Nashville Musician Says Country Stars Should Break Silence on Guns After School Shooting

On The Assignment, host Audie Cornish spoke with Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show about the role country music could play in the national gun debate after the Covenant School shooting in Nashville.

Secor, who co-founded the Episcopal School of Nashville and has two children who attend, described the shock and grief in his community and the emotional scene at school pick‑up lines in the days after the attack.

He wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times calling on country musicians to stop letting fear of backlash silence them on gun culture and to speak candidly to their audiences about the issue.

Secor argued country music’s close cultural ties to its listeners give artists influence, even as the genre has often functioned as a safe space that avoids confronting modern realities around guns.

He acknowledged the risks, noting past episodes where artists were punished for political comments, but said silence is complicity and described outreach to other musicians and recording a new song on the subject.

Secor pointed to Nashville’s history as a site of social movements and said the city is uniquely positioned to help lead change, even if state politics remain opposed.

The conversation mixed personal grief, industry critique and a call for cultural leadership from country artists in addressing gun violence.

Key Topics

Culture, Ketch Secor, Old Crow, Covenant School Shooting, Nashville, Country Music