New Book Throws Woke Country Crooner Under DEI Bus

Alyssa Rosenheck didn’t become a world-class photographer overnight.

Like any artist, Rosenheck’s ascent took talent, dedication and a willingness to learn along the way.

Architectural Digest named her a top 50 photographer, which led her to one of the more maddening gigs in her career. 

A major design magazine tasked her with shooting a country crooner’s home. Except she didn’t get to finish the job through no fault of her own.

Rosenheck shares the fascinating story in “White. Blonde. Jew.” The new book, subtitled “A Call to End Extremism, Speak Up and Reclaim Center,” finds the author exploring the shocking rise of antisemitism in recent years.

Jewish author of White Blonde Jew, published by Simon & Schuster, her book launch was cancelled by a Nashville bookshop due to “security” concerns. https://t.co/5kb1FYouR3

— Matthew Fraser (@frasermatthew) August 4, 2026

That photo shoot is a small part of that tome, one that captures why she grew disillusioned with progressive measures like DEI.

In 2022, she earned the coveted gig in question. Rosenheck personally arranged the home, along with her designer client. The subject? A country western singer the author describes as having a “country-meets-cosmic-cowgirl vibe with a doobie and a dose of Dolly.”

No name is mentioned.

The project began well. The editor-in-chief approved her gallery photographs and everything appeared ready to go. Until the singer in question “ghosted” her.

Rosenheck learned, via Instagram posts, that the project was undergoing a reshoot. Except the new photographer was using most of her props and layouts “with a few trivial alterations.”

“The frames, the styling, the setup – it was all too familiar for comfort,” she writes.

She eventually got hold of the designer in question and found out the truth. She had been cut from the assignment.

The finished photographs had her creative DNA all over it, she recalls.

“My work had been used as a template, but my name was nowhere to be found,” she writes, adding that any possible lawsuit over copyright infringement would be a “David vs. Goliath” battle. Her replacement was a black photographer not renowned for interior photography work, she says.

“DEI claims to champion equity and inclusion. But when skin color becomes the ticket and talent is left backstage, that’s not justice. That’s just performance. All shimmer, no soul,” she writes.

Roseneck ends the anecdote without revealing the singer in question. She does give a clue, though:

(Oh, and by the way, the cosmic cowgirl wasn’t thrilled with DEI when Beyoncé took home the Grammy for Best Country Album of the Year. How do I know? Her sour reaction went viral. Google it.)

Here are the results:

Musgraves’ “Deeper Well” was one of the five finalists for the coveted award last year.

“White. Blonde. Jew” is available in bookstores now.