Can Country music help lead the U.S. out of the gun debate? There is a long history of famous country musicians using their platforms to comment on social and political issues. But since the lead singer of The Chicks, Natalie Maines, was ostracized after criticizing then President George W. Bush, country music stars have felt safer keeping their political views out of the public eye. Musician Ketch Secor of the band Old Crow Medicine Show is trying to change that. After the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, Ketch wrote an Op-ed in The New York Times calling for country music stars to let go of the fear of retaliation from their fanbase, and to break their silence on the gun debate. Audie talks with Ketch about what it’s like to be a musician and a parent in Nashville right now and what he thinks country musicians can do to help prevent another mass shooting.

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Audie Cornish 00:00:00 I didn't think we'd be doing another episode about a mass shooting so soon. But here we are.

Mayor John Cooper 00:00:06 As a community.

Audie Cornish 00:00:08 This is from a vigil in Nashville.

Mayor John Cooper 00:00:10 Thank you to our artists for sharing the gift of music. You are the custodians of that special gift.

Audie Cornish 00:00:20 I've been to this place, and I don't mean some kind of memorial after a mass shooting, but Nashville specifically. I lived there for a few years covering the South, and it's not a big city. It's dominant industries of music and publishing can make it feel even smaller, like everyone knows everyone. So when First Lady Jill Biden visited the city to attend a vigil for the shooting victims of the Covenant School, it was an absolute given that a country music artist would be there.

Ketch Secor 00:00:50 Will the circle be unbroken?

Ketch Secor 00:00:56 By and by, Lord, by and by.

Audie Cornish 00:01:02 This is Ketch Secor, founding member of the Grammy Award winning band Old Crow Medicine Show. I didn't even get an introduction at the vigil, but that's because everyone in the crowd already knows who he is, not just a famous musician, but a member of their community and a parent of two school aged kids. In fact, the school his kids attend in East Nashville, he co-founded it in 2016. It's called the Episcopal School of Nashville.

Ketch Secor 00:01:29 So I'm wearing two different hats here when a school shooting happens in our town. It's both as a parent and it's as somebody who's on the other side of the pick up line as well. When a country singer gets off the road, chances are at 8:00 in the morning on Monday after the big weekend, that guy or gal is in line dropping their kid off at a school in Nashville, Tennessee. When it comes to your home, it's different.

Ketch Secor 00:01:57 And the sky lowered in the sky.

Audie Cornish 00:02:02 Ketch Secor recently wrote an op ed for The New York Times that caught our attention. It was titled Country Music Can Lead America Out of its Obsession with Guns. In it, he calls for country musicians to speak candidly to their audiences about gun culture. I wanted to have him on the show to talk about that op ed, like, can country music really help lead the U.S. out of a gun debate? And what are the stakes for a musician in the genre if they actually take a stand? And what's it like to live at the center of it all as a parent, educator and musician in Nashville, Tennessee? This is the assignment. I'm Audie Cornish.

Audie Cornish 00:02:45 The shooting at the Covenant School kind of prompted you to write an op ed for The New York Times. But can you take me back to that day a little bit? Where were you when you heard it happening?

Ketch Secor 00:02:56 Sure it was on Monday, two weeks ago, and it was at 10:13 in the morning. I got a text message from our school attorney saying, I'm so sorry, and I had no idea what was going on. And prayer hand emoji is interesting.

Audie Cornish 00:03:14 So getting an emoji like that or getting the obl