In light of the recent Morgan Wallen n-bomb incident, a conversation about race in country music has been pushed to the forefront of the industry.
Today, the annual Country Music Seminar featured a discussion with Luke Combs and Maren Morris, as well as moderator Ann Powers, on “accountability and the future of country music.” In the conversation, Maren and Luke both express their views on country music as it relates to race, and according to The Tennessean, Luke Combs addressed his prior Confederate Flag use, stemming from his appearance in a Ryan Upchurch music video back in 2015.
“There is no excuse for those images. I’m not trying to say, ‘This is why they were there and it’s OK that they were there.’ It’s not OK. As a younger man, that was an image I associated to mean something else.
“As I’ve grown in my time as an artist, and as the world has changed drastically in the last five to seven years, I am now aware how painful that image can be...I would never want to be associated with something that brings so much hurt to someone else.”
Margo Price, who recently brought Luke’s past flag use to light in a series of tweets after the release of his song, “The Great Divide,” responded to the article on Twitter as well, saying she was glad that Luke “cleared that up.”
no 👏🏽 excuse 👏🏽 glad he cleared that up https://t.co/oQG5PvEDPb
— Margo Price (@MissMargoPrice) February 17, 2021
Maren Morris also acknowledged that her Girl album was heavily influenced by R&B although it failed to feature any Black artists.
“I have got to correct that and acknowledge that.
Yeah, absolutely, cultural appropriation, culture ‘vulturing’ is a real thing. I love country music so much. I have my version of it, of what I make. And I think that going forward, I just want to pay respect to the people that actually built it for me.”
Wow! What an incredible panel with @lukecombs, @MarenMorris and NPR's Ann Powers. Very important conversations happened surrounding the changing culture of country music. This panel was a MUST-SEE, and if you missed it, you can watch tomorrow on demand at https://t.co/lh1fLPTxBs. pic.twitter.com/f9grkjOqQq
— CRS (@CRSOfficial) February 17, 2021
