Country Artists Who Apologized for Their Hit Songs

It might be too much to say Trace Adkins “hates” his Top 40 hit from 2011, but he sure did bail on it quickly.

The hitmaker had a song called “Brown Chicken, Brown Cow” at country radio one day, and then CRS came and he apologized to everyone in a room who’d gathered to hear his music. “They told me it was a hit,” he said (per CMT). “I’m going to blame the three songwriters.”

One of those songwriters is Casey Beathard, who is set to join the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame this year. You probably won’t find this innuendo-heavy track on his bronze plaque.

Adkins isn’t the only artist to apologize for a song — our list below finds at least three apologies, plus several more instances of an artist quietly or not-so-quietly admitting they regret their decision. Gretchen Wilson has one of those songs, but the funny thing is, she has come to love the track she fought against as she’s grown older.

Thomas Rhett makes the list for an understandable reason, but it’s his wife’s blast that has us laughing. Miranda Lambert stopped playing an award-winning hit, but who can blame her?

Find even more resentment, regret and dislike below.

Country Stars and the Songs They Regret, Resent or Apologized For

It’s rare to hear a country star confess to hating a song they’ve recorded, but it has happened. This list includes several apologies, quite a bit of ambivalence and at least once complicated instance when love for a song died with love for a man.

A few on this list are more nuanced: Thomas Rhett, for example, probably doesn’t really “hate” “Crash and Burn,” but for a few months, he seemed to. Gretchen Wilson admits to coming to love a song she once fought against recording, and a major country group just re-cut a song they burned out on in the early 2000s.

Scroll down to find our list of 10 songs that country artists regret or resent, and the explanations why.

9 Country Stars Who Grew Up Rich

The son of a rock star, the daughter of a famous actor, a son of a car dealer and two wealth managers’ kids are among the country artists listed below. These nine country stars grew up rich, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t work hard to get where they are today.