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Is country music about to have its own version of 2024's Drake vs Everybody rap beef?
Last year, once Kendrick Lamar knocked over the first domino with his ‘Like That’ verse, a slew of other rappers decided to air their long-bottled-up grievances against Drake.
Now, bizarrely, we're seeing something similar in the country world, with Drayton Farley echoing John Moreland's sentiments about one of the genre's biggest names, Zach Bryan.
When it was revealed that the ‘Dawns’ hitmaker had just signed a new two-album deal with Warner Records, as well as selling his publishing catalogue for an eye-watering $350 million, Zach Bryan's ‘Memphis, The Blues’ collaborator took to Instagram to hurl a left-field barb at Bryan. His fellow Oklahoma native shared, “$350 M is a lot of money to pay for the f***** off-brand version of me. Y‘all have a great day”.
At first, we weren't sure if John Moreland - who has never been afraid to ruffle a few feathers - was just teasing Zach Bryan, given the fact that they both hail from the same state and worked together for Bryan's 2024 record, The Great American Bar Scene.
But then, over the weekend, Zach Bryan made it clear Moreland's comments were not mere friendly banter, with Bryan revealing he would be removing the John Moreland-assisted version of ‘Memphis, The Blues’ from streaming platforms, “Yooo just saw this from an artist I’ve always respected and supported. Not trying to be dramatic but refuse to have anyone with a problem with me on my records. Replacing Memphis the Blues. If it goes down for a bit just know this is the reason!”
At the time of writing, ‘Memphis, The Blues’ with John Moreland has indeed been removed from The Great American Bar Scene. Zach Bryan followed up this announcement by explaining, “No hard feelings! Confused as s**t, Tulsans look out for Tulsans!...Last thing I say on it! Not partial to arguing with butt hurt grown men”.
Then, Moreland responded, clarifying his comments - but rather than apologise or attempt to walk back his remarks, the alt-folk crooner doubled-down on his criticism of Bryan.
John Moreland recalled what it was that made him wary of Zach Bryan, alleging that Bryan was disrespectful to Moreland' wife, as well as telling “borderline racist jokes more than once”. He recalled, “Just a really big artist from where I’m from asking me to be on a record - cool. At this point I’ve hung out with him five, six times. I don’t like this motherf*****. Am I supposed to be upset? If I was asked to be on the album today I wouldn’t do it. I don’t want to be on an album with a dude who is a d***head to my wife and my friends right in front of me every time I see him. I don’t want to be on an album with a dude who I’ve heard tell borderline racist jokes more than once. I don’t want to be on an album with a dude who brings a 19-year old girl in the bar, and then when they tell him she can’t be in there, looks at me like I’m supposed to have his f***** back. I don’t like that person”.
He quipped, “That’s who thinks I’m an a**hole? Fine. As far as I’m concerned, getting kicked off a Zach Bryan album is way f****** cooler than being on a Zach Bryan album”.
A number of loyal Zacholytes immediately leapt to the ‘Something in the Orange’ singer-songwriter's defence, citing Moreland's track record of being highly outspoken and the seemingly unprovoked nature of his jibes as reasons to dismiss his comments.
But now, country-folk up-and-comer, Drayton Farley, has waded into the beef, with Farley deciding to share his own experience with Zach Bryan via a since-deleted X post.
Farley outlined, “In ‘21 while opening for him he was backstage telling my wife how cute he thought she was and how much he loves mother’s. He also said things about other artist friends of mine along the lines of ‘I’ll make sure I ruin their career’”.
Farley went on, “He’s even personally texted another artist friend of mine demanding that they remove a simple social media post they made about them opening an upcoming show for him (they made their post because he didn’t even put their name on the show flyer)...I have no reason to respect people that have no respect for me and I won’t. Deceivers deceive, artists make art, and mediocrity is often rewarded”, before poetically proclaiming, “‘Plastic flowers, plastic business’”.
Farley concluded by seemingly nodding to Moreland's words, “Sometimes turning a blind eye can get people hurt or keep others in a cycle of getting hurt. Either way it’s not my grass to cut, but I can’t personally say that he didn’t need to make that statement”.
Drayton Farley then highlighted how Bryan's reputation precedes him, “It’s the fact that I didn’t even say anyone’s name in that post… some stories just tell themselves”.
He has now deleted the post, underlining he never wanted “to stir the pot”, “I went ahead and took the post down. If you’ve followed me for a while you know that is simply not my style. I’ve had a solid track record of keeping my head down and handling business quietly and with grace, so I’m going to preserve that the best I can from now on. To stir the pot is really to waste time that could be better spent. So It’s back to work I go and lord knows we’ve all got plenty work to do. Ever Onward”.
Zach Bryan is yet to address Drayon Farley's comments, and the duo do not share any collaborations that he can take down, but for some, it appears to add weight to John Moreland's characterisation of Bryan. Fans will also remember Brianna LaPaglia - Bryan's ex, who accused him of emotional abuse and a range of other troubling behaviour - hinting at why Charles Wesley Godwin is no longer friends with him. In the early days of CWG's career, they regularly performed together.
It remains to be seen how this develops, but after having a run of diss tracks directed at him by Brianna LaPaglia's BFF's Podcast co-hosts, Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards, towards the end of 2024, perhaps Zach Bryan might be considering launching a full-blown Drake-and-Kendrick-style beef with Moreland and Farley.
The closest country music has seen to this in recent years, of course, is Brian Kelley's thinly veiled ‘Kiss My Boots’, directed at his former Florida Georgia Line partner, Tyler Hubbard.
If Moreland is looking for ideas, ‘Mechanical Bull-sh**’ could be a fun song-title to riff off, while for Bryan, perhaps something along the lines of ‘Memphis, The Lose-r’? Watch this space.
For more on Drayon Farley, see below:
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