Charley Crockett has been in a tense situation for six weeks. In July, the country singer-songwriter removed Twin Temple, a doo-wop duo that calls itself satanic, from his Age of the Ram tour as opening acts. The band claimed it was "due to their satanic imagery". Crockett later elaborated: "I thought they were like Black Sabbath, but they're not. Not today, Satan".
Since then, Jack White has taken Twin Temple under his wing, starting with an invitation to open his concert in Los Angeles. This triggered a chain of national attention that led the duo to their late-night television debut. The enthusiasm waned until last Tuesday (August 18), when Crockett turned to social media to "clear this up real quick".
After asserting that Twin Temple invented the "satanic imagery" reason for their removal and that "they dragged me with a rope real hard", Crockett used his Instagram post (now deleted) to criticise other artists. He mentioned musicians who had "showered me with compliments" for years only to "kick me" after this incident. Crockett then turned his attention to White, writing that "he used it to sell tickets too and I lost a lot of respect for him". Crockett wondered why White "wasn't so outspoken when he was in The White Stripes twenty-some years ago", since the band "deliberately avoided political topics".
White has been political on stage and off for decades, but Crockett's claim did not seem to offend him. What did bother him was the country artist's insistence on picking a fight. White logged into Instagram to share a lengthy response consisting mainly of lyrics from the rap song "Rappin Duke" by Shawn Brown from 1984, in which he assumes the persona of an Old West rapper who mocks his accusers.
Meanwhile, all three artists are on tour: Crockett promoting his June album Age of the Ram, White taking Frozen Charlotte from July to sold-out venues through the end of the year, and Twin Temple releasing a new album on October 9 called Doomed Lovers.
