Gretchen at the AMAs back in 2004

This from Gretchen Wilson, who would like to remind us that many years before Kanye West’s epically headline-grabbing assault on Taylor Swift’s VMA Award speech, pretty much the same thing happened to her.  In 2004, when Gretchen won the AMA for Favorite Breakthrough Artist, Kanye tried to rain on her parade by making a big deal about how he should have won.  (I felt like I was definitely robbed,” he declared. “I was the best new artist this year.”)  Gretchen says, years later, she’s still ready to throw down.  “I think he’s an ass for acting like that.  He really is. He makes quite a spectacle. Grow up! Quit being such a baby! … And I don’t know if you remember all the way back to the first time — I outsold you, bro! Do your homework.”  She adds a challenge to the rap superstar:  “Kanye, just remember, I was your first. And I’m not above kicking your ass.”

When Sony records let Gretchen Wilson go, she decided to start her own record label.   But that costs big bucks, so where did she get the money?  She mortgaged her land.  Gretchen says that when she started making money with her music she spent it all on land.  So now she’s betting that land on the idea that she can make it on her own in the cut-throat music biz. 

The cool thing is that Gretchen says she’s not worried either way:  “I lived my whole life in a single-wide trailer on a half-acre lot.  And I’d be fine going back to that.  I can have a great day on an 8 by 12 foot front porch and just sit there all day long and have my little girl with me and have a nice cup of coffee and beautiful view.  You can have everything you ever wanted in life in a single-wide or in a mansion.  It’s really up to you.”