Fifteen months after NASHVILLE was rocked by #saladgate -- in which we learned there's a belief among certain MUSIC ROW denizens that men are to be played on the radio and women are tomatoes, or something like that -- the NEW YORK TIMES reports that a few tomatoes have been sneaking on to the radio via duets with some of country's leading leaves of lettuce. Some, not all, of these duets are really good. And some are with female pop singers, not country singers, but whatever it takes to get more female voices on country radio... What is Nashville to do, meanwhile, with STURGIILL SIMPSON, who went out of his way this week to declare himself persona non grata (or lettuce non grata, if you will) in an infamous FACEBOOK post? THE TENNESSEAN's NATE RAU quickly chided SIMPSON for painting the entire city with one brush and neglecting to mention all the Nashvillians who have supported his career. THE RINGER's ROB HARVILLA accuses Simpson of something worse: self-aggrandizement. "Cool don’t advertise, and neither do Outlaws," Harvilla writes. "And whatever way Hank done it, he didn’t do it on Facebook." Ouch. But Harvilla's a fan. And KYLE CORONEOS, who waves an outlaw flag at his blog SAVING COUNTRY MUSIC, says Simpson has joined a long tradition of artists fighting to preserve country's roots, not always elegantly. Sometimes, Coroneos points out, "it is about sowing disharmony and speaking out in protest"... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from ANGEL OLSEN, ELUVIUM, IZZY BIZU, ISAIAH RASHAD, THE FRIGHTNRS, SOUNDWALK COLLECTIVE WITH JESSE PARIS SMITH & PATTI SMITH, Y LA BAMBA, GOBLIN C***, THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND & FRIENDS, THE WEDDING PRESENT, THE DIVINE COMEDY, JAMIE T and SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR... RIP KACEY JONES... MUSICREDEF is taking a long LABOR DAY weekend. There will be newsletter MONDAY; see you TUESDAY. Have a great weekend!