Gavin Adcock is on quite a tear. Earlier this week, he called out Charley Crockett for the Dollar a Day singer’s post about authenticity in country music, and also said he felt that Zach Bryan “puts on a big mask in his day-to-day,” during an interview on Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast. In that same interview, Adcock doubled down on his previous comments that Beyoncé and her Grammy-winning album Cowboy Carter aren’t country music.
When asked what exactly does meet the country criteria for him, he said it was about a “lifestyle” and echoed statements similar to those Luke Bryan made last October. “It’s buying into what’s been going on in that genre,” Adcock said, “and just embracing the town.”
Adcock also questioned Beyoncé’s commitment to country fans. “I don’t think Beyoncé cares about country fans. I think she has brought over pop fans to make whatever music she wants to make,” he said.
But what country fans did Adcock mean? When asked if there are two types of fans of the genre, he paused and said, “I don’t know…. Everybody has an opinion… I don’t fault you for your opinion. I’m just going to voice mine.”
Adcock told Nashville Now that fans who don’t share his opinions are welcome at his concerts — but that they’d better expect a rowdy experience. “I sell t-shirts that say, ‘I Survived a Gavin Adcock Concert,” he boasted.
Adcock released the new album Own Worst Enemy last week and has been on a promotional blitz since. He dropped a black-eyed music video for “Last One to Know,” played a pop-up concert at Nashville bar Loser’s in Midtown on Wednesday night, and on Instagram hawked a destroyed 1975 Chevy Camaro, which is currently on display on the front lawn of his record label on Music Row.
Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s weekly country-music podcast, Nashville Now, hosted by senior music editor Joseph Hudak, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). New episodes drop every Wednesday and feature interviews with artists and personalities like Margo Price, Lukas Nelson, Ashley Monroe, and Dusty Slay.
