Anyone who has noticed my career in the music business probably associates me with alternative music. I started the first punk-oriented radio show on a commercial station, the first new wave magazine in the U.S. and one of the first indie labels dedicated to new wave music. And then I went to work running Sire Records, the preeminent alternative music label in America. But there was a before. In the ‘60s my music was psychedelic and the music I was associated with were The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, the Jefferson Airplane, Love, Pink Floyd, the Dead, Big Brother, the Velvet Underground, The Byrds…
After that I took a long sojourn into Indian music and lost track of western music. When I got into it again, it was both punk music and outlaw country music that got me going. This photo of me interviewing Joey Ramone in my cowboy drag is perfect. Anyway, I was a member of the board of the Country Music Hall of Fame and an editor of Country Music Magazine. I would interview people like Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Jessi Colter and play their music— but no commercialized Nashville stuff— in a country bar where I was the dj.
Just establishing some bona fides to say that I like country music and that I like Jason Aldean’s music. He’s a huge star with 10 platinum albums and 27 number 1 hit singles, like this one, “She’s Country,” right below. Maybe he wrote it about one of his wives; maybe not. But the current wife, former American Idol contestant Brittany, a social media influencer, is in the news… as a bigoted jerk. Thursday she even made it to Tucker Carlson’s show to air her transphobia and whine about people hating on bigots like herself.
The Aldeans made the news rounds last week when Brittany Aldean wrote on Instagram, “I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life.”
While Aldean received support from many of her followers, the post was also met with criticism from supporters of the LGBTQ community, including country singers Maren Morris (whom Carlson branded “a lunatic” on Thursday's broadcast) and Cassadee Pope. Aldean responded with a new line of shirts emblazoned with the message “Don't tread on our kids.”
Jason Aldean's longtime publicity firm, Greenroom PR, announced it had parted ways with the country star on Thursday, stating: "We aren't the best people for the gig anymore but will always be big fans of his music."
…After Carlson called responses to her stance “dishonest” and “vicious,” Aldean said, “I was extremely surprised...I never thought that there was anything wrong with (my statement). I think I'm advocating for children.”
“I think when you're older, if you choose to make those decisions, by all means,” she later added. “But children are too young, not mature enough to make those decisions.”
Carlson referred to gender-affirming treatment as an “irreparable” process: “You wind up castrating children, removing their sex organs, making them sterile for life?”
“Yes,” Aldean responded. “…huge consequences.”
Brittany Aldean said that there was “so much support” for her statement in Nashville, “especially people that have children”
“People are entitled to their opinions. [But] we, as conservatives, have a hard time having an opinion, especially in society today; in media, in relationships and the workplace.”
Carlson said he hopes Morris “leaves country music immediately for the viciousness of her attack.”
On Twitter, Morris had earlier suggested Aldean was “a scumbag human,” adding, “Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.”
“I’ve never had a conversation with either these people,” Aldean said, referring to Morris and Pope. “This is simply based on opinion and political status.”
Morris’ comment about her being an “insurrection Barbie” stems from one of her Instagram posts after the J-6 insurrection where she tried misleading her followers into thinking the rioters were “AntiFa disguised as Trump supporters.”
My first instinct was to get pissed off that Jason’s career was being damaged because of his wife’s primitive MAGA politics. Until I looked a little further and saw that he and his wife are on the same right-wing, anti-vaxxer, proselytizing page. I'll stick to my Willie Nelson and Steve Earle CDs.