Merle Haggard Forgives Blake Shelton for ‘Old Farts’ Comment
It look like Blake Shelton is making up with country’s older generation of performers, one by one. Earlier this week, Merle Haggard became the latest classic country star to forgive the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year for some comments he made about “old farts” in country music not being open-minded to change.
Shelton’s observations were included in an episode of GAC’s ‘Backstory’ devoted to his career. “Nobody wants to listen to their grandpa’s music,†the singer stated, adding, “And I don’t care how many of these old farts around Nashville going, ‘My God, that ain’t country!’ Well that’s because you don’t buy records anymore, jacka–. The kids do, and they don’t want to buy the music you were buying.â€
Those comments went viral when Ray Price took Shelton to task in an angry Facebook rant. He later accepted Shelton’s apology. Fellow “old farts” Willie Nelson and Ray Stevens weighed in humorously on the controversy, and Haggard’s Twitter post this week was also tongue-in-cheek. “On behalf of all the old farts, we forgive you Blake!” the ‘Okie From Muskogee’ singer tweeted, according to CMT News. “But you should do a tribute album! Don’t ya think?”
Actually, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea for Shelton, whose encyclopedic knowledge of country music is well-known.
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