There’s nothing worse than when two people you love get in a fight with each other.
Back in July a minor brouhaha popped up on social media around country artist Charley Crockett’s decision to remove opening band Twin Temple from two shows on his current tour. Now, for a lot of people, both of these names mean nothing. But in certain corners of the internet, this thing caught fire.
Then, as goes almost any story these days, it faded away and that would have been that, but a few things happened:
1. Twin Temple, a self-described, “Satanic Doo-Wop” duo, capitalized on this to promote themselves.
2. Jack White, he of the White Stripes, The Dead Weather, Third-Man Records, et. al, threw his support behind Twin Temple and invited them to open for him - at The Hollywood Palladium, no less.
3. Crockett, finding himself receiving serious social media blowback for the first time in his career, could NOT let it go.
Crockett, considered by many to be a savior of the traditional country music scene, started a meteoric rise a decade ago with his breakout album "In the Night," and has continued unabated at a staggering pace - releasing 15 albums since, including two just this year. And he is as beloved as he is prolific.
As such, Crockett seemed quite stung by the intense online vitriol and has continued to post over the last several weeks insisting that Twin Temple (who he claims were respectfully let go and paid in full for their two cancelled shows) misrepresented what had actually happened, cast him as a villain, and played the martyr to bolster their image. Then, in a post just this week, he fired shots at Jack White.
Now White, who first came to prominence in the garage-rock revolution of the early 2000’s, is considered just as much a savior and a traditionalist as Crockett, but for rock 'n’ roll. They should otherwise be allies and loosely have been in the past. But Crockett clearly felt betrayed by White taking Twin Temple under his wing and said in his post this Tuesday that White only did it “to sell tickets,” that Crockett “lost a lot of respect for him,” and wondered aloud why White hadn’t been so outspoken when he was in the White Stripes 20 years ago (this last claim is debatable).
But why am I writing about an online beef between two titans of music whom I deeply love? Because Twin Temple, for better or for worse, did exploit this minor kerfuffle to great success and will be performing here next month. Yes, on the heels of their two show cancellations they announced a brand-new album, performed on The Daily Show, and revealed their own headlining tour - which brings them to The Regency Live on September 17th.
Now, I have seen both Crockett and Jack White live multiple times. I cannot recommend both enough. My first time seeing Crockett was actually right here in Springfield at the Gillioz, a tremendous show with a crack band. And White is an electric performer who, if he never did another thing, will forever be remembered as the man who gave an anthem to millions of sports fans around the world.
Twin Temple? Well, I’m gonna go check ‘em out. They made two of my favorites fight, and where there’s smoke there may be fire, and I sincerely hope this riff gets mended. But mostly, I hope it was all worth it. Might as well see.
We’ll see you next week!
