Beech Tree News Network

Old school vs. new school is an argument that is as old as time.  It’s really a matter of how you grew up and what you know.  The reason I bring this up is the latest dust-up in the ageless old vs. new argument.  This time it’s Brantley Gilbert vs. Travis Tritt.
I was reading an article recently where Travis Tritt called Gilbert out for disrespect after a show at the Blue Ridge Music Festival at Salem, Virginia.  Tritt opened for he, Thomas Rhett and Nashville actress Claire Bowen.   He went to twitter to question the respect that he and fellow older artists are receiving in general.  Gilbert only gave Tritt 8 feet of stage.  He later tweeted: Even though @BrantleyGilbert only gave us 8 feet of stage, we had a great time performing for everyone @BlueRidgeFest tonight. Great crowd! My word of advice to all up and coming performers: Don’t kick anymore a**es on your way up than you are willing to kiss on your way down! I’ve always treated my heroes and peers with respect. I’ve respected everyone from George Jones, Waylon and Charlie Daniels who opened.
Tritt later softened his stance, tweeting: I doubt very seriously if @Brantley Gilbert knows how disrespectful his stage setup is to those who open for him. However, I’m just saying. Regardless of circumstances, I love performing for an appreciative audience. The folks make the show for me. Nobody appreciates y’all more! Make no mistake, @BrantleyGilbert is a fellow Georgia boy. He deserves whatever place he has carved for himself in the biz …. All I’m saying is that his handlers/management should be a little more aware of how he comes off to those he works with. No disrespect. Everyone in this biz knows we can’t please everyone, in spite of our best intentions. However, non of us can fix what we don’t know is wrong.
About an hour later, Tritt added:
Know this. I’ve had openers from Trisha Yearwood, Dixie Chicks, Little Texas, Joe Diffie, Lynyrd Skynyrd & LeRoy Parnell over the years …. And I’ve always personally made sure that they had all the stage space and production that they needed to put on the best show possible.
There has been no response from Gilbert. No doubt he’s been told to save whatever he was going to say until there were television cameras around.  He just released a new album, Just as I Am, and his people were probably afraid backlash from what he would say would hurt record sales. 
There were a lot of comments under this article; none of which backed up Gilbert.  One was even guffawing at the fact he’s headlining a festival.  I posted this article on my Facebook page just to gauge response.  One called Gilbert a punk.  One person who was there setting up on stage said this is being blown out of proportion.  Fans of newer “country” are saying that Tritt “sucks” and is being an “a-hole”.
I’ll say this: country music fans, REAL country music fans, don’t forget things like this.  This might seem like a hiccup for new artists.  I’ll be interested to hear other artists take.  That is, if anyone brings it up on air.  I imagine that if CMT does, though, they’ll put a spin on it in favor of Gilbert.  After all, they still have to play his videos.  I think that you can easily tell my stance by reading this article.  The issue is bigger than Travis vs. Brantley.  This is, as I said earlier, old vs. new.  It’s an argument as old as time that nobody wins.  It just keeps going on and on and is a matter of preference.  My next piece will be on the CMT Awards.  I’ll be interested to see if this is brought up.  I would think it has to be.

Hello.  My name is Andy Sullivan.  I received my bachelor’s degree in business from Mid-Continent University in June 2009.  I began writing for beechtree in July 2009.  I enjoy writing, photography, watching basketball and football, and playing guitar.  I also write a blog that encompasses sports and entertainment, called Sports and More, at http://andyuk79.tumblr.com If you have any comments, please leave them in the space below.  Thanks for reading!