It all started with Zach Bryan commenting on Tyler Childers’ first-ever mainstream country radio hit “In Your Love,” and it has now escalated to Walker Hayes writing a diss track. Hayes has responded to Bryan calling his track “Fancy Like” simply “the Applebee’s song” in a tweet by writing a song in defense of his music.
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Woke up this morning, read something mean / Something in the orange says you’re feeling green, Hayes sings in the response, posted on Instagram on Wednesday (January 24). Felt like throwing punches / I just held ‘em back / Because Jesus didn’t die for me so I could fight with Zach.
[RELATED: Walker Hayes Responds to “Fancy Like” Catching Strays in Zach Bryan’s Tyler Childers Rant]
The song is a clever turn-the-other-cheek response, and Hayes mentioned that his friends commended him on putting his best foot forward in this situation. Although, that didn’t stop him from feeling salty about Bryan’s comments.
“Took me 18 years to feed my kids with music and I’ll still knock something I hear on the radio cuz I didn’t write it,” Hayes wrote in the caption of his Instagram post. “So, we tried our best to put it all in a Twanger. And this is what we got. I hope it makes y’all talk about stuff that matters.”
A Timeline of Zach Bryan and Walker Hayes’ Social Media Responses
This “feud” began earlier this month with a tweet from Zach Bryan where he expressed his disbelief that Tyler Childers was just now snagging his first Top 50 country radio breakthrough with “In Your Love.” Childers has been making music for more than a decade, but has recently found mainstream success alongside alt-country/Americana artists like Bryan, Charles Wesley Godwin, and Wyatt Flores.
“Imagine being radio (whoever the hell that is), hearing [Childers’] ‘Shake the Frost’ and being like, ‘no no let’s go with the Applebees song,’” Bryan wrote on Twitter/X. Hayes’ song “Fancy Like” hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as topping the Hot Country Songs chart for 24 weeks.
In his Instagram post, Hayes also shared that he and his friends discussed the compulsion people have to compare themselves to others, especially people in creative fields. “We got to talking about people in general,” he wrote. “Why we get insecure, etc. Mostly about how artists size each other up, compare, and talk trash. It’s obviously our natural human tendency to be a little butt hurt by anyone else’s success. Then we wondered about that. Why on earth we would do that as song writers. Knowing that .0001 percent of us are actually making it in this biz.”
Fans Come to Zach Bryan’s Defense, But Others Ask “Did You Even Listen to the Song?”
A few of Zach Bryan’s fans were in the comments defending him, but mostly Walker Hayes’ fans praised him for his response. One fan wrote, “All the Zach Bryan fans running to defend him in the comments… did you even listen to the song? It’s actually a compliment to Zach, indicating how most artists will never successfully reach his level. Calm down everyone. Walker is an amazing artist and songwriter.”
Another wrote an in-depth comment with some good points about the country music business and the difference between an entertainer and a songwriter. “[Walker Hayes] has written a lot of good songs but the ones that make him the most money are the ones that can be played on mainstream radio. That’s what radio is,” they wrote. “If you want hardcore Country, then pay for a streaming service & listen to it. He has a family to support & if he can make money off a song that isn’t as country as everyone thinks it should be, so be it. Y’all don’t pay his bills.”
The comment continued, “People who claim to want hardcore country don’t like Walker but will listen to all the pretty boy, skinny jean, beer guzzling dudes & call it ‘real country.’ It’s not. They aren’t great either. Most of them have never even ridden a horse or got actual dirt on their boots. They are manufactured Country. Just because they write their own songs, doesn’t mean they are ‘real country.'”
Featured Image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images; Jason Kempin for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival
