Blake Shelton Denies Taking A Shot At Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” On His New Song “Hell Right”
“This literally has nothing to do with anything at all except how much the song is played.”
On Friday, country singer Blake Shelton released a duet with Trace Adkins titled “Hell Right.” The Scott Hendricks-produced song is written by David Garcia, Brett Tyler, and HARDY, and features lyrics that some interpreted as a shot at Lil Nas X’s recording-setting hit, “Old Town Road.”
On the second verse of “Hell Right,” Shelton expresses relief after someone switches the music to Hank Williams Jr. from “Old Town Road.” Adkins (in italics) adds extra emphasis:
Then the girl from the small town took off the “Old Town”
Put on a little Hank Jr. (Thank God)
Country music journalists including Dick Cantwell, who wrote about Williams Jr.’s complicated legacy for The New Yorker, took Shelton to task over the lyrics:
Williams Jr., the son of country music pioneer Hank Williams, is known for his conservative political views. His Monday Night Football theme song was dropped by ESPN in 2011 after he compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler on Fox and Friends. During a 2012 concert, he added, “We’ve got a Muslim President who hates farming, hates the military, hates the US, and we hate him.”
ESPN later changed course in 2017, and brought Williams Jr. back on air.
Shelton’s publicist issued a statement to Variety denying that The Voice judge was disrespecting Lil Nas X:
It’s absolutely not throwing any kind of shade at Lil Nas X at all. Blake says this literally has nothing to do with anything at all except how much the song is played. It could have been ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ or any other (overplayed) song.
In response to “Hell Right,” Lil Nas X posted a since-deleted tweet that was captured by Entertainment Tonight:
“Old Town Road,” which is best known for its remix featuring “Achy Breaky Heart” singer Billy Ray Cyrus, recently broke the Billboard Hot 100 record for most weeks at No. 1. The country-trap hit spent 19 weeks atop the chart before being dethroned by Billie Eilish’s “bad guy.”
Lil Nas broke down “Old Town Road” on Genius series' Verified:
Read all the lyrics to Blake Shelton’s “Hell Right” featuring Trace Adkins and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road (Remix)” on Genius now.
