Stoney LaRue jailed on domestic abuse complaint, issues apology

The successful local country musician known as Stoney LaRue was arrested in the early morning hours of Monday on a domestic violence complaint, according to a police report. 

Stoney LaRue Phillips, 38, of Oklahoma City, who goes by the name Stoney LaRue as a country music performer, was taken into custody around 7:30 a.m. Monday after his live-in girlfriend called police, alleging Phillips pushed her down the stairs after an argument. 

According to the report, Phillips and a friend, Richa Chandra, 43, of Nashville, Tenn., came home to the couple's apartment on N. Robinson around 4 a.m. after a night of drinking. Phillips' girlfriend, Amanda Winsworth, told police Phillips and Chandra were making so much noise it woke her up, and she went to her car to continue sleeping.

At 6:50 a.m., Winsworth woke up and went back inside to get ready for work. She told officers that the sound of her hair dryer woke Phillips up, and he started an argument with her over the noise. Phillips then threw Winsworth's makeup bag, toiletries, and curling iron down the stairs, according to the report, and when she bent down to pick some of the things up Phillips "pushed her from behind causing her to roll head over heels down the staircase."

Winsworth, who had scratches on her left leg and back, then attempted to call the police, at which point Chandra tried to stop her from making the call.

After police arrived on the scene, Chandra was arrested for obstruction and public intoxication after she did not comply with officers who told her to leave the premises.

Phillips was booked Monday morning into the Oklahoma County jail and posted his $4,000 bail later that day. Chandra was also booked into the jail, and she bailed out Tuesday morning. 

In two messages posted on Twitter, Winsworth said the incident had been blown of our proportion by the media and that Phillips never struck her.

“The happenings of this incident have been blown out of proportion by the media. I was never struck by my boyfriend @stoneylarue … Please respect our privacy while we fix this matter,” Winsworth wrote in the  tweets, which were both retweeted from LaRue’s verified account.

Winsworth filed an emergency protective order against Phillips on Monday, according to court documents, and he was served Tuesday.

The singer-songwriter apologized in a statement released Tuesday afternoon through his Nashville-based publicist. 

"I want to apologize to my family, my friends and my fans for the recent circumstances that have come to light. I am going to take some time to work on myself. I will be entering an intensive and extensive program, and I appreciate your thoughts and good wishes for me during this trying time. Please check my website and Facebook page for updates on my upcoming tour dates, but most importantly, I appreciate your support during this time," he said in the statement.

A Taft, Texas, native who was raised in Southeastern Oklahoma, LaRue is a popular performer on the Oklahoma red dirt music scene. He played the Zoo Amphitheatre Saturday night with Texas country acts Randy Rogers Band and JB and the Moonshine Band.

Known for his nearly relentless touring, LaRue was scheduled to perform Friday at the Phillips County Fair in Holyoke, Colo., and Saturday at Guthrie’s River Ruckus in Guthrie Center, Iowa. But his tour schedule was modified Tuesday afternoon to eliminate several dates; his next listed show is set for Sept. 12 at the High Plains Music Festival in Hugoton, Kan. 

Known for popular red dirt standards like "Oklahoma Breakdown" and "Look at Me Fly," LaRue has been touring in support of his 2014 album “Aviator,” which features songs he told The Oklahoman were spurred by a “pretty significant” period in his life that included his divorce from his former wife and manager Kandace Phillips. 

“(The title track) was the first song that we wrote, and we just kind of went from there … throughout a three-year period that was pretty significant. And you know, it has a lot to say. You go through different stages of life, and we’re trying to make people more comfortable with themselves and aware that they might not even be aware that they’re not comfortable with themselves, if that makes any sense. (It’s) a conundrum we live in,” he told The Oklahoman in a 2014 interview about the album.

LaRue’s brother and fellow red dirt singer-songwriter Bo Phillips took to his band’s official Facebook page Tuesday to vehemently defend his sibling.

“ALL my family and I were raised with a core set of values and morals. And despite what FB (Facebook) is spewing (radio stations and ‘fans’ alike) those morals were not violated. When the call is made, somebody typically has to go in. It was no different in this situation. What started out as an extremely unfortunate misunderstanding is stupidly blowing up because of dumb f----s who wanna get a jab in and enjoy seeing the successful fall,” he wrote on the Bo Phillips Band Facebook.

-BAM