Charley Crockett has said he “lost a lot of respect” for Jack White after the latter invited Twin Temple to open for him on tour.
Country artist Crockett kicked LA rock duo Twin Temple off his tour over their “Satanic imagery” last month. This caught the attention of the former White Stripes frontman, who offered them a support slot at his Hollywood Palladium gig on September 29.
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Twin Temple have since made their US late-night debut with a performance on The Daily Show.
Crockett criticised White’s political beliefs, writing: “FUCK TRUMP, FUCK EPSTEIN, BUT HAIL SATAN? NOT ME JACK.”
A spokesperson for Crockett also issued a statement from the singer to Billboard, in which he said of Twin Temple: “I thought they were like Black Sabbath, but they ain’t. Not today, Satan.”
Now, Crockett has taken to Instagram to share a since-deleted post to “clear this up right quick”. The singer-songwriter rejected the claim that he’d dropped Twin Temple over their “Satanic imagery”, saying the band had “made it up and dragged me by a rope real good” (via Rolling Stone).
He went on to accuse various artists of using the controversy “to kick me in the dick”, despite them previously “showering me with praise”.
Turning his attention to White specifically, Crockett wrote: “[H]e used it to sell tickets too and I lost a lot of respect for him. I wonder why he wasn’t so outspoken back when he was in the White Stripes 20 something years ago.
“They purposely avoided political issues. Maybe he was worried about losing audience back when it was all on the line and he needed all the help he could get.”
White has responded to the comments on his Instagram page, writing: “I never said nothing about this young buck before but since he’s trying to drag me into this here rodeo again, here’s my official response to Cowboy Charley’s accusations.”
He then shared the lyrics to Shawn Brown’s 1984 hip-hop novelty song, ‘Rappin’ Duke’. See the post here:
Elsewhere in Crockett’s post, the singer claimed that he decided to remove Twin Temple about a month before their scheduled gigs together due to concerns about their live stage set-up.
He said the duo’s “production requests raised eyebrows” because “we couldn’t accommodate them physically”, but not over their Satanic imagery.
“Then I noticed some of the things they’d been doing on stage and after thinking about it for a couple days I decided to cut em loose,” Crockett went on. “We told em the vibe just wasn’t right for an all ages audience, and we paid em in full.”
He accused Twin Temple and their team of having “plotted for days” ahead of sharing a statement that was “designed for effect”. The musician said this made it look like he had removed them from the full tour, rather than a couple of shows.
Crockett criticised the group for “dog whistling about religious and creative freedom” while ignoring his own “rights”.
“It’s my fault, I let ’em slip through and being that this here’s my outfit, I’m the responsible party,” he reasoned. “I reacted. I might respond differently now but everybody’s got perfect vision in hindsight.
“I think the most difficult part of the whole deal was the way the media, save for one outlet, cared nothing for the truth. They sanitised these folks’ image for their own uses in the clickbait traffic game that is America’s left-right culture war.”
Crockett concluded: “Funny, I’ve got everything to lose right this minute and I still shoot from the hip. I’ve been speaking from my heart against the wishes of the machine my whole life. Real patriots think for themselves.”
Twin Temple’s tracks include ‘Let’s Have A Satanic Orgy’, ‘Lucifer, My Love’ and ‘Burn Your Bible’, and they have described their sound as “Satanic doo-wop”.
When accepting White’s invitation to open for him in LA, vocalist Alexandra James wrote: “Unholy hell…. Sir Jack, you have no idea what this means to us.”
Responding to the coverage, Crockett posted an image of Johnny Cash in front of Melody Ranch on Facebook. He captioned the photo: “If they did it to Jesus, imagine what they’ll do to you.”
White also weighed in on their use of Satanic imagery, after responding to a fan asking how he, “as a practicing Catholic”, felt about promoting the band.
“I never claimed to be a practicing catholic or christian, you assumed that,” he replied. “And I’m not scared of satan or any bullshit imagery man made up to live in fear of. Commune with god on your own terms and communicate with god and find your own path, not some path somebody made up to make you afraid and make money off of you.”
White released his latest album, ‘Frozen Charlotte’, last month. In a three-and-a-half-star review, NME said “it may not rank among his classic work but it’s good fun”. It added: “It’s gonna really be something live, and it works to show that White doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel when he can give you one hell of a ride on his own.”
The musician is set to embark on a UK and Ireland tour next week, kicking off with two shows at the Eventim Apollo in London. He’ll begin the North American leg in September. Find any remaining tickets here (UK/Ireland) and here (North America).
Meanwhile, Jack White’s Third Man Records has announced a run of pop-up stores across the UK and Ireland. They’ll stock exclusive vinyl, limited edition merchandise, posters and books, as well as a series of homemade “bootleg” editions of his records.
