In the wake of Maren Morris’ very public twitter beef with Brittany Aldean, she’s reconsidering attending the CMA Awards this coming November, even though she is nominated for an award.
Incase you missed the country music world drama last month, let me give you a little run down:
Brittany Aldean, the wife of Jason Aldean, posted a video of her putting on makeup on Instagram, saying;
“I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life”
Although the post drew praise from the likes of RaeLynn, Lara Trump, the wife of Donald Trump’s son Eric, a number of other beauty influencers, and Jason himself, a handful of country music artists went scorched earth over the post, calling it “transphobic.”
Cassadee Pope tweeted out:
“You’d think celebs with beauty brands would see the positives in including LGBTQ+ people in their messaging.
But instead here we are, hearing someone compare their ‘tomboy phase’ to someone wanting to transition. Real nice.”
And Maren Morris responded:
“It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ons and zip it, insurrection Barbie.”
And long story short, Brittany and Jason both ended up responding to the “insurrection Barbie” comments, Candace Owens go involved, Ryan Hurd got involved, it was quite the public argument.
Brittany launched a shirt for charity, Maren launched a shirt for charity, Brittany went on Tucker Carlson, Tucker called Maren a lunatic fake country music person… it was a whole big thing.
And now, Maren is speaking out.
In a new interview with the LA Times, Maren weighed in on her spat with Brittany Aldean, Morgan Wallen, the division in country music, the Highwomen, being a mom and more.
When asked about the scorn of speaking out, Maren said she received support from people on both side of the political aisle, although for her, it was a “common sense thing” and that she’s tired of defending the country music industry:
“I think it’s just a common-sense thing at this point.
Friends that aren’t in country music, they ask me, “What the hell is going on in Nashville right now with these people?”
And I’m always like, “It’s fewer than you think.”
Sometimes I feel like I’m in this abusive relationship and I keep defending it: “It’s not all bad!” But sometimes you have to call it out for what it is.
I think there are people in country music that want it to be niche. They don’t want it to expand. They don’t care about it becoming more inclusive. It’s theirs, and everyone else is an other, or woke, or whatever.
That’s sad to me, because I feel like country music at its core is people’s real stories. And to think there’s only one kind of person that gets to live them out and celebrate them is not why I’ve chosen to live there or make music within those walls.”
She went on to say that she might not attend the CMA Awards this fall.
When asked about the possibility of seeing the Aldeans there, Maren says that she doesn’t feel “comfortable” going, and that she didn’t enjoy it last year:
“Honestly, I haven’t decided if I’m gonna go. I’m very honored that my record is nominated. But I don’t know if I feel home there right now.
So many people I love will be in that room, and maybe I’ll make a game-time decision and go. But as of right now, I don’t feel comfortable going.
I think I was more sad going last year. Some nights are fun. Others I’m just crawling out of my skin.
I’m not good at those events because I’m awkward. But this time I kind of feel peaceful at the notion of not going.”
I guess we’ll find out in November if she decides to attend.
Maren wasn’t nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year for the first time in six years, however, her album Humble Quest was nominated for Album of the Year.
The #CMAawards ALBUM of the Year nominees are…
✨ Growin’ Up by @LukeCombs
✨ Humble Quest by @MarenMorris
✨ Palomino by @MirandaLambert
✨ Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’ by @LaineyWilson
✨ Time, Tequila, & Therapy by @OldDominion pic.twitter.com/R3KAnZsn8x— CMA Country Music (@CountryMusic) September 7, 2022
Musician Shares Incredible Story About Beating Kacey Musgraves & Maren Morris At Battle Of The Bands When He Was 14
Meet Joel Adam Russell.
If you’re not familiar Joel is a musician and Texas native, currently living in Nashville singing and writing songs. With shades of country and rock, I guess Joel probably falls in the Americana category (whatever that’s supposed to mean), but dumb genre conversations aside, you should check him out… I dig his stuff.
Anyways, that’s not exactly why we’re here.
We’re here because Joel has an absolutely incredible story about the time he entered his rock band in a Battle of the Bands contest when he was 14 years old, growing up in the Dallas, Texas, area.
As it turns out, Joel and his band “Minority,” named after the Green Day song, kicked some ass in the Battle of the Bands contest for folks under 20, and earned themselves a spot performing at a music festival for a few thousand people. It was pretty epic…
But the real story here is about some of the competition in that Battle of the Bands contest.
None other than two Grammy winning artists (and fellow Texas natives)… Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris.
That’s right, Minority took down Maren and Kacey back in the day to win the Battle of the Bands, but as Joel put it:
“We won the battle… and they won the war.”
Incredible…
And what a storyteller.
If you’re looking to hear some Minority, circa 2006… here’s a music video they filmed for a song called “Don’t Tell Me.”
Gotta love it… just a group of kids with a garage band chasing a dream.
These days, Joel sounds a little different… a little more polished (and I’d imagine his shorts fit a little better than they used to).
That being said, here’s his latest single called “Dice For A Dollar.”
