Hayley Williams is on the warpath, and Morgan Wallen is the target. The Paramore frontwoman brought her first-ever solo tour to Nashville's Ryman Auditorium last night for the first of two homecoming shows, and she made sure her feelings about her fellow Music City resident were crystal clear — again.
"Watch out for fucking flying chairs, you never know who you're gonna hit," Williams joked from the Ryman stage, referencing Wallen's 2024 arrest after he threw a chair from the roof of Eric Church's Chief's Bar in Nashville. She even had an ad for her solo tour plastered on the marquee in front of Wallen's own spot — his This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen — for the occasion. Scorched earth energy, delivered with a grin.
The Williams-Wallen beef has been escalating throughout the Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party cycle. It started with the album's title track, where she sings "I'll be the biggest star at this racist country singer's bar." When pressed by the New York Times' Popcast about whether that was aimed at Wallen, Williams didn't flinch: "It could be about a couple people, but I'm always talking about Morgan Wallen. I don't give a shit. Find me at Whole Foods, bitch. I don't care." At her Boston show earlier this month, she was even more direct: "I hate Morgan Wallen." The Nashville show was the logical next step — taking the fight to his actual turf.
The Wallen jabs weren't the only highlights. Williams also performed a live debut of "Friends of Lovers," a track from her grandad Rusty Williams' deluxe edition of Grand Man — the long-shelved LP that Hayley and members of Paramore helped Rusty finally release last year. She hinted that Rusty himself was in the audience to witness the moment, which is the kind of generational full-circle beat that makes the Ryman feel like the place it's supposed to be.
And because Williams has been turning every stop on this tour into a revolving door of guest appearances, she closed out the Ryman set by bringing out Blair Tramel of Nashville noise-punk band Snõõper for "Parachute." That's a wildly on-brand choice — Snõõper are one of Nashville's most unhinged and exciting underground acts, and pulling Tramel onto the Ryman stage is the kind of cross-pollination between mainstream alternative and local DIY that makes this tour feel like more than a promo run.
The "Parachute" guest slot has become a signature move on this tour. Previous guests have included American Football's Mike Kinsella in Chicago, Tierra Whack in Philadelphia, City and Colour's Dallas Green in Toronto, Upchuck's KT, Annie DiRusso, Claud, comedian Caleb Hearon, and White Lotus star Meghann Fahy. At the Chicago stop, Water From Your Eyes' Rachel Brown — whose band is serving as Williams' opening act — joined for "Discovery Channel." In New York, Jason Isbell came out for "Cover Me Up," which is also a pointed Wallen dig: Isbell wrote the song, Wallen covered it and turned it into a hit, and Isbell responded to Wallen's racism by pledging to donate his royalties from the cover to the NAACP.
Williams plays the Ryman again tonight for the second of her two Nashville dates. If last night's show is anything to go by, expect more Wallen jabs, more surprise guests, and more proof that Hayley Williams might be having the most fun of anyone on tour right now. The solo era suits her.
Via Stereogum.