Luke Bryan issued a personal apology to the family of country singer Waylon Jennings. The country star said he was sorry after he came under fire for comments he made about outlaw country music in a recent interview, the Tennessean reported.
In an interview with music site Hits Daily Double, Bryan discussed how country music has evolved in the past few decades.
"Well, yeah. I think that people who want Merle, Willie and Waylon just need to buy Merle, Willie and Waylon. I've never been a "Those were the good old days" kind of guy," Bryan told HDD, referencing Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, the pioneers of the '60s and '70s outlaw country movement. "I'm not big on looking back on the past. I'm not an outlaw country singer. I don't do cocaine and run around. So I'm not going to sing outlaw country."
Some members of the Jennings clan took offense to his comments, especially Waylon's daughter-in-law, Kathy Pinkerman Jennings, the Los Angeles Times reported. In a Youtube video, Kathy read an angry statement to Bryan, demanding he apologize for disrespecting Waylon. Bryan personally reached out to Waylon's son, fellow country star Shooter Jennings, and said he was sorry.
"Luke Bryan called my mom today to clarify that he would never disrespect my dad or me or any of us," Shooter told the LA Times. "He also asked for Buddy's number to call Kathy. Whether or not he does, that takes a lot of guts."
Shooter explained that the comments Bryan made about outlaw country didn't bother him much because he's had experience with his words being twisted in the media.
"While I support my family obviously, personally the whole thing didn't make a difference to me," Shooter said. "I've had my fair share of words being twisted and articles being sliced and diced. So I figured it was that."
