Gavin Adcock is the singer and songwriter behind streaming hits like “A Cigarette” and “Need To,” and the new album Own Worst Enemy, but the country artist is also an unabashed provocateur. In a new interview on Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, Adcock took aim at Zach Bryan, whom he recently called out for the way Bryan responded to a teenage fan on social media. “You’re not entitled after someone plays two and a half hours to a picture or a hello,” Bryan wrote, adding the acronym “GOMD.”
“It wasn’t about not wanting to sign autographs after a show, it’s like letting a 14-year-old kid rant, without saying, ‘get off my dick.’ You’re bigger than that,” says Adock, who went on to say he feels like Bryan isn’t the public persona he projects.
“I think that Zach Bryan puts on a big mask in his day-to-day life and sometimes he can’t help but rip it off and show his true colors,” Adcock says. “I don’t know if Zach Bryan’s really that great of a person.”
Adcock, a Georgia native, hasn’t been shy about courting controversy since signing with Warner Music Nashville last year. In June, he made headlines for declaring onstage that Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album, the Grammy winner for Best Country Album, isn’t his definition of country music. A month later, he chose to insert himself into the Bryan dust-up. And just after this interview was recorded, Adcock called out Charley Crockett, after the Dollar a Day singer-songwriter posted his thoughts about authenticity in country music.
“I wouldn’t say Zach Bryan is my buddy. I ain’t his buddy, he ain’t my buddy. I ain’t met the guy,” he tells Nashville Now. “I don’t need him.”
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Adcock’s new album Own Worst Enemy dropped last week. In a bit of fortuitous timing, he stepped in for Ella Langley to open two shows for Morgan Wallen that same weekend in Cleveland. He says Wallen is a template for the type of career he’d like to have: “Morgan’s the best right now. You go after the best.”
Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s weekly country-music podcast, Nashville Now, hosted by senior music editor Joseph Hudak, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). New episodes drop every Wednesday and feature interviews with artists and personalities like Margo Price, Dusty Slay, Lukas Nelson, and Ashley Monroe.