John Rich is sharing his thoughts on Carrie Underwood’s upcoming performance at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration and calling on other country artists to publicly support President Trump.
In a video shared to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday afternoon, Rich publicly praised Underwood for agreeing to perform “America The Beautiful” at the inauguration, calling it “an incredible thing.”
“Her statement actually was absolutely beautiful, that we want to bring people together and we want to move into this next four years and succeed as a nation,” he said. “I mean, incredible. I’m a bigger fan than I ever was of Carrie Underwood after seeing her do that.”
The Big & Rich star, who has never shied away from sharing his political beliefs, went on to admit that Underwood’s upcoming performance got him thinking about “country artists that I know for a fact are real conservatives and support Trump that have yet to be heard from.”
In the video, he compared artists like Garth Brooks and Brad Paisley, who have come out in support of the democratic party, to conservative artists who remain silent.
“And I started wondering, well, why is it that Garth Brooks has enough conviction about Joe Biden, for instance, that he would sing at Joe Biden’s inauguration, that he would walk up and give Hillary Clinton a big old bear hug and stand out there and sing. Why is it that Brad Paisley will come to Nashville with Jill Biden and set up a Covid vaccine site and tell everybody to do their patriotic duty and show up and get your Covid vaccine and I’ll play you some music and the First Lady is here and come on down in here to Nashville,” Rich questioned.
While he admitted he doesn’t agree with them, Rich said, “At least they had enough conviction to step forward and make those moves” and wondered, “So where are the big time that are conservative in country music? Where are they now?”
According to Rich, he personally knows several conservative country artists who have not shared their thoughts and opinions with fans and he believes it’s important that they do so.
“I mean, Trump won the popular vote in a landslide victory. Every swing state went to Trump. What are you guys afraid of? Your record label? You’re too big to cancel guys. They cannot cancel you,” he urged. “If anything, if you step forward and speak your mind about what you truly believe and stand for, your crowd is going to get bigger. I bet if you ask Jason Aldean, ‘Hey, did your crowd get bigger after you started talking, after you started telling everybody how you felt about it?’ The answer is, yeah, crowd got bigger.”
Before the video cut off, Rich congratulated Paisley and Brooks for using their platforms to stand up for what they believe in, despite disagreeing with them.
“I just think the other side needs to be heard from as well,” he said in closing. ”So listen, if you’re a big country artist and you follow me, come on, come. It ain’t outlaw to sit around and keep your mouth shut. Alright? You can’t claim to love Johnny Cash and Kristofferson and Willie and Waylon, and Tanya and Loretta, and on and on, and say that you’re following in their footsteps when you keep your mouth shut.”
Carrie Underwood isn’t the only country artist taking part in the inauguration and the events surrounding it. Parker McCollum, Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, Lee Greenwood, Billy Ray Cyrus, and more are also confirmed to perform.
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