Coward Country

You really shouldn't let Zach Bryan out-write you – especially if your whole brand is protest songs.

Bryan made something of a splash when he released "Bad News" in early October, which explicitly called out ICE's kidnapping of innocent people off the street. In these times, that's a radical statement from a major artist, but for the most part Nashville – on both sides of Music Row – has met the genocide in Gaza, the slow-rolling invasion of major US cities, and the kidnapping and deportation of everyday people with a collective shrug. The song fragment decries the decline of the American dream, the "bad news" of the "fading of the red, white and blue" accompanied by

My friends are all degenerates but they're all I've got /Generational talent of dropping the plot /Heard the cops came, cocky motherfuckers ain't they /And ICE is gonna come bust down your door

Powerful stuff, considering that The Chicks were unceremoniously censored after critiquing an illegal war in a sovereign nation almost 20 years ago. So, unsurprisingly, Bryan ultimately walked the song back – claiming that he's just a Little Guy who's Upset About ICE.

"I served this country, I love this country and the song itself is about all of us coming out of this divided space. I wasn’t speaking as a politician or some greater-than-thou asshole, just a 29-year-old man who is just as confused as everyone else,” he wrote on Instagram. “To see how much shit it stirred up makes me not only embarrassed but kind of scared. Left wing or right wing we’re all one bird and American. To be clear I’m on neither of these radical sides. To all those disappointed in me on either side of whatever you believe in just know I’m trying my best too and we all say things that are misconstrued sometimes.”

I happen to agree with the guy – being mad about this shit shouldn't be considered radical at all. But...what exactly are you standing for here, if people telling you to shut up and sing bothers you? The Chicks said what they meant, and they ultimately survived. Hell, queer artists speak out all the time and they are paying the price by being deprived of institutional support.

Of course, nobody seems concerned about other types of political discourse – "Try That in a Small Town" feels subtle compared to Gavin Adcock's racist social media diatribes against Charley Crockett and Beyonce, questioning Black people's place in country music. (Adcock's obsession with the new Traditional Country and Contemporary Country categories somehow creating a racial divide in Grammy nominations is ultimately unfounded – instead, they reify the genre's historical misogyny.) In spite of Adcock's tough talk about Crockett's "cowboy cosplay," he literally ran away from a fist fight with Bryan at the Born & Raised Festival in Oklahoma – not long after Bryan's release of "Bad News."

Bryan Andrews is one notable exception. He went viral after his video entitled "Crashout," explaining the motivation behind his recent single "The Older I Get." While Andrews' teasing the song at the end is jarring, his impassioned critique of the conflation of alt-right politics and country music is something to behold.

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A post shared by Bryan Andrews (@bryanandrewsmusic)

"People tell me all the time 'why don't you just shut the fuck up and sing man, keep politics out of it.' Don't you think I'd fucking love to?" He asks rhetorically. But, unlike Bryan, he's ready to accept what may come as a result of critiquing our most powerful institutions.

"I knew being country artist that I was going to get some backlash for the things I'm about to say, and I knew that I was risking my career because I'm a small artist who doesn't have a big fanbase to fall back on but I'm saying this shit anyways with my whole fucking chest. ...I would rather my label call me the fuck up and drop me right after posting this video and have no career at all than live in a world where what's happening right now is happening and I don't say a fucking thing like most of these artists do."

The song itself is Fine. Andrews seems to be an acolyte of the Isbell, Childers, Barham trinity and, like Zach Bryan, sands down the rough edges with some Nasvhille overproduction.

While many artists without mainstream attention have spoken out, it's clear that only a few are anointed to do so – and you can guess which identities are reflected there. One of those lucky few is Jesse Wells, who has won Americana Music Awards' inaugural Spirit of Americana Free Speech award and is now nominated for four Grammys.

I mostly ignored Welles after he went viral with "United Health"; he isn't a good singer and the clips I'd heard of his left my cold. But once he got the Americana nod I'd figured I'd at least listen to one of the three albums he released this year – an ill-advised notion. These albums are sprawling with poorly-written and poorly-edited songs – the guy made an entire refrain out of the couplet "Decatur/See you later"

(Four!!!! Grammy!!!! Nominations!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Welles is the most egregious of the guys (and yes, they're all guys) here precisely because he's made protest music his brand. Not long after Welles' nomination was announced, he released "Charlie," a simple ballad dedicated to the memory hatemongering quisling Charlie Kirk:

I heard laughing
I heard glee
But it coulda been you
It coulda been me

Oh – we're not supposed to applaud assassinations now? My brother, the only reason anyone knows your name is because of these lyrics from "United Health," written in the weak of Luigi Mangione's alleged murder of Brian Thompson:

CEO's come and go and one just went
The ingredients you got bake the cake you get
So, if you get sick, cross your fingers for luck
'Cause old Richard T. Burke ain't givin' a fuck

Steven Hyden puts it best in his essay "The (Bland) Ballad of Jesse Welles":

[The vicious censorship of anyone who dared critique Kirk], I don’t know, seem like something someone might want to protest? In order to speak truth to actual power as opposed to tsk-tsking over dumb posts? But that’s not really what Jesse Welles does. And I think he knows that, even if many of the folks singing (or squinting) his praises do not. Throwing up a video about a murder not even one day after it happens isn’t songwriting, it’s content creation. And, as a natural-born grinder, Welles must realize that his audience is made up largely of Facebook boomers who claim they want a new Bob Dylan, but in reality seek a folk-music version of a Bill Maher “New Rules” monologue that they can forward to disinterested family members with a “This!” caption.

This is what the country and Americana industry are championing: sound bites with little depth. Bryan, Adcock, and Welles represent the height of success within their genres – and a specific type of masculinity that is dominating American discourse right now: a suspicion of authority and directionless rage that its owners are only too happy to turn off once there's money on the line. We've moved past bro country and are well into a new generation of industry darlings who appropriate populist sentiments for financial gain. Welcome to the age of coward country.