HomeEF CountryListen to Morgan Wade's new song 'Psychopath' & learn about Country music's...

Listen to Morgan Wade’s new song ‘Psychopath’ & learn about Country music’s 5 biggest convicted criminals!

Morgan Wade has a new song out today! (May 19th) It’s the title track to her sophomore album, ‘Psychopath’.  A one-take meditation on “being so engrossed in someone, it’s like “What the hell was I doing before I met you?” Wade explains. “Don’t let the title fool you: When you look at the title, you don’t assume that’s a love song. But it is,” she said. “I kinda dig that.” The album is available to preorder now from this link and the song can be watched in the video below:

The references to ‘psychopaths’ got us thinking here at EF Country. Who were the biggest psychopaths in Country music? What a loaded question that is because what is the definition of a psychopath? The NHS here in the UK describes the condition as ‘a neuropsychiatric disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioural controls, commonly resulting in persistent antisocial deviance and criminal behaviour.’ Well, that could be just about anybody in Country music, right? (He said, tongue firmly in cheek) So, we settled on who might be the five biggest criminals in Country music instead!

Johnny Paycheck

Paycheck had hits like “She’s All I Got” and his cover of “Take This Job and Shove It,’ in the 60s and 70s. He started churning out a rebellious image for himself in 1985 after getting involved in a bar fight in Ohio where he ended up shooting at a man with his pistol. Luckily, the bullet just skimmed the scalp of his victim’s head. He was convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail, but when he finally started doing his time in 1989 he was pardoned by the Ohio Governor Richard Celeste and only ended up serving 22-months.

Spade Cooley

This country singer was accused of murdering his wife Ella Mae Cooley in 1961. During this time Spade Cooley’s fame was fading and he was losing a lot of money from bad investments. He would take his anger and frustration out on Ella Mae with fights and domestic abuse. She had been hospitalized numerous times prior to her death, but never pressed charges on him. Eventually one day Cooley beat Ella Mae so badly she never recovered. He was eventually convicted of first-degree murder and for beating his wife in front of their 14-year-old daughter. After being a model prisoner he was scheduled for parole in February of 1970 but in 1969 he was granted permission to perform at a charity concert where he suffered a massive heart attack after he walked off stage, and died.

Glenn Campbell

Glen Campbell struggled with cocaine and alcohol addiction decades ago but reportedly kicked the bad habits in the late ’80s. However, in November of 2006, Campbell wound up getting arrested near his Phoenix, Arizona home, after drunkenly committing a hit-and-run in his BMW. While he was being processed for the arrest, he kneed a police officer in the leg, which resulted in Campbell getting an additional charge of “aggravated assault of a police officer.” The country singer pleaded down a few of his counts but ultimately spent 10 days behind bars.

Steve Earle

Earle was charged with possession of narcotics in 1994 and spent much of his time inside working on the ‘Train A Comin’ album that was nominated for a Grammy in 1996. He served 60 days of a twelve month sentence.

Merle Haggard

Haggard was arrested in 1957 shortly after he tried to rob a Bakersfield tavern. He was sent to Bakersfield Jail, and was later transferred after an escape attempt to San Quentin Prison. After being released in 1960, Haggard said it took about four months to get used to being out and, at times, he actually wanted to go back in. He served three years for the crime.

And on a more positive note: Jelly Roll

If there’s one artist that has proved being incarcerated doesn’t have to be the end of everything it’s Jelly Roll. Over the years, Jelly Roll has spent time in various prisons across the United States. In total, he spent nine out of twelve years between the ages of 14 and 26 behind bars. During this time, he continued to work on his music, often using it as a means of coping with the challenges he faced whilst inside.

Jelly Roll was detained in prison when he was just fourteen years of age because of fighting and theft. Jelly Roll’s first significant encounter with the criminal justice system occurred when he was 18 years old. He was arrested for armed robbery and spent two years in prison as a result of that. However, he now plays shows for inmates and donates both his time and money to helping juvenile offenders and has become something of a mentor and role model for rehabilitation, proving that time spent inside doesn’t have to mean the end of everything.

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