Recently, Zach Bryan struck a couple of lucrative deals when he sold his publishing rights to the Merrit Group and signed a two-album deal with Warner Records. All told, the “Something in the Orange” singer walked away with $350 million. His fellow Oklahoman and one-time collaborator John Moreland had some mildly unkind words to say about Bryan’s payday. His opinion sparked an online back-and-forth that led to him revealing his experience with Bryan.
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According to Stereogum, Moreland took to his Instagram stories to say, “$350 is a lot to pay for the f**kin’ off-brand version of me. Y’all have a great day.” He didn’t need to name names. Everyone knew who he was talking about. Those who didn’t found out when Bryan shared Moreland’s story on his story with a retort.
“Yooo just saw this from an artist I’ve always respected and supported,” Bryan wrote. “Not trying to be dramatic, but refuse to have anyone with a problem with me on my records. Replacing ‘Memphis the Blues.’ If it goes down for a bit, just know this is the reason. No hard feelings! Confused as sh*t. Tulsans look out for Tulsans,” he added.
The two artists collaborated on “Memphis the Blues” for Bryan’s album The Great American Bar Scene. The song remains unplayable on streaming services as of today (May 15).
John Moreland Weighs in on Zach Bryan
John Moreland is a respected singer/songwriter from Oklahoma who has been releasing music since 2008. His most recent album, Visitor (2024), received praise from fans and critics alike. However, unlike Zach Bryan, he didn’t see a meteoric rise to fame thanks to YouTube and social media. As a result, some believed he made his initial comments out of jealousy. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
In a video, Moreland revealed that he had never met Bryan when he was approached to be on The Great American Bar Scene. He went on to say that they met the day they recorded the song for the album. “Didn’t have the greatest impression, but it’s no big deal. Whatever, fine. Then we record the song. The album comes out like a month later. I had met him once at that point,” he said.
“At this point I’ve hung out with him five, six times. I don’t like this motherf**ker. Like, am I supposed to be upset? Like, if I was asked to be on the album today, I wouldn’t do it. I don’t want to be on an album with a dude who is a d**khead to my wife and friends right in front of me every time I see him,” Moreland said of Bryan. “I don’t want to be on an album with a dude who I’ve heard tell borderline racist jokes more than once,” he added.
Moreland then accused Bryan of bringing a 19-year-old woman into a bar and being upset when he was informed she was too young to be there. “That’s who thinks I’m an a**hole? Fine. Far as I’m concerned, getting kicked off a Zach Bryan album is way cooler than being on a Zach Bryan album.”
Moreland Isn’t Alone
Country Cast reports that independent country singer/songwriter Drayton Farley weighed in on the beef between John Moreland and Zach Bryan in a tweet.
“In ’21, while opening for him, he was backstage telling my wife how cute he thought she was and how much he loves mothers,” Farley recalled. “He also said things about other artist friends of mine along the lines of ‘I’ll make sure I ruin their career,’” he continued.
“He’s even personally texted another artist friend of mine demanding that they remove a simple social media post they made about them opening an upcoming show for him,” Farley wrote. “They made their post because he didn’t even put their name on the show flyer,” he added.
Featured Image by Daniel DeSlover/Shutterstock
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