GOD BLESS THE USA: Country Music Star Lee Greenwood Takes You Behind the Scenes of His Hit Song - And Why He'll Never Apologize for Loving America | TRIGGERED Ep.79
Country Music Legend Lee Greenwood joins Triggered to talk about his hit song, "God Bless the USA" and his support of our troops. Lee Greenwood is one of America's first voices and has done 16 USO tours in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines, Panama, and many more. He is also a vocal supporter of President Trump and has been a long time supporter of his administration. Lee also has his own country music label, Lee Greenwood Records, which is available on Amazon Prime and VaynerMedia, which you should definitely check out. He's a great man and a great friend of the country music industry. He's also an avid supporter of the Democratic Party and has a long history of supporting our troops and their efforts to support our nation's First Amendment rights. He also is a vocal opponent of censorship and calls for the removal of conservative media outlets from the airwaves. You can find Lee Greenwood on all of the social medias including Fox News and other conservative networks. And you can support Lee Greenwood and his music career by becoming a patron of his charity, "The Battle of America." Vote with your wallet. It's a simple, affordable, and FREE way to give back to the causes that you believe in or you can keep giving it to the woke carriers that you can give it to. It's not complicated, it's simple, and it's free, and you can do it in a way you can be a voice in the conversation you can make a difference in the world. Vote With Your Wallet, and keep it woke and give it a chance to be heard on the next week! Today's episode is brought to you by Activated! -Triggergeredgered. - Triggered. . - The Triggered Team - TriggerEDged. Subscribe to our new show Triggered! Subscribe and Share it on Apple Podcasts! Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel - Subscribe on Podchaser.co/Triggered.co and Subscribe on iTunes - Subscribe to be Rewired! We'll Tell Us What's Triggered? Subscribe on Itunes - Like It On Social Media - Subscribe To Our Insta-Friendship - Share It's Notorious - Subscribe On Itunes? - Share it On Your Story on Instagasm? Subscribe On Webspace - Subscribe & Share It On The Vineyard - and Subscribe To Itunes - It's A Big Deal!
00:05:28.000guys well welcome to another awesome episode of Triggered, and today is an extra special one.
00:05:53.000We have award-winning country music legend Lee Greenwood.
00:05:57.000All of you, of course, know Lee's hit song, God Bless the USA, which you may all know as Proud to be an American.
00:06:04.000It's the song you hear at every Trump rally.
00:06:08.000It's probably basically the MAGA anthem at this point.
00:06:14.000Here's just one of the many examples of the song in action.
00:06:20.000Check it out. I'm proud to be an American Where at least I know I'm free And I won't forget the men who died Who gave that fight to me And I gladly stand up next to you And defend her still today Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land Over his career, Lee recorded hit after hit.
00:06:55.000He's been at the top of the country charts.
00:06:57.000He's been at the top of the Billboard charts.
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00:11:14.000Great to talk to you and great to be on your show.
00:11:17.000Likewise. So, so many Americans, Lee, they hear your song, God Bless the USA, but it's become really a rally cry for patriotism in this country, right?
00:11:29.000We hear it at all my father's rallies.
00:11:31.000We hear it anywhere where people love America.
00:11:35.000Take us back to when you first wrote that song and how it's actually Really gained in popularities over the years.
00:12:51.000And some night in my bus, as I'm traveling between Texas and Arkansas,
00:12:55.000along with a lot of the other songs I wrote in my first 10 albums,
00:12:58.000I wrote God Bless USA in the back of my motorcoach, my bus.
00:13:02.000And when I played it for my producer, he said, well, this is kind of out of context for what you are known for.
00:13:08.000And we'd already received quite a few awards for ballads and country music.
00:13:12.000And when I took it to Universal and had them look at the album, it was 1985 called You've Got a Good Love Coming, which we already had $25,000 in a video we filmed in the London train station.
00:14:32.000I may have some history of English and Irish and Scottish, but I'm an American first.
00:14:40.000And so when I wrote that song, it sort of resonated with everybody who is an American of any descent.
00:14:46.000It's like, that's where American first, you know?
00:14:49.000Maybe the indigenous people, the Indians, have a right to say I'm Indian American, but even they have a pride in saying I'm American first.
00:14:57.000And I guess that's where USA began to take off, and it's about 10 or 15 years down.
00:15:03.000And now here we are, 40 years later, and the song still resonates with people, in particular our military.
00:15:09.000Yeah, I mean, do you think that some of that, I mean, obviously, you know, as a New Yorker, right, you know, at least formerly New Yorker before I had to get out of the People's Republic of New York, you know, the time post 9-11 was really an interesting time, right?
00:15:23.000Because you think of New York, everyone's brash, everyone's aggressive, everyone...
00:15:29.000You know, people sort of put aside some of their petty differences.
00:15:33.000It was actually probably the most amazing time to have lived there, and it lasted.
00:15:38.000It wasn't like one of those fleeting moments that, you know, people are nice for a few minutes and then they forget.
00:15:43.000It was, you know, it was probably a couple years.
00:15:46.000Do you think the song's popularity has even grown because there does perceive to be this sort of You know, threat to, you know, what patriotic Americans probably think of as America.
00:15:57.000Do you think, you know, sort of the attacks from the radical left has changed?
00:16:01.000When the song came out, you know, as many years ago as you said, I sort of feel like both sides sort of felt the same way about their country.
00:16:09.000Maybe they disagreed on some nuance, but today that nuance is more extreme.
00:16:13.000I mean, could there be something to that or not?
00:16:17.000Yeah, I think so. You know, as you know, I went to New York three different times.
00:16:21.000We sang at the Firearms Memorial at Yankee Stadium, the Polisems Memorial at Carnegie Hall, and then I did the fourth game of the World Series, and that was to uplift America.
00:16:29.000See, what I believe is, one of the things that terrorists really wanted to do was take away our lifestyle.
00:16:34.000And of course, with the invention of the TSA, of course they did.
00:16:39.000I mean, it really changed the way we thought about security.
00:17:05.000I guess they added, you know, the black national anthem, which I don't think anyone had ever heard of prior to sort of, you know, woke culture taking over sports.
00:17:14.000But I guess it is a consistent theme because it's what the people actually want.
00:17:19.000And you'll be amazed if you take away the rhetoric of the left, which is basically a minority voice.
00:17:24.000This country is all a We're good to go.
00:17:51.000And with our recent carrier group in sending over as support, and I sure hope we don't get involved in this.
00:17:57.000But I tell you, if we do, I have to pray for our soldiers and our airmen, our Navy, and our Marines and Coast Guard.
00:18:03.000You know, it's going to be a tough thing to get involved in this.
00:18:08.000I can't tell you how it hurts my heart when I hear about Hamas cutting the heads off babies and burning people alive and raping women out until they die.
00:18:20.000I'm like, you are got to be kidding me.
00:18:28.000Yeah, and listen, I think I agree with a lot of what you're saying there.
00:18:32.000You know, I'm not for sending American troops on the ground.
00:18:36.000I think Israel's, you know, they're its own nation.
00:18:39.000They're big boys. They got incredible defense forces.
00:18:41.000You know, they can take care of the problem.
00:18:43.000The last thing I want to do is get into another war.
00:18:46.000And I think you saying that probably jives with every, I mean, you're one of the guys that has probably done more With the USO and our veterans and everything, then anyone.
00:18:57.000After 20 years in Afghanistan to pull out, you know, the way we did, it's just disgraceful.
00:19:04.000So, you know, I'm okay with them defending themselves, certainly against a murderous regime that was raping and killing children in the streets.
00:19:13.000And then hides behind women and children or has been launching missiles from schools and hospitals for years.
00:19:20.000And then they say, oh, it's outrageous that Israel would strike a hospital.
00:19:24.000It's like, no, no, no. They're not striking a hospital.
00:19:26.000They're striking a missile launch site.
00:19:29.000There's a difference. So, you know, to think of a Hamas leadership literally hiding behind women and children so that they can create the moral outrage when Israel strikes back and defends itself is...
00:19:41.000It's truly sick and evil, but that's the nature of the world right now.
00:19:46.000Well, let me just turn to the topic which most interests me, and that is taking care of our soldiers.
00:19:53.000My wife, Kim's father, was Army, and I never served in the military.
00:19:58.000So it is my mission really to focus on the needs of our military, particularly at a time in stress like this when they're asked to go into harm's way.
00:20:09.000Would you know, there have been a lot of shows recently that have been filmed live and then aired in motion picture theaters, to name a couple.
00:20:17.000Beyonce and Taylor Swift both have done that, and this coming month they have both of them in motion picture theaters.
00:20:22.000We have done the same, but more of a slant towards country music and toward our veterans.
00:20:49.000Even corporations, if you'll buy out a theater and send vets for free, that would be my aim, is to make sure veterans are honored on Veterans Day this year.
00:20:57.000It's November 12, adopt a vet in all theaters across America.
00:21:23.000I've been mixing it up with the military for a long time.
00:21:25.000And it's always a privilege to go on these USO tours around the world.
00:21:29.000As a matter of fact, a lot of people don't know, I was on Bob Hope's last tour around the world.
00:21:34.000That was eight stops in eight days, eight shows, 25,000 miles, with two C-141s and Hawaii Orchestra, Connie Stevens, and I can't remember who all was on there, but I was a straight man for Bob Hope.
00:21:47.000That was pretty interesting for a singer.
00:22:25.000And so the years of Vietnam, you know, there was nobody else that really could bring all of the Hollywood stars and athletes to the soldiers like they did.
00:23:44.000And then we got in the compound where the Marines were and they went out and took him out.
00:23:48.000It was like 10 guys that just kind of rode around looking for something to shoot at.
00:23:52.000And I saw him in the hospital before he was discharged.
00:23:56.000So fast forward about 30 years and I'm in Ohio doing a show.
00:24:00.000And my tech comes to me, Mike Thamer from Cincinnati, says, there's a guy in the audience who says he was your driver in Panama, and he wants to come back and see you.
00:24:56.000So, yeah, you're someone who's been, honestly, very open, unapologetic about your patriotism, but that's really in sharp contrast to so many of the others in the entertainment industry today, where, you know, they shy away from that.
00:25:12.000You saw a couple of the big celebrities put up stuff, you know, just, they're standing by Israel, and then, you know, the Hamas caucus goes after them, and they have to take it down.
00:25:22.000When did it stop being cool, You know, to love America and show business, because it seems like there's a lot of pressure to be...
00:25:30.000It's a lot easier to be anti than it is to be pro, and I just don't think that jives with the American populace, but that doesn't matter today.
00:25:40.000And I know when we sang for President Trump, your dad, at the inauguration there at Lincoln Memorial, there were a couple of entertainers who got scared off.
00:25:51.000There's an old adage that says, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
00:25:56.000And I have to stand for who I am or what I believe in.
00:25:59.000I believe in... Your dad, I believe, and Donald Trump being president again, and I want it to happen.
00:26:29.000And if any American has not seen Normandy, you need to go there and know how much blood we left on those shores for the freedom of another country.
00:26:38.000So I'm like, hey, you know, I believe in what America stands for.
00:26:41.000You're not going to share me off that.
00:26:43.000Yeah, that was actually one of the—I went with my father for the—I guess it was the 75th anniversary of D-Day and went to Normandy with him.
00:26:53.000I mean, you know, flew in on Air Force One and then ultimately Marine One, and you see those beaches from the air, and I mean— What an incredible experience.
00:27:03.000You're right. Any American who can get over there, you have to see it.
00:27:24.000I mean, talk about, you know, you're in Nashville and country music.
00:27:27.000The performers are, for the most part, really conservative.
00:27:32.000And yet, it feels like there's a lot of pressure from the record labels to go a different way.
00:27:38.000I know a couple of guys, I won't name names because I'm friendly with so many people in the industry there, especially country music, because again, you know, they're probably 90, 95% MAGA, but there are a lot of them, frankly, that in 16...
00:27:51.000Hey, man, can you do something about this?
00:27:54.000And, you know, come out and say, I can't do that.
00:28:17.000It is in other genres, but not necessarily in country music.
00:28:21.000I mean, the patriots in country and those who surround the fringes of country, for instance, two of my very close friends, Tony Orlando and Gary Sinise, and we talk occasionally about that.
00:28:30.000With Charlie Daniels gone, one of the most outspoken patriots, we're all pretty much on the same page.
00:28:37.000And you may be right that money comes first for the record companies, and I think It's not necessarily that they don't want them talking about America in a positive tone.
00:28:48.000They just don't want them talking political at all.
00:28:51.000And, Don, you know, I don't use my stage for a pulpa.
00:30:12.000You know, despite what people would have you believe in it.
00:30:14.000No one's advocating for the murder of women and children, but when the regime that represents those people hides behind them, convinces them not to leave, sets up in those places, you know, is someone supposed to sit idly by as rockets get launched into their city and not do anything about it?
00:30:30.000I mean, you know... It's a little bit crazy, but it was shocking over the last week and change to see just how anti-Israel so many people are.
00:30:42.000The tolerant left that tells you we've got to be tolerant of the LGBTQIA++++++, every crazy machination of trans.
00:30:52.000They don't really seem to like the Jews very much.
00:30:55.000Like, wait a second, what is going on here?
00:30:58.000You know, you understand that antisemitism is a thing, but I don't think anyone realized just how bad it is and just how rampant it is.
00:32:13.000And I am a Christian, and I'm proud to say that as well.
00:32:16.000I'll get some nasty letters about that, but I really don't care.
00:32:20.000You know, I have to stand where I stand.
00:32:22.000And like you, hey, man, you know, both feet on the ground ain't going to scare me off.
00:32:26.000Yeah, no, I mean, you hit a couple things.
00:32:29.000A big portion of this show is about making sure that people understand what's between the lines.
00:32:33.000I think for me, you know, throughout, you know, Russia, Russia, Russia, and coming into politics as just a business guy that, you know, wasn't all that involved.
00:32:41.000It's like, you know, you actually, you wanted to give so many of these institutions and government the benefit of the doubt, but then you realize, like, wow, you really can't.
00:32:50.000You know, they've been, so I look at everything through a very skeptical approach, And cynical lens at this point.
00:33:07.000But I think a big part of the show is, you know, trying to get people to understand that, you know, again, with me, Russia, Russia, Russia, Don Jr.
00:33:13.000committed treason. I'm like, I did what?
00:33:16.000I don't even know what they're talking about, but it didn't stop them from doing it.
00:33:20.000And when they go after General Flynn, you say, well, it's the FBI, it's the CIA. There's got to be some truth to that.
00:33:26.000But these same people are calling concerned parents, PTA medics, domestic terrorists.
00:33:37.000And I think people are starting to figure out that sort of the utopian America that we thought we lived in or many perhaps believed in probably doesn't exist.
00:33:45.000And we have to fight hard to make sure that those ideals, those values, the things that we actually, you know, certainly on the conservative side, hold dear, that they remain for the next generation.
00:33:57.000Yeah, and I have to bring up the point about our border.
00:34:00.000With the infiltration of Hamas into Israel, and they didn't even know it, there was a thousand of them had got inside the country.
00:34:07.000With our borders open, and there's a recent entrance of many people coming across the border from that part of the country.
00:34:17.000We really need to take great care in this next year or so and find out how in the world we can protect ourselves from those people who came into this country legally.
00:36:43.000Too many Republicans are far too weak to fight for the issue.
00:36:47.000Yeah, the bipartisan thing doesn't seem to be working very well.
00:36:52.000I've always believed that there's an axiom you can go by.
00:36:55.000No matter what you believe or what you do, do the right thing.
00:37:00.000I think it was General Schwarzkopf said that.
00:37:02.000Do the right thing, no matter what it is.
00:37:04.000And we are certainly not doing the right thing as far as protecting our nation.
00:37:09.000All I can hope for, and I have two young sons, Dalton, who just got a PhD in cancer research at Vanderbilt, and our younger son, Parker, who is enrolled at the University of Miami and getting his master's in engineering and producing music.
00:37:24.000That they have a chance to move forward to this next generation because we're in a free country.
00:37:30.000The problem is we just have to keep it free and we have to have security.
00:37:39.000Police are really under fire in this country.
00:37:41.000And I don't get it. You know, somebody, if a guy breaks into your home and you can't defend yourself and you dial 911, who do you think is going to come?
00:37:51.000I thank them every day when I see them because, you know, I say, hey, man, thanks for what you guys do because they certainly don't make it easy on you to keep us safe.
00:37:58.000And it's scary. And, you know, they're threatening people's livelihoods and their pensions and this.
00:38:04.000And they, you know, the... It's a scary deal.
00:38:08.000And yet we see on a daily basis how that's worked out in the places.
00:38:13.000They wanted to defund the police and all of that.
00:38:15.000So, you know, yeah, I mean, let's talk about that a little bit.
00:38:18.000You mentioned the word sort of bipartisan, and that seems to be, you know, something that doesn't exist much of these days.
00:38:24.000I know that, you know, God bless the USA. Many of them know it as just proud to be an American.
00:38:30.000So if Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders I know there's lots of liberal artists that if the song is played up in a rally, at the beginning of the rally, they're sending cease-to-desist letters, and they're going nuts, and they're taking the woke talking points and trying to use that as a pulpit to, I guess, in many cases, probably make themselves relevant again.
00:38:54.000What would happen if that happened with your songs?
00:38:59.000Well, first of all, it's not going to happen.
00:39:03.000The candidate on the Democrat side would be shot instantly.
00:39:06.000He would be lynched, and he would lose the nomination in a primary 99.99999 to zero, basically.
00:39:15.000So... But the point about music, I've always believed music is for everyone.
00:39:22.000And even God Bless the USA, which is more of a military anthem, and then yet a song for our citizens of America, you know, that is played at every immigration ceremony.
00:39:33.000When people come from another country and they wait however long, seven years to become an
00:39:36.000American, God bless them, they know more about the country than probably we do because they have to
00:39:41.000do such history research. And they hear the national anthem, the president of the time,
00:39:46.000unfortunately, saying something, and then national anthem is played. They take an oath to the country
00:39:52.000just like I did when I was with the National Endowment of the Arts Council, distributing
00:39:56.000federal money for the culture, and then surrender the flag of their country. So God bless USA
00:40:01.000represents to immigrants what we are and who we are. And if anybody on the left would say,
00:40:08.000and I have a few Democratic friends that I really have supported and like because they're more
00:40:12.000moderate, but if they were to say to me, can I use God bless USA in my campaign in order to get
00:40:19.000reelected? Well, no, you can't. The cancel culture has to work both ways.
00:40:28.000We've got to be playing the same game that they are.
00:41:09.000I just wish we could somehow figure this out.
00:41:12.000And you know what brings us together, unfortunately, is an attack on our own country, a military attack, as you saw, and we pointed out in 9-11 when we got hit.
00:41:22.000We were one country, at least on the surface.
00:41:27.000And we went after the terrorists and we found them.
00:41:30.000It cost us a lot. We lost a lot of soldiers, but there's not been a terrorist attack since then.
00:41:36.000But I'm telling you, we better be alert because it's coming.
00:41:40.000We have too many people filtering across the border, have no idea who they are.
00:45:51.000I was doubling and tripling, playing other shows, writing music for producers for other shows.
00:45:56.000And when the economy hit, I was even playing just single, solo, in a place that was really elite in one of the casinos.
00:46:04.000But when my record hit, that's when, you know, I mean, I finally decided I've got to get out of this This trap and go to somewhere where it's more reality and not necessarily a bubble, because Nevada has a bubble over it.
00:46:16.000And I don't mean politically, but that's crazy stuff there.
00:46:20.000But yeah, when I moved to Tennessee, I mean, things just took off.
00:46:24.000And I'm not from the South, born in Los Angeles, of course, but I'm not really a big city.
00:46:30.000I was raised on a farm in California, and my wife, Kim, and I have been married 31 years now, and she is from the same kind of area as I was, actually born in Ohio, but she's a Tennessean.
00:46:42.000Because when her family couldn't get work in Tennessee, they worked on the rubber plants in Ohio, in Akron, and then they came back to Tennessee finally when things got well here.
00:46:51.000And so I'm very comfortable in Tennessee.
00:46:53.000I love where I live, and I love what I represent, and I walk the walk.
00:46:57.000Don, I talk the talk and walk the walk, just like you.
00:47:00.000So what year was that that you left Las Vegas?
00:47:03.000I'm sort of curious what it was like back then.
00:47:10.000What year was that? That was kind of between the time of Elvis, of course, and Howard Hughes, and all of that mystique that counted all of that.
00:47:21.000But when I left in 1979, I went to Nashville and just...
00:47:26.000I went back a few times, but instead of working some crummy little lounge or casino back room, I ended up working the main room.
00:47:33.000Then I woke up for Crystal Gale and then the Oprah boys and then I started headlining my own shows.
00:47:37.000And it was kind of fun going back and looking at it from that different perspective, because as a struggling musician, it was week to week.
00:47:43.000And, uh, and so when you go in there and you play for like two or three weeks or a month or whatever, as a, as a resident in a major casino, uh, it's a whole different ball game.
00:47:52.000You know, I guess the same thing would be in New York.
00:47:55.000I mean, if you're, if you've got plenty of money and you're living high on a hog, that's great.
00:47:58.000But if you've got your low resources, it's a whole different world.
00:48:03.000Yeah, it's very curious to see, you know, Vegas in the 70s versus, you know, Vegas in the, you know, 2010s and 20s, you know, probably two very different worlds, even in terms of the demo that they're chasing and stuff like that.
00:48:18.000It's, you know, it's amazing to me how, you know, so much of the Vegas revenue is no longer even from gaming.
00:48:23.000It's, you know, entertainment and this and family.
00:48:26.000I imagine in the 70s it was not at all that.
00:48:30.000When I first went there, they actually had shills where someone would come and sit at a blackjack table who was hired by the casino, and they'd have 20 checks, which would represent a dollar each one, and they would bet one at a time, just showing there was something going on.
00:48:47.000And then when entertainment started to be an issue, you had lounges with major acts, and I played with a lot of them.
00:48:56.000Over a 20-year period, and who would bring the people in.
00:49:00.000And then after a while, the casino got so well off from gambling, then they reduced the size of orchestras and bands down to three people playing in a corner somewhere.
00:49:43.000You look at Atlantic City and now, of course, all the Indian casinos, no matter where they are across the United States, they run really well.
00:50:07.000Some of these great places, whether in Oklahoma or where, Minnesota, Wisconsin, upper New York, up there in Connecticut, some of the greatest casinos, they look just like Vegas to me anymore.
00:50:40.000I want to get back to the USO events that you did.
00:50:44.000If you've done 16 all over the world, you're talking about the Philippines, Panama, getting shot at.
00:50:49.000How did you first start getting involved in those events?
00:50:53.000But then more importantly, in doing so, how has it shaped your worldview?
00:50:59.000Being on the ground with those guys, in those situations, did it change the way you think about things, or did it just sort of reinforce what you already believe?
00:51:09.000Yeah, the latter. You know, because I was so very young when I first started doing USO tours, I had a band and we played, let's see, we played 29 Palms from the Marines, Fort Ord for the Army, the Presidia for the Army, McClellan and Mather Air Force bases around my home in Sacramento, California.
00:51:30.000And I told you we even went to Alaska when I was 16 years old.
00:51:33.000And we couldn't play in Alaska at the blockhouse where the bombers were unless I had a girl in the act.
00:51:39.000Oddly enough, so I had to hire a Hawaiian dancer just to have a girl in the act.
00:52:42.000We've built a lot of homes to wounded warriors over the past 12 years, and seeing them get another shot at life really makes it important for me.
00:52:49.000And that's why it's so very important to have on Veterans Day this year If people just go to adoptavet.com, send a veteran and caregiver to the movies for free.
00:53:09.000Over 40 years, and I brought to bear 40 different singers from all genres.
00:53:15.000Gavin DeGraw, Luke Bryant, Michael W. Smith, and the Isaacs, who sing one of my songs, Jamie Johnson, the Oak Ridge Boys, Crystal Gale, the Gatlin Brothers.
00:53:25.000I mean, there are 40 different singers in all genres who come, and they're all highlighted singing a song I had as a career hit.
00:53:33.000I mean, I said in the audience to watch this go down.
00:53:37.000But to send a veteran to see that there is a tribute to the veterans at the very end, and yes, I do, God bless the USA, with the entire cast.
00:53:45.000I mean, you don't want to miss this one.
00:53:47.000It's November 12, all motion picture theaters across America, adoptavet.com.
00:53:52.000So I have people, 50 bucks, you can send a veteran and a caregiver for free.
00:53:58.000I'm sure we know a lot, and I think that'd be great.
00:54:02.000Obviously, I imagine the most memorable time with the military is getting shot at in Panama, but how has, if at all, spending that time with the military, how has it shaped your music?
00:54:20.000You know, I've been a tunesmith, if you will, a writer since I was like 20, you know, and a musician since I was 10 or 11 or 12.
00:54:29.000Basically, when I step on stage, and I've had two shows this week, Night for Last, I was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the Alabama Theater, and I'll be playing with Alabama again on December 1 in Huntsville, just like I did in the early days when Alabama was touring.
00:54:46.000We make music, I think, that reflects the mood of the culture.
00:54:51.000And with the song with Jason Aldean that basically talks about protecting his own home in case that some, you know, and the cancel culture jumped all over that.
00:55:01.000Basically, it's just, if the song wasn't going to be a hit, and it was a hit long before the video was released, and suddenly some tried to make something of it, Jason Aldean is a patriot, just like the rest of us here in Nashville.
00:55:13.000Yeah. And we may—listen, Don, if our music doesn't resonate with the people, we would not make any more of it because we wouldn't be a star anymore.
00:55:25.000When Trump announced, you know, in 15, you know, he's running, you know, the comments, you know, when they were—he talked about rapists at the border, which, of course, there's plenty.
00:55:34.000It's like a known thing, but it didn't matter.
00:57:48.000But what was your reaction to that and your thoughts on that?
00:57:52.000Because I imagine you were probably one of the few sort of outspoken conservatives,
00:57:58.000and probably one of the few outspoken patriots on that panel.
00:58:03.000Yeah, there were two of us and we got let go at the same time.
00:58:07.000Of course, through George Bush, and then through Obama, and your dad, and then when Biden fired me, I really wasn't surprised.
00:58:18.000But I'd been there for 14 years, and it's a six-year term, so...
00:58:23.000That's fine. You know, I think I did a good job and my heart was in the right place trying to always make sure that whatever part of the budget we had to make sure that the culture of America is always in the forefront and historically protected, that was our aim.
00:58:38.000And there were... Yeah, more left than right.
00:58:41.000But they represented different kinds of things, which my field is not sculpture or museums or dance necessarily.
00:58:49.000And we had people who were all artistic.
00:58:51.000And so that's where we came together and united as a panel.
00:58:54.000It's a 14-member committee, but a council.
00:59:03.000However, the White House always had somebody sitting in on our meetings, and that bothered me.
00:59:08.000I didn't like that. We were supposed to make decisions on our own, and they would report back to the White House.
00:59:12.000Now, I don't know that they had anything to say about it, but they always had this cloud of influence over the council, and particularly when Obama was president and when Biden was president, and I think that's why they got rid of me.
01:00:06.000It is a great film edited by folks who really know what they're doing.
01:00:10.000And motion pictures across America on November 12th.
01:00:14.000That's Veterans Day weekend this year, 2023.
01:00:17.000And you can, for $50, go to adoptivet.com.
01:00:22.000Adoptivet.com and send a veteran and his caregiver to the movies for free.
01:00:27.000That's all we ask. We'd like to fill up theaters across America with our veterans this year.
01:00:31.000They deserve it. Well, Lee, thank you very much for everything that you do.
01:00:35.000Thank you for your continued support and, most importantly, the friendship.
01:00:39.000And look forward to seeing you a lot in the coming year as we get into election year because, you know, God knows that patriotism needs to shine through.
01:00:49.000So thanks so much for everything that you do, man.
01:00:54.000All right. Thanks a lot, Lee. Well, guys, Lee, thank you very much. Thanks for all you do.
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