The Way He Talks

We don't have any context, beyond a 37-second clip posted by TMZ, to explain why MORGAN WALLEN shouted the N-word at a small group of people, presumably friends but we don't know that for sure either, outside his house in Nashville Sunday night. But we don't need the context because there's none that would make it OK. To his credit—and this is the only thing he deserves credit for right now—the biggest current star in country music, who's had the #1 album in the US for the past three weeks, offered no excuses for himself in his written apology. "I'm embarrassed and sorry," he wrote in a message to media outlets. But he also offered no evidence of soul-searching or contemplation, no indication he's sought to understand why he uttered that ugliest of all vulgarities in the middle of a vulgarity-laced goodbye to those people, whoever they were. And no suggestion he'd thought about it for even a minute before TMZ busted him. "I promise to do better," he said by way of ending his short apology. This isn't the first time during his quick rise to the top of the country universe that Wallen has had to promise to do better at something. This time, he needs to do better than promising to do better.

For now, Nashville's country music community is doing some reckoning for him. "The hate runs deep," MICKEY GUYTON tweeted Tuesday. And then, replying to herself, "This is not his first time.... and we all known [sic] that." Two hours later, KELSEA BALLERINI told her followers, "The news out of Nashville tonight does not represent country music." An hour after that, MAREN MORRIS responded: "It actually IS representative of our town." Morris, too, accused Wallen of having used the word before. "We all know," she wrote. "We keep them rich and protected at all costs with no recourse." Them. Not him.

Earlier Tuesday, the country site HOLLER published my friend MARCUS K. DOWLING's profile of Black country singer MIKO MARKS, who next month will release her first album in a decade. Asked about that hiatus, she told Marcus a story about a meeting with a "premier" label in Nashville who told her she "sounded great, the music was great, and my songs were lovely" but "this project isn't a fit for us." And then they recommended she try a specific label that's "doing some...more...innovative...things." No record company is under any obligation to sign any given artist, ever, and most artists, at the end of the day, aren't a fit for most labels. But that particular encounter, that particular word—"innovative"—hangs heavy in the air for Marks. She thinks things might be a little better today. But she also thinks, "for many, being a Black woman making country music in Nashville is still considered 'innovative.'"

It isn't completely fair to lay all the blame for this or for that on one city or one genre of music. This is a much wider and deeper problem, and I'm pretty sure we all know that, too. Tuesday night, Variety reported that CUMULUS, the country's second biggest radio group, has taken a stand, pulling Wallen's music from all its stations "immediately... without exception." Other radio stations are expected to do the same, according to Variety's' CHRIS WILLMAN. Considering Wallen's popularity, that's a consequential and laudable decision. And potentially a helpful one. The last time Wallen said he needed to do better, he made one specific promise: "I'm going to take a step back from the spotlight for a little while and go work on myself." That step back seemingly lasted about as long as a fiddle solo. Less than two months later, Wallen was performing on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and joking about his transgression. His music had been all over country radio throughout. This time it appears radio is taking the step back for him and maybe, just maybe, creating a space that will allow some real soul-searching to begin.

Dot Dot Dot

SONY "hasn’t just bought a choosy DIY distributor: It’s bought a very clever Sorting Hat," writes Rolling Stone's TIM INGHAM in the best explanation I've seen anywhere for why Sony spent $430 million to buy AWAL earlier this week. It's also as good an explanation as anyone's offered for how AWAL works... The GRAMMYS will be held outdoors in downtown Los Angeles with no audience and "a small number of media," Variety's JEM ASWAD reports, citing unofficial sources. Expect a mix of live and prerecorded performances at the show, which was bumped from Jan. 31 to March 14 because of Covid-19... Milwaukee's SUMMERFEST has been pushed back from June to September... DOLLY PARTON has rewritten "9 TO 5" as "5 TO 9" for a SUPER BOWL commercial and some people are not pleased. Helpful perspective... A reminder that this country soul searching exists... The greatest and yacht-iest of the DOOBIE BROTHERS according to MICHAEL MCDONALD... QUESTLOVE's SUMMER OF SOUL sweeps the grand jury and audience prizes for documentaries at SUNDANCE.

Rest in Peace

Synth designer WOWA CWEJMAN.