\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen Adam Mac<\/a> celebrated the release of his latest album, Southern Spectacle<\/em>, with a live concert at Nashville\u2019s rock outpost the Eighth Room last year, the queer country artist added a surprising cover song to his set: Hank Williams Jr.<\/a>\u2019s \u201cDinosaur,\u201d<\/a> a track off Bocephus\u2019 1980 album Habits Old and New<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cDinosaur\u201d falls on the \u201cold\u201d side of that title. While eminently catchy and barroom ready, the song, cowritten by Williams and Bob Corbin, is decidedly retrograde, with the singer pining for a simpler time where musicians are manly and attracted only to women. \u201cYou\u2019re singin\u2019 a song about makin\u2019 love to your drummer\/Well gay guitar-pickers don\u2019t turn me on,\u201d Williams sings in a lyric steeped in homophobia.<\/p>\n \n\tMac, a native of Russellville, Kentucky, grew up loving \u201cDinosaur\u201d but, as an adult, couldn\u2019t square some of its lyrics with his personal truth as a gay man. So, he changed them. In a new interview with Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s Nashville Now<\/em> podcast, Mac explains why.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI love that song, have loved it since I was a kid, and I remember singing it as a kid. At the time, I thought the lyrics were funny. I wasn\u2019t thinking about\u2026 \u2018ohh, maybe this is not ok,\u201d Mac says. \u201cI reclaimed \u2018Dinosaur\u2019 for my community because, in my comments, my biggest pushback that I receive from the haters is \u2018Hank didn\u2019t do it this way\u2019 or \u2018Hank wouldn\u2019t have done it this way,\u2019 and \u2018Gay guitar pickers don\u2019t turn me on,\u2019 which is a line from the song.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn Mac\u2019s version, which he plays live and posted online<\/a>, he sings, \u201cgay guitar pickers kinda turn me on,\u201d and alters a verse that disses a legendary disco queen: Mac\u2019s update goes, \u201cWe can all get down with Donna Summer.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI thew up a cover of this song and did a little clapback moment, tweaked a couple words to bring it into 2026,\u201d Mac tells Nashville Now<\/em>. \u201cAnd that rightly pissed them off.\u201d<\/p>\n