By Jessica Nicholson
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Gavin Adcock released his first songs back in 2021, but over the past year, he’s hit a new career high, thanks to his album Own Worst Enemy. The August-released set debuted at No. 4 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart and at No. 14 on the all-genre Billboard 200. Adcock also earned a string of RIAA gold and platinum-certified songs this year.
But beyond music accolades, the Warner Music Nashville-signed Adcock has been in plenty of headlines, for reasons outside of music. He was arrested in May in Wilson County, Tennessee, on charges including reckless driving and an open container violation (he was released and the charges were later dismissed). He played off the arrest by later releasing the song “Morning Bail.” But he also has a penchant for seemingly beefing with several people, from fellow artists to a concert sound technician.
Adcock has stirred up controversy for expressing his views on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album, calling out Zach Bryan in an incident involving a fan autograph, and engaging in an ongoing back-and-forth beef with country/Americana artist Charley Crockett.
In his recent interview with Billboard, Adcock discussed his perspective on less-than-stellar moments, sharing advice he’d been given by another industry member. “Someone told me about an artist they had worked with a long time ago — they said, ‘The best thing he ever did was, when he had his worst moments of his career, he’d turn it into the best possible outcome every single time.’ That hit me hard, and I’ve tried to make sure that when I have tough times I used it to my advantage.”
Below, Billboard looks at Adcock’s various feuds.
During a concert earlier this year, Adcock told audiencemembers his thoughts on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, after the album was besting his on Apple Music’s country albums chart. He told concertgoers, “That sh– ain’t country music and it ain’t ever been country music, and it ain’t gonna be country music.” Soon after, he doubled down on his comments in an Instagram video, saying, “When I was a little kid, my mama was blasting some Beyoncé in the car. I’ve heard a ton of Beyoncé songs and I actually remember her Super Bowl halftime show being pretty kick-a– back in the day. But I really don’t believe that her album should be labeled as country music. It doesn’t sound country, it doesn’t feel country, and I just don’t think that people that have dedicated their whole lives to this genre and this lifestyle should have to compete or watch that album just stay at the top, just because she’s Beyoncé.”
Beyoncé has not responded publicly to Adcock’s comments.
On Sept. 13, the feud between Adcock and “Something in the Orange” singer/songwriter Zach Bryan spilled over from online to nearly become an exchange of physical blows, when the two were both performing at the Born and Raised Festival in Pryor, Oklahoma. Video footage shows Bryan and Adcock exchanging heated words on either side of a chain-link fence.
“Hey, do you want to fight like a man? Come open the gate,” Bryan is heard saying, as he shoves the fence. Soon after, Bryan scales a fence and tries to approach Adcock, as other people hold Bryan back while Adcock is ushered away by security.
Adcock later took to Instagram to discuss the moment in a lengthy video, telling his fans, “Like I already said, I don’t think Zach Bryan’s a very good person. He wasn’t locked out of the festival. He had been there all day with his multiple security guards. He saw me standing between my buses when he got here and saw me go to walk on my bus when I watched the Georgia game, proceeded to go to other artists and ask them, ‘Where is Gavin? Where is Gavin?’ and their guests, and treat them like dogsh–, flipping them birds, and saying just douchebag stuff to ’em all … so he had plenty of opportunities through the whole day to do whatever he wanted to do, but decided he was going to wait till like an hour before my set while I was standing out there and no artist that cares about their fans is gonna fight right before their set, missin’ goin’ on, and disappointing fans that spent way too much money to be there.
“I wasn’t even mad, didn’t even have a single reason to fight him,” Adcock continued. “After he had already left, before my set, I was standing outside. He pulls up in a pickup truck, outside the gate, and starts giving out threats, so I just decided to stir him up to the point where he jumped over the fence. I don’t think anybody’s scared of Zach Bryan. I’m just an adult and fightin’ him would only meant going to jail, missin’ my set, and falling into a Zach Bryan lawsuit…He knew where I was all day, he knew my set time, he knew where I’d be standing, and he created this whole ‘I’m a bad-a–, jump up over the fence’ narrative, just to try to make himself look bigger and tougher, even though he could’ve just walked on in the gate…and at the end of the day, I know my decision I made was right, I didn’t take the Zach Bryan bait. I’ll be praying for him to get better ’cause he sure needs it.”
The feud between the two artists stems from an earlier incident in July, in which Adcock seemed to call out Bryan, after Bryan had an online interaction with a 14-year-old fan who was disappointed after not receiving an autograph from Bryan. In a now-deleted comment on TikTok, Bryan had noted to the fan, “You’re not entitled after someone plays two and a half hours to a picture or a hello,” and added the profane acronym “GOMD.” Adcock criticized Bryan’s comment, writing on X, “If you can’t handle the criticism of a 14 year old why do people idolize you? That kid was head over heels to meet you and spent/ parents spent a ton of money to see you. He’s got feeling[s] too and you’re a ‘grown man’ nearly 30. They’re the only reason you are around.”
Charley Crockett
After Adcock shared his feelings about Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter during a concert earlier this year, country/Americana artist Charley Crockett defended the project, and in the process, seemed to call out Adcock.
“Hey country folks. @beyonce ain’t the source of your discontent. It was 25 years of bro country,” Crockett said in an Instagram post on Aug. 19. Elsewhere in the post, Crockett didn’t call out Adcock directly, but said, “I don’t need to put down a Black woman to advance my music. That’s just embarrassing to the idea of America and I got no respect for it.” The post also seemingly called out Morgan Wallen.
Adcock retaliated, calling Crockett a “cosplay cowboy.” Adcock later posted a video, claiming that Crockett had sent him roses and a copy of Crockett’s album Dollar a Day. While Adcock was opening a stadium show for Morgan Wallen, Adcock seemed to hold up a Charley Crockett shirt, while Wallen held up two middle fingers. Soon after, Crockett posted on Instagram, telling fans, “I’m starting to think ol’ #1 and his sidekick are working for me…..All jokes aside, I love each and every one of you. I’m just a song and dance man. Sometimes a saint. Sometimes a sinner. You have choices and you ain’t gotta listen to what I say. It’s a privilege to make music for a living, something that you afford me. We don’t have to agree on much. You’re all welcome here.”
Nickelback’s Sound Technician
In July, Adcock criticized a sound technician for Nickelback during the Rock the Country festival in Anderson, South Carolina (Nickelback was one of the fest’s headliners), after the sound technician and Adcock’s father had an argument during Adcock’s set.
A TikTok video captured Adcock’s profanity-filled rant during his set, in which he said, “Hey buddy, you’re gonna lose your g-dd–n job, you stupid-a– bum, you better f–k off back there.” Adcock had added, “That was my daddy right there, and that f—-in’ stupid f—ker in the backwards hat right there was giving him a hard time.”
Adcock later took to Instagram to share more details of the incident, saying, “My family had been standing there for 17 songs. I watched them the whole show not causing any problems. You come up and get in my family’s face, trying to get my Dad kicked out. And you know what, I got you kicked out, the police dragged you out on the top of your head you bum, congratulations dude, Nickelback’s sound guy is a real winner.”
In a followup video, Adcock added more details, saying, “There was a drink sittin’ on the soundboard. It wasn’t my dad’s, it was my acoustic guitar player’s mom’s [drink]. Sound dude comes round the corner, sees the drink, slings it off the soundboard—it’s empty by the way—and goes to cuss out my acoustic guitar player’s mom. So, my dad hears it, probably about five to ten yards away, steps over, gets in dude’s face, tells him, ‘You better back up dude, because people from the South don’t act that way. We don’t know where you’re from, but you need to get out of here.’”
Adcock added, “I saw that happen, I watch him, he goes over there and gets on his phone like a little snake, I said he’s about to do some bull. I’m up there singing ‘A Cigarette,’ and he gets security to come down there, and I see him and they are about to grab my dad, and I just run down the alley and tell them ‘Nah you ain’t kicking me out, he’s the one causing problems,’ so the security got him, took him on his way, that was it.”
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