How blue-collar country music became mired in scandal: Stars caught up in vicious family rows, sordid affairs and violence (so can a pop makeover rescue its image?)
- Genre has been embraced by pop stars in recent decades but genre has seen some of the biggest scandals in modern music
- READ MORE: Beyonce slammed by fans as 'greedy' amid claims she is struggling to sell Cowboy Carter tour tickets
If you thought Country Music was all yee-ha tales of Texas moonshine, gasoline-guzzling 4x4s and being ditched at the rodeo, then you'd be right.
However, the axis has shifted a little on Country music in recent years as some of the world's biggest pop stars have embraced the Western genre - bringing it to a whole new audience.
The latest songstress to hit up honkytonk is Grammy-winning star Chappell Roan, who's built her career so far on tales of LA drag clubs and closeted lesbian love affairs, but who's latest single The Giver is a love letter to her Midwestern roots, complete with a fiddle solo.
Roan, who was born in the deeply conservative town of Willard, Missouri, follows Beyonce, who released Cowboy Carter, an entire album celebrating black country music in 2024.
The Texan-raised singer scooped Best Country Album for her efforts at this year's Grammys and in April, the 43-year-old pop star will take the Cowboy Carter tour to some of the world's biggest arenas.
And country fever has even spread to Eurovision this year with Remember Monday, the UK's entry to the camp pop extravaganza, taking place in Basel, Switzerland, a British country trio.
However, country music purists haven't entirely embraced the genre being taken into the mainstream - Beyonce was snubbed at the Country Music Awards 2024 despite her single, Texas Hold 'Em, being one of the biggest selling Western singles last year.
Singer Morgan Wallen won the most awards at the prestigious Nashville ceremony - an artist who's career has been dogged by scandal, including using a racist slur and being arrested on more than one occasion.
Pop hoedown: Both Chappell Roan, who's just released her new country single The Giver, and Beyonce, who's touring her Cowboy Carter album from April, have introduced new audiences to Western music
And 31-year-old Wallen isn't alone, the genre has faced scandals galore over the decades.
Here, MailOnline looks at some of the biggest:
MORGAN WALLEN'S RACIST SLUR CONTROVERSY AND HIS ARREST FOR THROWING A CHAIR OFF THE ROOF OF A NASHVILLE BAR
Morgan Wallen is one of the biggest stars in country music but the 31-year-old's career has already been dogged with controversy
In 2023, country singer Morgan Wallen, left, was arrested for throwing a chair off a Nashville rooftop bar. Right: Wallen was at Chief's on Broadway in the city when he hurled the chair, which almost hit two officers on the street below
Wallen successfully avoided jail by agreeing to serve seven days in a DUI center, paid a $350 fine, and two years probation
At the Country Music Awards in 2024, Morgan Wallen swept the board, winning four awards. The industry vindication signalled that the controversial crooner is firmly back in favour and one of the biggest music stars in the world.
The 31-year-old was arrested on April 7th 2024 after he threw a chair from a bar in Nashville which almost hit two police officers standing on the street below.
Morgan paid $15,250 bond and originally faced three felony counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, but he wound up only pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment on December 12th.
Wallen successfully avoided jail by agreeing to serve seven days in a DUI center, paid a $350 fine, and two years probation - according to TMZ.
In 2021, the Tennessee-born belter publicly apologized for saying the N-word in a leaked video during a '72-hour bender' and he went on to donate $500K to black organisations.
BEST SERVED COLD? SHANIA TWAIN'S REVENGE ON EX WHO CHEATED WITH HER CLOSEST FRIEND
Shania Twain, 58, has revealed that she will not forget her cheating ex-husband Robert 'Mutt' Lange's, 75, 'mistake', but she will try to understand him (pictured in April)
Shania previously revealed that Robert and her former pal Marie-Anne were still married 15 years after their affair was exposed (pictured with Robert in 2003)
Shania married Marie-Anne's former husband Frédéric Thiébaud six months after her divorce was finalized in 2011 (pictured 2018)
Country idol Shania Twain, 58, was happily married to Robert 'Mutt' Lange, 75, - until he cheated on her with her former best friend, Marie-Anne Thiébaud.
The huge infidelity went on in secret from 1993 until their split in 2008, while Shania's globe-trotting career was at its peak.
However the singer had the last laugh, when she married Marie-Anne's former spouse, Frédéric Thiébaud, 54, six months after her divorce was finalised.
Last year, Shania revealed that while she has some forgiveness for her ex, she will not 'necessarily forget' what he did as she admitted that she feels 'sad for him'.
Speaking to Jamie Laing on his Great Company podcast, she explained that despite his previous problems, he deserves empathy and understanding.
In the days following the split in 2008, Shania said she went into a tailspin.
'I was ready to die', she wrote in her memoir From This Moment On and said she barely ate or slept.
She says she even wrote an email to Marie-Anne to beg for her husband back writing: 'I am dying, and I can't take it any more. This is killing me. Have mercy'.
Shania is pictured with former best friend Marie-Ann
But although she pleaded - she never got an explanation or any details about the relationship from either her husband or Marie-Anne.
What had made the pain worse is that she had confided in Marie-Anne about the trouble in her marriage and her fears that she thought Lange was having an affair.
But Marie-Anne dismissed Shania's concerns and told her she had nothing to worry about, making her feel 'foolish' for even suggesting it.
When she finally plucked up the courage to ask her if something was going on between her and her husband Marie-Anne said to her tearfully: 'I'm heartbroken that you would even think that I was hiding something from you.'
But Frederic was the one to finally tell Shania the truth.
He informed her that he had found phone bills, hotel information and receipts and had remembered seeing a garter belt and lingerie in luggage for a trip she was taking to be 'alone'.
In the book Shania wrote: 'I was disgusted that another woman's lust for a lifestyle upgrade was worth the devastation of my family'.
But in what has turned out to be a 'twisted' piece of irony. Shania and Marie-Anne's ex-husband turned to each other during their time of need, finding friendship which blossomed into love.
The couple eventually married in January 2011 in an intimate beach ceremony in Puerto Rico.
She said: 'I don't take any day for granted any more. Fred has give me a new lease on love.'
LEANN RIMES' TAKING HER OWN FATHER TO COURT AT JUST 17 - FOR $7 MILLION - AND THE AFFAIR THAT ENDED HER FIRST MARRIAGE
When she was 17, Rimes filed a lawsuit against her father Wilbur, and her former manager Lyle Walker claiming that they had taken more than seven million dollars from her (pictured 1996)
The US singer is the mastermind behind tracks including How Do I Live and Can't Fight the Moonlight, as well as being the youngest singer in history to win a Grammy Award, she has also endured her fair share of personal struggles.
The hitmaker, 42, became embroiled in an on-set affair with her Lifetime co-star Eddie Cibrian, leading to his dramatic split from his wife Brandi Glanville.
She also became embroiled in a dramatic legal battle with her father Wilbur, alleging that he cheated her out of earnings while she was still a minor, in a case many compared to the ordeal suffered by fellow teen pop star Britney Spears.
LeAnn first rose to prominence when she was just 13 years old, when she released her first hit single Blue, with her career and income closely managed by her dad Wilbur and mother Belinda.But just a year later, her parents underwent a bitter divorce.
When she was 17, Rimes filed a lawsuit against her father Wilbur, and her former manager Lyle Walker claiming that they had taken more than seven million dollars from her.
Wilbur filed a counter-lawsuit and claimed that LeAnn has a problem with overspending, with the singer later saying: 'I was being called a spoiled brat by some people. But, you know, people don't know me.'
LeAnn married her first husband, backup dancer Dean Sheremet, in 2002, but their union came to an abrupt end when it was revealed she had an affair (pictured in 2003)
The star began a romance with actor Eddie Cibrian in 2009 while filming the Lifetime movie Northern Lights, leading to the end of their respective backlash (pictured in 2020)
In 2002, the lawsuit was settled on 'undisclosed terms, with Wilbur saying at the time: 'It is difficult to express just how happy I am that all of the legal troubles between my daughter and I are over.'
Discussing the lawsuit, LeAnn also told ABC News in 2005: 'I've never hated my dad. I just wanted a dad. I guess I just really disliked where he was in my life. I just wanted him to be my father.'
The legal battle drew many comparisons to Britney Spears' conservatorship, with LeAnn herself also noting the similarities during an interview with The Independant.
She said: 'When you're in the public eye, everybody wants to make money off of that at the end of the day. You become a commodity instead of a human being, and that's what breaks my heart.
'And I've been there – I've experienced a lot of the same things. My heart deeply goes out to her.'
Following the lawsuit, Rimes reconciled with her father before she married her first husband Dean Sheremet, and Wilbur walked his daughter down the aisle at the ceremony.
LeAnn's first marriage to backup dancer Dean Sheremet began in 2002, but came to an abrupt end when it was revealed she had been embroiled in an on-set affair with her co-star Eddie Cibrian, while working on the TV film Northern Lights.
The pair started their fling while she was married Dean and he to Brandi Glanville, with whom he shares two sons Mason, 21, and Jake, 17.
But rather then break off their fling when it came to light, instead the pair's respective marriages came to an end and they tied the knot in 2011.
LeAnn faced huge criticism for the affair, and later told PEOPLE it had a huge impact on her mental health.
She said in 2020: ' 'Obviously there are mistakes that I take great responsibility for, but my whole life I had cared what everyone thought of me. So the public shaming was a deep thing that I took on.'
'I had so much underlying grief,' she reflected, saying this affected her sleep and gave her panic attacks. 'Everything accumulated, and I had to give in.'
After their marriage, LeAnn and Eddie moved into a $3 million mansion in LA's Hidden Hills in 2013. While the couple don't have any children, she is a stepmother to his sons from his first marriage to Brandi.
BAD BLOOD? BLAKE SHELTON'S 'KARMA' DIG AFTER DIVORCE FROM MIRANDA LAMBERT
Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert were country's sweethearts until their marriage faltered i 2015
When Lambert separated from her next beau, Evan Felker (pictured), Shelton posted about 'karma' on X
As two of the biggest stars in country music, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert appeared to be made for each other. However, in 2015, fans were left heartbroken when they announced they were going their separate ways.
In a statement released at the time, the couple said: 'This is not the future we envisioned. And it is with heavy hearts that we move forward separately.'
However, it seemed the bad blood between them lingered a little while longer. When Lambert separated from her next partner, Evan Felker, Shelton couldn't resist serving up a few cryptic choice words, writing: 'Been taking the high road for a long time.. I almost gave up. But I can finally see something on the horizon up there!! Wait!! Could it be?! Yep!! It’s karma!!' Ouch.
LORETTA LYNN: MARRIED AT 13, AND WITH FOUR CHILDREN AT 19 - AND BANNED FOR HER 1975 SONG ABOUT SEXUAL FREEDOM
Country legend Loretta Lynn, the daughter of a Kentucky coal miner, penned frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia that pulled her out of poverty.
The story of her rural Kentucky upbringing was brought to live by Sissy Spacek in the 1980 movie Coal Miner's Daughter, which was based on the singer's best-selling book of the same name.
The Country Music Hall of Famer wrote fearlessly about sex and love, cheating husbands, divorce and birth control and sometimes got in trouble with radio programmers for material from which even rock performers once shied away.
Her own story was at the heart of it all. She wrote in her autobiography that she was 13 when she got married to Oliver 'Mooney' Lynn, but it was later discovered state records showed that she was actually 15.
Her husband, whom she called 'Doo' or 'Doolittle,' urged her to sing professionally and helped promote her early career.
Rising star: In 1969, she released her autobiographical Coal Miner's Daughter, which helped her reach her widest audience yet, she is pictured in 1965
Kentucky cool: Lynn already had four children before launching her career in the early 1960s, and her songs reflected her pride in her rural Kentucky background. Seen with husband Oliver 'Mooney' Lynn aka Doo in 1980
Stunning: The Academy of Country Music chose her as the artist of the decade for the 1970s, and she was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, she is seen in the 70s
The couple shared six children - Betty, Jack, Ernest and Clara, and then twins Patsy and Peggy - with four of them born before Loretta's 20th birthday in 1952. The twins would follow 12 years later in 1964.
In 1975, Lynn caused outrage with her song 'The Pill' - about birth control and sexual liberation, with radio stations refusing to play it. It remains on the banned list in some more conservative parts of the US.
Amongst the song's lyrics were 'This old maternity dress I’ve got is going in the garbage / The clothes I’m wearing from now on won’t take up so much yardage / Miniskirts, hot pants, and a few little fancy frills / Yeah, I’m making up for all those years since I’ve got the pill.'
Lynn was a Grammy, ACM and CMA winner and in 2013 she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. She died at the age of 90 in 2022.
LADY ANTEBELLUM AND THE DIXIE CHICKS CHANGE THEIR NAMES - OVER LINKS TO COUNTRY'S RACIST PAST
In 2020, one of the biggest bands in country music, The Dixie Chicks, quietly changed their name, dropping the word Dixie, and rebranding as The Chicks.
Natalie Maines, Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Strayer changed their band's social media handles to The Chicks but released no statement about the new moniker.
The group also declared their support for the Black Lives Matter movement by debuting a brand new music video for their anthem, March March, which features scenes of protests throughout history.
While the trio didn't give a reason for the name change, the band has faced growing pressure recently to re-name due to the link between the word Dixie and the racial history of the South.
Dixie is a term used for parts of the Southern United States, particularly the states the made up the Confederacy.
The Confederacy was an area of slave-holding states below the Mason-Dixon line that seceded from the union over the issue of wanting to keep slavery in place, leading to the U.S. Civil War.
In 2020, The Dixie Chicks became The Chicks: While the trio didn't give a reason for the name change, the band has faced growing pressure recently to re-name due to the link between the word Dixie and the racial history of the South (Pictured in 2014)
The group rebranded as The Chicks on and released a music video that majored on the power of protest
People have taken to social media recently to put pressure on the Dixie Chicks to change their name due to the implications of the word Dixie, particularly considering the fact that the trio has established themselves as liberal country stars.
Calls for The Chicks to make 'Dixie' a thing of the past reached then fever pitch after country group Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A earlier in June.
The group, comprised of members Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, made the announcement via social media that they would be henceforth adopting the nickname fans had used for the trio for years.
The 'antebellum south' refers to the pre-Civil War period in the Southern United States between 1830-1860 when slavery was practiced.
The band, who has used the name since 2006, said they felt compelled to make the change after the past few weeks opened their eyes to 'blindspots we didn't even know existed'.
Following suit: Country group Lady Antebellum also changed their name to Lady A in the same month - because 'antebellum south' referred to the pre Civil War period when slavery was legal
Calls for The Chicks to make 'Dixie' a thing of the past reached then fever pitch after country group Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A earlier in the same month.
The group, comprised of members Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, made the announcement via social media that they would be henceforth adopting the nickname fans had used for the trio for years.
The 'antebellum south' refers to the pre-Civil War period in the Southern United States between 1830-1860 when slavery was practiced.
The band, who has used the name since 2006, said they felt compelled to make the change after the past few weeks opened their eyes to 'blindspots we didn't even know existed'.
JOHNNY CASH'S DRUG BINGES - AFTER CHEATING ON HIS FIRST WIFE
The Man in Black Johnny Cash died in 2003 but remains one of country music's biggest stars thanks to his string of hits, including I Walk the Line and Ring of Fire
He remains one of the biggest singers in country music, long after his death in 2003.
However, he was also one of the first country idols to be involved in major drug abuse.
Cash was already falling into a vortex of amphetamines and alcohol consumption when promoter Saul Holiff approached him in the early Sixties to turn his music career from country to mainstream.
It was an odd coupling of the wild country music superstar early in his career, hot off his hit song 'I Walk the Line', and the intellectual, cultured Jewish Canadian manager.
Cash's soaring fame also saw a free-fall into drugs, overdoses, arrests and repeated cancelled bookings – despite also playing at Madison Square Garden and being entertained at the White House.
Johnny Cash and wife June Carter at Wembley Stadium in 1973; Cash was consumed by amphetamines and alcohol while married to his first wife Vivian; the singer eventually found God and became sober
While married, Cash was consumed by a secret love for Billie Jean Horton, country music queen and wife of country music and rockabilly singer, Johnny Horton.
When Johnny Horton died in a fiery car crash, Cash moved in on Billie Jean and even proposed to her – while spiraling downward on pep pills. She cooled the passion on learning about Cash's long-suffering wife, Vivian back in Casitas Springs, in Ventura, California with an armful of four babies.
Cash got hooked on amphetamines – Dexamyl, Benzedrine and Dexedrine, back in 1957 –thanks to Gordon Terry, his fiddler.
After eventually divorcing Vivian, after cheating on her with country queen June Carter, Cash began to clean up in 1968, going from jail to Jesus after adopting June's knee-bending evangelical Christianity.
