“Jimmy Fallon” will have Alan Jackson on the show tonight!
Luke Bryan Has Apologized to the Families of Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard for Disrespecting Outlaw Country
LUKE BRYAN called the families of Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard to apologize forcomparing outlaw country to “laying in the gutter, strung out on drugs.” SHOOTER JENNINGS talked about it the “Los Angeles Times“.
He said, quote, “Luke called my mom to clarify that he would never disrespect my dad or me or any of us. That takes a lot of guts. I misfired and said some things in the past about people, namely JOHN MAYER. And I didn’t have the guts to apologize.
“So, that being said, that kinda won me over. [He] went above and beyond and manned up and apologized. In the long run I believe his image has improved.” Shooter’s mom is ’70s country minx JESSI COLTER.
Luke also called Merle’s son Ben Haggard who hit up Instagram with details of their conversation. He said he could hear the “sincerity” in Luke’s voice . . . and added that we’re all humans who “make mistakes and say things we wished we hadn’t.”
As of last night, there was no word from Waylon’s daughter-in-law Kathy Jennings. She’s the one who was over-the-top furious with Luke’s comments. I’d love to know if her called her too . . . or just thought she was too much of a loose cannon.
Pat Green is Proud of the New Artists Who Are Making Their Mark
I love stories like this. PAT GREEN was asked for his take on today’s country, and instead of stepping into the swamp of negativity he actually congratulated the new artists for breaking through.
He tells TheBoot.com, quote, “I’m happy for them because I know in my heart what it is to make it in this business. I love watching people win . . . whether I’ll play their music 10 times in my car doesn’t mean anything. Watching someone win is fun.”
And although being successful is what every artist shoots for, there’s also an ugly side that comes with it. Pat recognizes and appreciates that too.
He says, quote, “To put yourselves out there and open yourself up to all of the criticism that comes in this business, and then open your family up to all of that . . . it’s a meat grinder, and it’s a neat thing to see people succeed.”
By the way, his favorite “newer” artists include Wade Bowen, the Eli Young Band . . . and here’s what he said about Eric Church’s “Chief” album. Quote, “That’s the last time I went, ‘Damn, he landed on it. Like, holy moly, he landed on it.'”
Somebody Tweeted that KACEY MUSGRAVES was holding the attention of rock stars at her show on Saturday. They wrote, “A little birdie told me Rivers [Cuomo] and Brian [Bell] from @WEEZER were @KaceyMusgraves until right before their set.”
LUKE BRYAN is doing another “Crash My Playa” concert vacation next January in Mexico. It’ll feature two shows from Luke, plus performances from Dierks Bentley, Cole Swindell, Sam Hunt, Brett Eldredge, Dustin Lynch, and Chris Stapleton. Details are at CrashMyPlaya.com.
Here’s another reason it’s good to be CHRIS YOUNG. He was recently talking about being single, and then casually admitted that female fans slip him their phone number.
BRANTLEY GILBERT says it was an honor to do his first USO Tour . . . and couldn’t believe how appreciative the troops were.