Lindsay Ell made a big production about keeping her industry boyfriend a secret until earlier this year when the big reveal was … She was dating DJ and Country Countdown star Bobby Bones!  She didn’t want people to think she was dating him because of his power to influence her career.

Well, ironically, he influenced her career alright, right out of a paid gig!  Bobby Bones, her boyfriend, works for iHeartMedia USA and Lindsay was on her way back from a dinner with her manager when he told her the news, her gig the next day, part of a huge concert line up with a CBS owned country station, was cancelled because her boyfriend was a big star with a competing radio company.

Say what?  This wasn’t the kind of negative impact she worried about.  Well, nevermatter, Lindsay wasn’t gonna take this laying down.  In fact, she already had gigs that weekend opening for Brad Paisley on behalf of two other country stations in Sacramento. Lindsay performed both of those and two more freebie parking lot appearances!

And she wasn’t quiet about the ‘why’ — she broke with industry convention and told her fans the unvarnished truth.

The country music community is tight and before you know it, big stars like Brad Paisley, and everyday fans, stood in alliance with Lindsay quick.  Soon word spread all over Twitter.

When Brad Paisley says “you made a mistake,” as  a country radio station, you made a HUGE mistake.  So it wasn’t long before the radio station issued a public apology to Lindsay and her fans, promising to rebook her soon.  They have a Country in the Park show coming up in August there in Sacramento that’s an even bigger show than the one she got bumped from.  We bet she’ll get the nod for that show in the coming weeks.

And for her part, Lindsay is taking it all in stride and doesn’t harbor any ill-will. “Everyone makes mistakes,” she said. “There’s so many people around the situation who are amazing and … who have supported me from the beginning of my career. What happened a few days ago wasn’t ideal for anyone, but … I’m sure we can find something to smooth it over,” Lindsay told the Tennessean newspaper in an interview published over the weekend.

You can of course tune in for the Bobby Bones Country Countdown this Saturday and Sunday right here on Today’s Best Country. Since Bobby is rarely the shy, retiring type,  we’re betting he’ll have a few choice words on all these goings-on.

No early word if he’ll have an exclusive with Lindsay tho!   😉

Filed under: bobby-bones-countdown, Country