Man, don’t you kind of miss this stuff? I mean, where is the grit in country music anymore? Where is the tenacity? The fire?
Country music likes to pride itself on this small town, blue collar, hard work way of living. Cut your teeth out on the road, build fans town by town, and maybe with the right mix of hard work, talent and good luck, you can make it in this business.
But these days, blowing up on TikTok can get you a record deal, and every facet of the mainstream just seems watered down. The songwriting, the single choices, even interviews sound like a script…
And granted there are a ton of artists outside of the mainstream, and a handful in, that are still doing it that way, but what do we gotta do to light that fire again? It all just feels too comfortable…
Which reminded me of the time Luke Bryan smacked the hell out of a fan for flipping him off during an onstage performance.
This was back in 2016 at Charlie Daniels’ Volunteer Jam, and Luke was shakin’ his hips like a madman, so it’s not hard to understand the fan’s frustration. Once he had enough of “Move,” he gave Luke a big ol’ middle finger from the front row… for A WHILE.
So Luke stared the man down, told him to “come on” and when the man got closer to the stage, Luke gave him a good shove to the face.
Not something you’d ever expect from Luke, and I can’t imagine there’s anyway in HELL Luke would do this today, but I have to say… I like the move. You wanna act like an clown at my show? This is what happens. And I think we can all agree that this particular fan might’ve have a few adult beverages…
But it’s the kind of fire I feel like country music is missing right now. Bryan’s publicist of course released a statement on the matter:
“It was insulting not only to him, but more importantly to the men, women and families sitting around him who were there to support and celebrate Charlie Daniels and the efforts of raising money for the military veterans… some of who were in the audience.
The concert security personnel saw the man’s disruptive actions of the event and he was escorted out.”
And believe me, the irony is not lost on me that this is Luke Bryan we’re talking about. I mean, if we’re talking about watering down the genre, Luke has been driving that train for the past decade.
So do I understand why this Charlie Daniels fan was giving Luke the ol’ one-finger salute? Yeah, I get it… but still… a pretty tasteless move from the guy in the crowd. I have to say though, I like that fire from Luke.
I don’t know if we’d see ol’ American Idol Luke take a stand like that these days.
Here’s an alternate angle”
