The Twin Temple saga continues, this time with Jack White.
There’s yet another layer in the weird and winding story of Charley Crockett removing Twin Temple from his tour after booking the duo and not knowing that they leaned heavily into satanic imagery. At this point, I’m sure you’ve already heard about it. In case you haven’t, howver, let me catch you up to speed.
Back in March, the “Jamestown Ferry” singer announced his sprawling, 49-show Age of the Ram Tour that began back in April and will conclude in early October. Unsurprisingly, Crockett grabbed a ton of openers, employing the likes of Nat Myers and Durand Jones & The Indicators as primary openers during a majority of the tour. Additionally, he called upon the likes of Kashus Culpepper, Sierra Hull, Margo Price, Lee Fields, Honky Tonkin’ Queens, Wild Horses, Pony Bradshaw and Twin Temple as support on select dates.
If you’re familiar with the alternative/independent country scene, a majority of these names are sure to ring a bell. With that being said, however, there was one major outlier, at least aesthetically: Twin Temple, a self-proclaimed “satanic doo wop” duo.
Taking to Instagram early in July, Twin Temple announced that Crockett and Co. had removed them from their upcoming shows that were slated for July 14th and 18th due to their satanic imagery. The duo would apologize to fans and express how grateful they are for their support, finishing the post by hailing Satan.
In response, Crockett would go on a bit of a social media tirade (which has all been wiped on Instagram). First, he’d take to Instagram to upload a photo of Johnny Cash posing in front of a church, along with Kris Kristofferson’s “To Beat The Devil” playing in the background. In the caption, he’d simply write:
“If they did it to Jesus, imagine what they’ll do to you.”
A day later, he’d post a fairly standard photo of himself. Here, he’d not only take aim at satanism itself but seemingly at Jack White, a well-known Trump critic, who came to the rescue and offered Twin Temple an opening slot on his tour.
“F*CK TRUMP
F*CK EPSTEIN
BUT HAIL SATAN?
NOT ME JACK”
Jack White, the former lead man for The White Stripes and now solo rock n’ roller (he also plays with The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather), caught wind of the Twin Temple removal and responded by reaching out online to tell the band they’d be more than welcome to open for him at a show in September.
They excitedly accepted, and after that update, there wasn’t much news on the Charley Crockett-Twin Temple-Jack White front. That is, until earlier this week, when the “One Eyed Jack” singer went on one of his patented, sprawling social media rants and both claimed that he never dropped Twin Temple as an opener due to their satanic imagery outright and called out Jack White for “avoiding political issues” during his time with The White Stripes.
“As for Jack White, he used it to sell tickets too and I lost a lot of respect for him. I wonder why he wasn’t so outspoken back when he was in the White Stripes 20 something years ago. They purposely avoided political issues. Maybe he was worried about losing audience back when it was all on the line and he needed all the help he could get. Funny, I’ve got everything to lose right this minute and I still shoot from the hip. I’ve been speaking from my heart against the wishes of the machine my whole life. Real patriots think for themselves.”
White wasn’t going to take the criticism lying down, and clapped back this morning with a screenshot of a Rolling Stone article showcasing how he was political during his time with his former band and included this scathing response in which he referred to the “Welcome To Hard Times” singer as “Cowboy Charley”:
“I never said nothing about this young buck before but since he’s trying to drag me into this here rodeo again, here’s my official response to Cowboy Charley’s accusations.”
The former White Stripes frontman then copied and pasted the lyrics of a song titled “Rappin’ Duke,” which was released in 1985 by a rapper named Shawn Brown. In the song, and the album it was a part of, the hip-hop artist was impersonating the legendary movie star, John Wayne. It certainly seems like the former frontman of the White Stripes was insinuating that Crockett is doing the same with the persona that he carries.
Wasting zero time, Crockett would take to Instagram minutes ago to fire back at White once again.
In yet another incredibly lengthy caption, Crockett would hit back at White once again. First, he’d once again criticize White for not being vocal about political issues during the early days of his career with the White Stripes. Calling him an “old man,” the Texas native would liken White to President Trump and any politician, criticizing the rocker for “playing to his base.”
“Hey Jack, you might get 6 into me before I get 1 into you but I don’t miss. And actually I ain’t that young. I got 300 songs out and 150 unreleased plus a new record on the way which puts me about even with your entire career output in a third the time. To quote Jay Z, “you sound a little naive in those articles I read”, talking about just last fall you had to stop watching the news, vicious cycle, somethin’, somethin’, somethin…..you’re getting too old for this shit Mr. Suzy Cream Puff. I was born in 1984 surrounded by cotton fields and I never trusted the media from the beginning. That goes for my whole generation old man.
The younger they get the less they trust the machine. What wore you out on the media? Epstein Files? pandemic? 9/11 wasn’t enough? Gulf war 1? Gulf War 2? The end of Net Neutrality? The telecommunications act? Vietnam? How bout JFK getting offed in Dallas back in 1963? You know all this. But like Trump or any politician, you play to your base. I don’t care what you said in you’re songs. I’m talking about your public statements back when it was on the line in 2003. Look up my first record A Stolen Jewel.
From there, Crockett would then call White a hypocrite again, claiming he drives a Lamborghini (by all accounts, White drives a 1975 Ford Bronco Ranger and a 1991 Suzuki Samurai). Additionally, he’d ask White how he got on the radio if he doesn’t conform to industry standards, noting Universal Music Group (UMG) “hated” him because they couldn’t “own” him.
“I been about it. Lemme guess, you got Che Guevara and Malcolm X on your shelf, maybe even Fred Hampton, but at the end of the day you get in the Lamborghini and put your kids in private school. I’ve seen behind the same curtain as you, and if you don’t play it just like they say they’ll never let you on the radio. So how’d you get on there? Ask UMG about CC, they hate me because they couldn’t own me. But I digress…
Finally, he’d end today’s rant by taking aim at Twin Temple once again, calling them “art kids” who lied at his expense, also criticizing White for “stereotyping” him and fanning the flames of the controversy by hiring the duo.
“The point is some art kids lied for publicity at my expense and you poured gas on it stereotyping me at a glance. Go ahead and conveniently ignore the fact that they lied. Same hypocrisy as the demagogues you claim to stand against. Lucky it was me, too strong to beat, around long enough not to let it kill me, but when that kind of public shame gets dumped on some poor kid who ain’t ready it might mean their life. Happens everyday big hoss. If you want the smoke, I’m your man.”
