“That shit ain't country music. It ain’t ever been country music and it ain’t gonna be country music.”
@gavinadcockmusic I guess I’m just a hogmog
♬ original sound - GavinAdcockMusic
I've previously covered the real versus fake country debate. I've been listening to country music since I can remember. From Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard on Willie’s Roadhouse with my grandfather in Bastrop County, to humming the tunes of the Turnpike Troubadours and Stoney LaRue with his buddies playing poker in the garage, I listened to it all.
There’s an understanding of where Gavin Adcock and the country purists are coming from. It’s difficult for artists who have dedicated their whole lives to a genre to see their albums and songs get toppled on the charts by artists who are taking advantage of a trend, but that doesn’t give the right to say it’s not country.
In August, Charley Crockett put in his two cents via Instagram regarding the recent country music drama.
“Hey, country folks. Beyoncé ain’t the source of your discontent. It was 25 years of bro country. #1 country artist on earth listens to nothing but rap. Openly says he doesn’t really know any country music. Gotta respect his honesty. The machine points to a Black woman who’s making a statement about marginalized people being removed from the conversation altogether, and somehow, we all act like the entire pop industry didn’t just ambush roots music.”
Crockett is basically saying that Beyoncé isn’t the problem: The industry is. Country music has been overrun by “bro-country” and prewritten albums just ready to be recorded. Those same people who are coming after Beyoncé are the same ones with no originality or self-written productions. Crockett says he was approached by those people who just wanted to plug him into an already written album, saying he’d be “hot today, forgot tomorrow.”
Crockett gave Dallas rapper BigXThaPlug, who recently released his first country-inspired rap album, I Hope You're Happy, a shoutout in the post, saying, “somebody asked me why I listen to [Big X] the other day. Easy. He’s genuine. A true storyteller. The best hip-hop sound to come out of Texas in this century.”
Crockett couldn’t be more spot on. There is a systematic failure within the country music genre right now that allows for no originality in the music and for marginalized groups to be outcast from the community when they’re using the same system that artists like Morgan Wallen and Blake Shelton have been using for years.
In Wallen’s latest 37-song mess of an album, I’m The Problem, released in May 2025, there are 52 credited songwriters. Why is he considered more country than Beyoncé just because he can sing other people's songs in a southern accent? It’s all a big plug-and-play between songwriters and artists; the only difference is where you came from and how you got there.
Guys like Wallen and Shelton got famous doing country music, while Beyoncé got famous off of pop/hip-hop music, so people are saying she’s not country.
If we’re talking crossing genres, like Crockett mentioned, country artists have been singing over trap beats for years. Here are five songs by popular country artists that incorporate trap beats but are categorized as country music. So, why can these artists use traps and beats that are traditional to Big X, Post Malone and Beyoncé’s original type of music, but they aren’t allowed to make country music?
The Observer just spoke with South Bound Twin, a new country duo that recently collaborated with Dallas rapper Big Tuck on their new song, “Texas Thang.” Like much of Big X’s new album, it blends Dallas rap and country music and the song reached over 100,000 views on YouTube in just three weeks.
After Crockett made this post defending Beyoncé, our old friend Adcock took to X to let Crockett know he was no less guilty than anybody else.
Gavin Adcock responds to Charley Crockett.
@GavinAdcock / Twitter
The cosplay cowboy comment is an interesting one. Adcock means Crockett is “cosplaying” his cowboy looks and he’s not a real cowboy, which, as we wrote about, is becoming a trend. It’s all for show. The Hank Sr. portion of it refers to Hank Williams Sr., an old-school country singer who, based on some of his son Hank Williams Jr.'s music, probably wouldn’t be too fond of a cosplay cowboy.
"We live in a broke world," Adcock says.
GavinAdcock / Twitter
“Apparently, last night Charley Crockett was supposed to play the venue we’re playing tonight, but he didn’t sell enough tickets, so he had to move to a smaller venue down the street.” He also gave a very sarcastic thank you, saying, “shoutout to Charley Crockett, appreciate you buddy!”
Crockett made a post on Instagram that can refer to his comments about marginalized groups in country music, and how he has been attacked before, but has stayed resilient. The post captioned, “Black music made me. I will not apologize. Raised by a single mama. I am not ashamed. Many men have tried to destroy me. I will not lose.”
It has since been deleted.
It’s a country music feud. Whether you’re on Team Crockett or Team Adcock, it’s time to stop pretending that artists like Beyoncé and Post Malone are any less country than some of the other artists topping the charts these days. It’s an unnecessary and childish argument. Country music is broad with lots of subgenres. Bluegrass, red dirt, Nashville, Austin, pop-country, Texas, outlaw, you name it.
Big X recently crossed genres into the country genre. I Hope You're Happy featured some of country’s biggest names, like Darius Rucker, Bailey Zimmerman and Luke Combs. Though it may not be traditional country, Big X took a leap with this album by mixing genres so young into his career. He wanted to express himself with this album and is prepared for the mixed reactions it might bring. One of the things that makes this album so good and unique to Big X, is that he doesn’t try to be someone he’s not in it. He doesn’t try to become a redneck and sing about trucks and whiskey; he creates his own style that pairs with the featured country artists to create a one-of-a-kind album. Big X took a chance with this album, and he delivered, and it’s welcomed on any country playlist we’re listening too.
And for you country music purists screaming at me, trust me, I get it. I understand that Turnpike Troubadours, Flatland Cavalry and Treaty Oak Revival are much different and much more authentic to a southern sound than say Wallen, Thomas Rhett and Florida Georgia Line. We appreciate playlists that are strictly filled with the sounds of Texas, like Parker McCullom, Braxton Keith and Hudson Westbrook that give us a real honky-tonk feel.
However, we don’t attack playlists filled with the alternative, and you shouldn't either.
