Miranda’s Fiance Takes a Shot At Garth
He tweeted that he was “offended” by Garth’s CMA performance.
By Doug Lazy on November 10, 2017
Ooh, snap! Miranda Lambert’s fiance, alt-country artist Anderson East, took to Twitter and took a shot at Garth Brooks’ lip-synced performance Wednesday night at the CMA awards show.
I keep a lot of my opinions to myself and respect anyone making music but as a person who tries to put on the best and most honest show I can night after night… this truly offends me. I was told country music is three chords and the truth. https://t.co/jucvh4xmpy
— Anderson East (@Andersoneast) November 10, 2017
Brooks admitted after the show that he lip-synced “Ask Me How I Know” but said it was because he was in the middle of 12 shows in ten days and his voice “just isn’t there”. Brooks has been on the road for over two years, with over 380 performances under his belt. He wraps up his tour in Nashville next month with a final series of shows in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
East is one of a genre of so-called alt-country or Americana artists who build their careers just outside of Nashville’s mainstream country industry. He and artists like Jason Isbell (who was nominated in the CMA album of the year category) and Grammy winning Sturgill Simpson are often considered “artists’ artists”–admired for their musical integrity and lyrical risk-taking by more mainstream singers and writers. But they also often act as a sort of conscience for mainstream country, and aren’t afraid to occasionally speak out against it, especially at perceived overt commercialism. Simpson, for example, actually set up outside Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday night while the CMAs were going on, and as a counter to the pageantry inside, played music for tips (which he donated to the ACLU) and expressed opinions on everything from modern country to gun control to his disdain for our current President. And Isbell said if it wasn’t for a tour in Europe, he would’ve loved to attended the CMAs “just for the spectacle of it”–and he didn’t mean that in the most complimentary way.
So it shouldn’t be too surprising that East would speak up–if it wasn’t for Miranda he probably wouldn’t have been within shouting distance of the arena that night. Reaction to his Tweet ranged the gamut, from “OMG, you’re easily offended, this was an awards show!! Obviously you don’t know Garth very well, he’s a perfectionist! He didn’t think he’d do the song proud with his voice in the state it was! Respect the music and respect his honesty! Go see his live show and take notes!!” to “You’ll probably get your a** handed to you for this, but I agree. Been to shows where artists could barely talk, but they plowed through w/audience help. That earns my respect.”
East also got support from Miranda, who tweeted her agreement, saying “High five on this babe. If you can’t sing then don’t. It’s better to be honest than to pretend. I think it’s bulls–t. My favorite performances were live live. The truth.”
But maybe the most interesting reply so far? From this guy…
Hey @garthbrooks… I still love you. #hero #respect
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) November 10, 2017
Blake, of course, was married to Miranda.
I would say: you don’t have to agree with East’s thoughts, but you can, I think, respect his decision to share them. Because he’s right in one sense: country music, real country music, is about, if nothing else, honesty–whether it’s shared as a hit song on the radio or as an opinion on social media…or whether it’s the Entertainer of the Year immediately owning up that he lip-synced a nationally televised performance because his voice was shot but he still wanted the performance to be the best it could possibly be.
