Nashville star Morgan Wallen's language has exposed the racist core of country music

Early on Monday morning, residents of an upscale Nashville neighbourhood were woken by honking horns and shouting. A rowdy neighbour had returned from a night on the town with his entourage. “Take care, punk a-- n-----,” he shouted at one of his departing pals, deploying the n-word with conspicuous gusto. Irritated, someone across the street recorded the ruckus. Two days later, Nashville’s biggest industry – country music – would be rocked to its core.

The shouty ne’er-do-well was none other than Morgan Wallen, a 27-year-old rising star of country who initially broke through on reality show The Voice and topped the Billboard charts in January with new album, Dangerous. With his mullet and crucifix earring, Wallen cultivates a bad boy reputation and has weathered several controversies. But this week, as footage of him yelling the n-word pinged around the internet, he has become a lightning rod for the age-old debate around country music and race.

The problem is that it’s not quite clear which way that debate is going. Officially, Wallen is on the brink of being “cancelled” . His label, Big Loud Records, has “suspended” him (without going so far as to unambiguously drop its biggest star). The Academy of Country Music has declared Wallen no longer eligible for the 2021 ACM Awards. He’s been banned from iHeartRadio, America’s largest radio conglomerate. The industry quite correctly wants nothing to do with him.

But even as these gatekeepers and power-brokers rush to disassociate themselves from Wallen, a sizeable number of country music fans have rallied around the singer. His music has shot up the iTunes charts, while hashtags imploring the public to come out in support of Wallen have trended on Twitter. By Thursday, he had seven songs in the iTunes top 10.

The only conclusion is that many in country music feel Wallen has nothing to apologise for. This will do little to change the minds of those who feel that the community has not done enough to confront racism.

You only have to contrast the grassroots support shown to Wallen with the backlash against the artists formerly known as the Dixie Chicks. Their career went down in flames in 2003 after they declared on stage in London that they were “ashamed” of George W Bush because of the Iraq invasion.

Their cancellation by country radio stations – and by fans too – was swift and emphatic. A decade and a half later, and now going as The Chicks, their critical stock has never been higher. But they have never won back those heartland country fans who turned on them so viciously.

See, too, the treatment of rapper Lil Nas X, whose 2019 hit Old Town Road was removed from Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart because it failed to “embrace enough elements of today’s country music”. This was never an issue for pre-pop stardom Taylor Swift or for unabashedly pop-flavoured acts such as Sugarland, who are to classic country what The Killers are to thrash metal.

Wallen expressed immediate remorse when the video leaked. “I’m embarrassed and sorry,” he told TMZ after it made the footage public. “I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologise for using the word. I promise to do better.”

But this wasn’t the first time he has had to stay sorry. In May 2020, he was arrested for public intoxication outside a Nashville bar owned by Kid Rock. And in October, he was temporarily dropped from an appearance on Saturday Night Live when videos emerged of Wallen flouting Covid restrictions at a bar in Alabama. He even complained on Instagram about people celebrating Joe Biden’s win in the Presidential election. In the November vote, Donald Trump carried Wallen’s native state of Tennessee by over 60 per cent.

Some country artists have, to their credit, tried to face up to this legacy of racism. But the results are often tin-eared. Consider Brad Paisley’s 2013 collaboration with LL Cool J, Accidental Racist, in which the two performers agreed to put behind them centuries of prejudice. It’s hugely toe-curling, especially as LL Cool J raps the line, “If you don't judge my gold chains, I'll forget the iron chains”.

“The minute people heard the title, they were ready to pounce,” Paisley told me in 2014. “In hindsight I realise I was talking about a subject that can't be contained in a four-minute song. It is going to be larger than that, no matter what.”

Years later, country’s relationship with race remains problematic. “I’m disgusted. What happened does NOT represent all of country music,” tweeted singer Cassadee Pope of Wallen’s outburst, though she later clarified: “Let me reiterate. The news about Morgan that broke does not represent ‘ALL’ of country music. As you can see, it represents some.”

Yet many feel that little progress has been made. “The hate runs deep,” tweeted Mickey Guyton, a rare black female country artist, as the Wallen controversy broke. “You guys should just read some of the vile comments hurled at me on a daily basis. It’s a cold hard truth to face but it is the truth.”

“Wallen’s behaviour is disgusting and horrifying,” added Jason Isbell, a star of the more homespun alternative country scene. “I think this is an opportunity for the country music industry to give that spot to somebody who deserves it, and there are lots of black artists who deserve it.”

Whether or not Wallen has a career after the dust settles is, in many ways, irrelevant. The real question is whether country music is any closer to acknowledging the degree to which American’s racist legacy is entwined in the soul of Nashville. The swiftness with which Wallen has been rebuked would suggest some progress. But not everyone takes an optimistic perspective.

“Country music has always been racist, misogynistic and homophobic,” tweeted Stella Parton (younger sister of Dolly). “Don't believe them if they say otherwise.”