Top 5 Country Feuds: It Isn’t Always Pretty
Country music stars and their peers tend to get along, but now and then, some artists clash with one another for any number of reasons. Through the years, there have been some heated feuds among the country music family.
We counted down five memorable ones.
5. Blake Shelton Vs. Country Legend Ray Price (2012) – Blake slights country old-timers.
Blake is such a lover of the country artists that came before him that this one was a surprise. Still, back in 2010, Shelton did an interview with GAC saying, “Nobody wants to listen to their grandpa’s music,” calling veteran country artists “old farts” and legend Ray Price, who had multiple hits in the 1960s and 1970s, wasn’t happy about it and responded saying in part, “You should be so lucky as us old timers, check back in 63 years and let us know how your name and your music will be remembered.”
Blake later apologized on Twitter, saying in part, “I absolutely have no doubt I could have worded it better, and I apologize to Mr. Price and any other heroes of mine that it may be offended.”
4. Miranda Lambert Vs. Eric Church (2012) – Eric slams TV talent competitions.
This one was a brief tangle after Eric Church, who was Miranda’s opening act just a few years earlier, told Rolling Stone, “If I was concerned about my legacy, there’s no f—ing way I would ever sit there [and be a reality-show judge].” At the time, Lambert was married to Blake Shelton, who was on The Voice, and she, of course, got her start on Nashville Star. She fired back at Church via Twitter, “Thanks Eric Church for saying I’m not a real artist. Or @kelly_clarkson, @carrieunderwood & @KeithUrban. You’re welcome for the tour in 2010.” The two quickly made up after he issued an apology.
3. Zac Brown Vs. Luke Bryan (2013) – Zac blasts Luke’s song.
These two Georgia boys were friends before Zac Brown sounded off to a Canadian radio station saying that Luke’s “That’s My Kind of Night” was “the worst song I’ve ever heard.” During the CMA Awards that year, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood addressed the feud in the show and sang an altered version of “Why Can’t We Be Friends.” During the same show, Zac and Luke hugged it out in the audience and on camera.
Later Brown said yes, the hug was real.
2. Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) Vs. Toby Keith (2003) – Natalie Maines questions Toby’s patriotic song.
This feud was a big one and lasted for a while. I don’t think the two parties involved ever worked it out. It all started when The Dixie Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maines took the first shot when she was asked about Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.” She said at the time, “It’s ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant.” The pair battled as songwriters until spring 2003 when Keith took it to another level by using a photo of Maines with Saddam Hussein on tour.
1. Maren Morris Vs. Morgan Wallen (2021) – Maren pounds on Morgan after a racial slur.
Maren Morris didn’t believe a word of Morgan Wallen’s apology after he used a racial slur caught on camera in February of 2021. Maren took to Twitter to say, “It actually IS representative of our town because this isn’t his first ‘scuffle,’ and he just demolished a huge streaming record last month regardless. We all know it wasn’t his first time using that word. We keep them rich and protected at all costs with no recourse.”
It actually IS representative of our town because this isn’t his first “scuffle” and he just demolished a huge streaming record last month regardless. We all know it wasn’t his first time using that word. We keep them rich and protected at all costs with no recourse.
— MAREN MORRIS (@MarenMorris) February 3, 2021
While we don’t know if the two made up, Morris was friendly and clapped on camera when Morgan won a CMA award for Album of the Year in November of 2021.
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