About the singer’s contract trouble:

COUNTRY II: Convinced that RCA Records buckled under to demands of “left-wing” radio executives, Vaus wrote a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California, asking for assistance in what he calls his free-speech battle. But his request for help, he says, fell on deaf ears.

“I guess you have to be a left-wing radical or a racist minority before anyone gives a damn about the record industry gagging your freedom of speech,” Vaus argues.
….
“In this case, there is no government interference involved,” said an ACLU spokesman. “The Steve Vaus situation appears to be about a contract dispute. It does not appear to us as if any public official has threatened this man’s free-speech rights.”
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-09-13/entertainment/ca-1075_1_public-official