One country musician is calling for other artists to oppose assault rifles

Every Thursday on The Assignment, host Audie Cornish explores the animating forces of this extraordinary American political moment.

It’s not about the horse race, it’s about the larger cultural ideas driving the conversation: the role of online influencers on the electorate, the intersection of pop culture and politics, and discussions with primary voices and thinkers who are shaping the political conversation.

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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