Tucker Carlson tried to end his one-hour-and-forty-five-minute conversation with Aaron Lewis on a positive note, asking Lewis to name some of the best friends he’s made behind the scenes in the music industry.
But it turns out that Lewis doesn’t have many good things to say about…well, almost anyone.
- The “Am I the Only One” singer spoke out against industry politics, mainstream country radio and more aspects of the music business during his appearance on The Tucker Carlson Show over the weekend.
- He said he’s been blacklisted at country radio, and said he’s largely opted out of the industry, choosing instead to focus on growing his grassroots audience through his live show.
When asked who the “good guys” are in country music, Lewis thought long and hard.
“I keep my circle pretty small,” he finally admitted. “Bob’s my friend.”
He was referring to Kid Rock, whose legal name is Robert James Ritchie. The two singers are longtime friends who have toured together, and Lewis has said that Rock’s music tastes reacquainted him with the country that Lewis himself loved as a kid.
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But aside from Rock, Lewis wasn’t prepared to name anyone else in country music as a close friend.
“I don’t find myself in Nashville very often. I don’t go to the gatherings and the parties,” he explained. “I live out in the corn and the soybeans and the tobacco, and there’s miles in every direction around my house of just agriculture.”
“So I don’t really interact with the business very much,” Lewis added. “I’m very particular about my inner circle and who I consider a friend, and I don’t have a lot of those.”
He hedged that by saying that the industry as a whole — not specific members of the genre today — have hardened him against making friends in the genre. He also expressed gratitude toward certain people, like the president of his record label, for standing up for him.
Read More: Aaron Lewis Says Country Radio Blacklisted Him
But, he goes on to say, a long career in a “tough business” has caused him to keep the bulk of the genre at arm’s length. He’s got acquaintances, but very few real friends.
That’s true in other genres as well, Lewis says, though he does name one more person in the rock-metal genre who he’d count as a “good guy.”
“Me and Marilyn Manson text all the time,” the singer reveals. “He’d actually surprise you.”
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