Louder Than Guns – The Assignment with Audie Cornish

Ketch Secor, founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show, and a parent, educator and musician in Nashville, Tennessee, recently wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled “Country Music Can Lead America Out of its Obsession with Guns”. In conversation with Audie Cornish for The Assignment, Secor describes how he felt when he received a text message from his school attorney advising him of the shooting, particularly affected as a parent whose two children attend the school involved. The carpool line became a place where parents and teachers met in solidarity in the face of the tragedy, tears held back as they waited to collect their children, surrounded by the vibrant joy and life of the students, devastatingly juxtaposed with their own grief and sadness.

Secor acknowledges the important role that country music plays in a particular community, one that might be different than that of the musicians themselves. His most successful song, Wagon Wheel, which he wrote at age 17, for example, is often characterized as a “truck song with an NRA sticker”. Secor recognizes that country music is often the soundtrack to gun culture, and that country musicians should use their platform to become more vocal about their thoughts on guns to their audiences.

Country music enjoys a broad and passionate audience, and is famously Nashville’s signature industry. Secor believes that country music can be the voice of change, and that change can happen from within the industry. He cites examples of how country music has helped change perceptions in the past, such as in the 1960s, when the Everly Brothers refused to perform in front of a segregated audience. And the song “Okie from Muskogee” by Merle Haggard, also from the late 1960s, reflected a largely conservative area of growing dissatisfaction with counterculture movements, however later became an anthem against the Vietnam War. This kind of musical commentary from country artists, challenging their own communities within the industry, supports the idea that as industry leaders, country musicians can and should use their platform to catalyse change.

Ketch Secor’s op-ed for The New York Times speaks to the heart of gun culture in America, and as a parent, he recognizes the importance of gun safety for himself, his children and his community. He believes that it’s time for country music to have more difficult conversations around guns, and to speak candidly to their audiences about the need to make safety a priority. Secor believes that country music has the potential to change attitudes, and that it can lead the U.S. out of its obsession with guns. For the country music industry to use their platforms to make gun safety a priority is not only necessary, but also it helps account for a very particular audience that can and should be reached.



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