Essay: Covid caused a rift in country music

“We can’t afford to sit out shows, we have to vaccinate and mask up or everything we’ve worked our entire lives for will be gone. And it’s so upsetting to work so long on a craft and lose opportunities left and right, because people would rather believe vaccine conspiracy theories than at least try these precautions out” - Austin songwriter Cari Hutson says to Guardian about the need to vaccinate. The London paper is exploring differences within country music community about vaccinating - "exposing an age-old political divide".