NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jason Isbell says he will donate money he earns from Morgan Wallen’s cover of his song “Cover Me Up” to the NAACP.
Wallen, who has been the number 1 album in the country for the past four weeks, was caught on camera last week saying a racist slur, but sales of his album soared after radio stations removed him from their playlists.
Isbell, a popular Americana artist and former member of the Drive-By Truckers, wrote ‘Cover Me Up’, which Wallen recorded as the cover for his second album ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’.
Isbell posted on social media Wednesday that he wouldn’t keep his share of those sales.
“I have decided to donate everything I have made from this album to date to the Nashville chapter of the @NAACP. Thanks for helping a good cause, folks, ”he wrote.
Wallen played a cover of “Cover Me Up” for a while before recording his own version, which jumped to the Top 15 of the Hot Country Songs chart and earned Platinum status from the Recording Industry Association of America.
His album already set streaming records before the release of the video in which he used TMZ’s taint. It is the first country album to hit the Billboard 200 chart for four weeks since 2003, when the album ‘Up!’ Van Shania Twain spent five weeks at the top.
Wallen has apologized for using the racist language and his record label, Big Loud Records, said Wallen had been banned, but neither has made any further announcements since last week. A representative from Wallen and his label did not immediately send a message asking for comment.