all us heathens and you can relax and enjoy your victory. What? You have, but with no success? That should tell you something. A decent and moral person, regardless of religious beliefs, or lack there of, wants their fellow humans to be happy. As long as adults consent, you should be good. If your god says otherwise, then your god is wrong.Why are you so angry and adamant that everyone must think exactly as you? I don’t give a tinker’s damn what anyone thinks or does, as long as they don’t keep others from living their best lives while they do no harm to others. Please kindly shut the fuck up or fuck off to some place that exemplifies your theocratic utopia. The United States of America will never be that place. Respectfully, Doug Carter Manchester, WA.
February 3, 2023 @ 9:59 pm
Look, Douglas, you’re a crusty, old boomer, looking back on the country you’ve wrecked, and smiling, because you believe the damage can’t be undone. And although I realize, with you likely being in your last decade of life, that you won’t live long enough to see it, but it will be undone. I promise.
P.S. As an ardent supporter of cancel culture, I’m well acquainted with the rules. Send me enough money to live 50 years without employment, and I’ll not only use my real name, I’ll use my real photo too.
February 4, 2023 @ 8:48 am
I am not a baby boomer. I’m not yet 60. I do my part to be as healthy as possible. I’ll be around. With your anger stressing your health, you might not be. The only way your Handmaid’s Tale fantasy will become reality is via some dystopian catastrophe. Maybe your white horse riding, sword wielding, violent Revelations Jesus will lead the way. I choose love and respect, like Hippie Jesus. The world progresses. It always has. If your mythology makes you happy, wonderful. Live it and allow others to live their best lives.Peace. You can have the last word.
February 3, 2023 @ 7:58 am
fuck off bigot. the 1950s are thataway <–
February 3, 2023 @ 8:04 am
If we can’t keep this to a civil conversation and people can’t stay on topic, I’m going to shut this comments section down.
February 3, 2023 @ 8:09 am
what exactly is civil about hating an entire community of people, trig? odd that the onus of civility is always placed on the people who are not actively and outwardly hating, wishing for the further marginalization or destruction, of groups of people.
is it because i said ‘fuck’?
February 3, 2023 @ 8:10 am
That was just a general notice to everyone, stimulated by this thread, not necessarily you specifically.
February 3, 2023 @ 8:23 am
…”the 1950s are thataway”….
If this communist, who I’m certain is an intellectual powerhouse, would invent a time machine, instead of running his mouth, I’d transport to the 50’s in a heartbeat.
Imagine getting to see George Jones in his twenties.
February 3, 2023 @ 9:50 am
Must be my doppelganger. That is certainly something I would have typed, but it wasn’t me who typed it. Anyhow. A hearty “plus one.” My sentiments exactly.
February 3, 2023 @ 10:12 am
is king honky using someone else’s handle again, trig?
February 3, 2023 @ 10:59 am
Looks like it is just a different user from the more common “RD” poster, but probably not an attempt at an impersonation. I have added a note to the username.
February 3, 2023 @ 11:59 am
Wait. Are you saying there have always been two RD’s?
Really?
February 3, 2023 @ 4:23 am
Wasn’t the first openly gay country singer Wilma Burgess? Everyone always seems to forget about her, and I doubt wether Maren Morris ever heard of her name or any of her music. During the late 60’s/early 70’s she had some major hits (‘Baby’, ‘Misty blue’, ‘Tear time’). She might not have yelled it from the roofs at the time, but she wasn’t secretive about her being lesbian neither. Now I’m not saying that singers with a different sexual orientation ever had it easy in country music, but was it any different in other genres? Even in the 90’s/early 00’s Lance from Nsync was in the closet deep, and so were many other men and women in boy/girlbands and popmusic alike. People love to frame nowadays but ‘forget’ about everything which doesn’t fit that frame, yet whaf they leave out tells a more nuanced story.
February 3, 2023 @ 11:04 am
There are way more gay contributors in country music than people who criticize country music for not being inclusive ever give it credit for. Same with Black contributors. This is a very common tactic by journalists, academics, and celebrities like Maren Morris and The Highwomen: play down the representation in country music, then prop themselves up as saviors championing inclusion. This is what this article is ultimately about, and it’s something I’ve been battling against for years. If you actually care about LGBT contributors in country music, talk about their legacies, don’t erase them in your effort to chastise country music to make you look better.
Someone else brought up Dick Feller. Nobody brighs up KD Lang in these conversations. There are LGBT contributors all over country music. How about we highlight them as opposed to whitewashing country music as entirely homophobic?
February 3, 2023 @ 7:41 am
Don’t know much about this woman except she sings on the rewrite collaboration and she’s pleasing to look at.
She certainly is not scm imho…next.
February 3, 2023 @ 8:02 am
Maren who? This kind of yapping is also what demised my former favorite band – Drive-by Truckers. Had DBTs taken their considerable talent and made art/music about their viewpoints, I would have applauded even when the viewpoint was different than my own. But when they bullhorn their opinion I think, “so riding around in the back of van playing shows and writing diddies gives you the platform to lecture me?” Just because this gal has a microphone doesn’t make what she says important. So Meran, shut up and dance, clown.
February 3, 2023 @ 11:05 am
First world problems.
February 3, 2023 @ 12:09 pm
Maren Morris is, what i could only imagine, the child of Zack Morris and Jessie Sprano from Saved by the Bell would be like, if they were to have a kid. She’s not country music, she’s never been country music, she never will be country music. Remember when Faith Hill freaked out for Carrie Underwood winning on the ACM or CMA’s? Her career quickly went to the shitter. Maren’s career is on a fast pace to the bottom of the said shitter… You don’t talk bad about others in your genre, at least, not in country music.
February 4, 2023 @ 8:40 am
I don’t know much about Maren Morris because I stopped listening to Country music back in the 90’s when it merged with pop. But your article would be much more effective in promoting the contributions of LGBT folks if it didn’t have such a hateful tone. You seem to be more interested in dragging her than educating us.
February 4, 2023 @ 9:49 am
This article was not meant to be a dissertation on contributions to country music from the LGBT community. I have written articles like that before, and probably could to a more broad, generalized one in the future. There were 200+ articles praising Maren Morris for her “apology” on behalf of country. I thought perhaps just one that enumerated some of the things Maren Morris probably needs to apologize for was warranted. Nobody got dragged here. Were nearing 150 comments here, and near 900 on social media, but I’ve yet to see anyone try to defend or excuse the actions laid out here. So in lieu of any good defense, you attack the accuser. But I feel like what I laid out here was articulate and dispassionate, and based in sound logic.
All that said, I appreciate other people’s perspectives, and them taking the time to share them here.
February 4, 2023 @ 6:47 pm
It’s interesting that you would think you were attacked over what is some pretty mild critique. Are all bloggers that fragile? When I read your article, the overall tone sounds like you want to drag her for a very benign comment she made. You accuse her of siphoning attention to herself, self-affirming and something about virtue signaling, whatever that’s supposed to mean. You didn’t seem to consider that her apology might be hear felt and sincere. That she might genuinely feel empathy for those who might have been hurt by the sad comments from Aldine’s wife. Maybe you think she goes overboard, but that’s no reason to project unseemly character flaws on her, which is just what you were doing. You claim it as only Aldine’s wife who makes those awful statements, but Aldine himself has defended what she said. So no, it was a major figure in country who is sowing homophonic seeds. And there have been others. Moreover, she never claimed that the whole of country music community is making homophobic rhetoric. When responding to Aldine’s comment, she lamented how very sad it was that no consequences would come about from the incident. And as far as I know, she has been proven to be correct. I believe she shows tremendous courage by standing up to the status quo and calling out hatred from some of the community’s major figures. I’ve seen how bucking the trend in country can severely damage a person’s career. Just ask The Dixie Chicks. Furthermore, I see many comments condemning her to a ruined career, and no response calling for more civil discourse. But my mild critique triggers a strong response. That speaks for itself.
February 4, 2023 @ 10:43 pm
So if you don’t believe in mutilating children and sterilizing them, you’re homophobic and speaking against that is terrible and OF COURSE your disappointed that cancel culture didn’t destroy the career of someone who happens to disagree with you. How dare Jason think differently than you. And by the way, the American Academy of pediatricians, until a few years ago, begged parents not to take their children to surgeons to cut their parts off when they needed mental health intervention. Right now, I’ve got a 4 yr.old who wants to be a dinosaur.. Should I rush him to a veterinarian? I am so sick of leftist bullies labeling people as terrible when they speak common sense. Maybe you’re the terrible one pushing a harmful agenda on children too young to understand the irreversible consequences of sterility drugs and penis removal. People are allowed to have diverse views.
February 5, 2023 @ 8:42 am
Well, thanks for confirming my suspicion that these blogs are cover for pandering to extreme authoritarian and poorly informed elements. I guess bloggers have to do whatever it takes to pay the bills, so trashing someone for caring about the mental and physical health of historically marginalized people is welcomed here. I’m guessing that using a perceived prevalence of GBLT contributors to Country to inflict shame on someone who is a fierce supporter of that same community is merely a smokescreen to a hidden agenda to vilify her. Because, isn’t that what social media is all about? Grinding someone to pebbles so we can all feel superior about ourselves? Here is where I expect the bloggers to deny sentiment while allowing your comments to stand unchallenged.
Nothing you wrote about gender affirming care is correct. Children are not mutilated nor sterilized. And the American Academy of Pediatrics have not been begging parents to not get parts cut off their children, which isn’t even the issue. APA has long advocated for gender affirming care. It’s exceeding rare that young children undergo such surgery. Suggesting mutilation is a trigger to invoke a emotional response and not a reasoned argument. Nor is it an accurate one. Overwhelmingly, gender affirming care involves treating the child’s mental, emotional, social and physical ambiguities between how they were born and who they are. Children with self-identification conflicts are often depressed, bullied, confused and in many cases, suicidal. Withholding treatment does nothing more than exacerbate these issues.
Folks like Aldine who make ignorant statements obscure all of the problems that transgender children face. It’s incredibly cruel to distort medical and psychological issues these children face with the intent to deny children needed care. Aline’s statements are purposefully misleading and harmful. And I believe they are directed towards shaming the children and their families for having a different biology then they. I am proud of those in the industry who take the risk of standing up against people who would bully and shame anyone just for being different. I will support Maren and all who take a stand.
February 5, 2023 @ 1:55 pm
Danny,
I didn’t take your comment as an attack. My response was an effort at cross ideological dialogue. Apparently, I failed.
February 6, 2023 @ 5:52 am
Ugh. She doesn’t and shouldn’t apologize for country music until she starts releasing some actual country music.
And as a queer I am country music people have issues but at the end of the day the music has always been good to me.
When I tell people that country music is my 2nd favorite genre all time. Most get puzzled at best shocked or offended at worst. Because country music has such a huge PR problem where the loudest are often the worst mouth pieces.
The genre and it’s artist apologize by putting out better music period. That is all it takes for me.
February 6, 2023 @ 5:54 am
Also she could apologize for calling herself country while not releasing much country music at all.
February 6, 2023 @ 8:55 am
She’s actually intent on doing damage to country music because it keeps her name in the news and brings in dollars. Truth be told she probably cares as much about gender issues as she cares as much about country music. She’s an attention whore who is using both sides for self promotion. Too bad people on both sides can’t identify her for the trash she is and ignore her for good and stop playing her game because she’s playing everyone.
February 6, 2023 @ 10:33 pm
Bigotry is stupid, and I’ve never been cool with it. I think the time of country artists being intentionally bigoted is past tense if it was ever the norm, beyond garden variety ignorance fueled prejudice. That aside, why is Maren Morris considered a country artist? I pretty much get pop vibes, and only pop vibes, from her music. Not a value judgment, I like music from a ton of genres. I just don’t understand why she’s marketed as country rather than pop.
February 7, 2023 @ 10:27 am
Trig, your obsession with Maren Morris is becoming downright creepy. Seriously, man, this is becoming creepy, kinda like Bobby Bones’ obsession with Swift….
February 7, 2023 @ 10:40 am
This was the first article I had written about Maren Morris in seven months, and I publish an average of 13 articles a week. I published a total of two articles about her last year, including a review of her new album. Very hardly an “obsession.”
There sure are a lot of folks trying to get around simply saying, “Yeah, Maren and The Highwomen probably should set the record straight about recording the first gay country song.”
February 17, 2023 @ 6:07 pm
I’m gay. I’m a Democrat. I feel like this comment reflects an attitude that only conservatives are cynically fighting culture wars. That only conservatives are using social issues cynically for their own self interest.
Also, just a bit of constructive criticism of progressive attitudes generally; the whole “my stink don’t stink” attitude is self defeating to such an extreme degree that it almost seems nilistic.
February 17, 2023 @ 5:53 pm
I’m commenting at a really late date, but oh well…
I’m gay. One time at the 9:30 Club I was seeing a Loretta Lynn concert and these two guys and a girl walked up and mocked us. The girl looked like she’d been put up to it and I felt sorry for her; the guys looked like gay for pay twinks. It was humorous if anything, especially since it happened in dc.
But I’ve been to many country music shows all over, at least east of the Mississippi. Never felt unwelcome in any way.
As far as representation and what not, personally, I don’t need to feel represented. I relate to Tammy Wynette songs (damn straight I’d stand by my man if he was a good man), as well as many other women country singers. I relate to singers like Johnny Paycheck and Vern Gosdin and Keith Whitley because, well, being gay isn’t all parades, it can be lonely and sad.
Also…I look it kinda like I look at religion. Personally, I’d like it if religion and country music were both more inclusive towards gay people. But since I often feel like I’m the only gay person who feels that way, meh, oh well. If other gay people and their “allies” would rather snear at those institutions than even try just a little to be let in…why care?
June 11, 2023 @ 9:43 am
If anyone deserves an apology on behalf of country music, it’s Chely Wright. Long overdue. She came out and basically her career was blacklisted as a result. She’s a talented artist and deserves a comeback if she wants it.