Nashville school shooting hits home

A shooting at Covenant School in Nashville killed six people, including three children. The tragedy struck close to musician Ketch Secor, whose own kids attend a school he co-founded in the same city.

Secor calls for country music to speak up

After the shooting, Secor wrote an op-ed in The New York Times urging country musicians to break their silence on gun culture and speak candidly to their audiences about gun violence.

The weight of two roles

Secor wears two hats in Nashville: parent and musician. When he picks up his nine and eleven year old kids from school, he sees parents and teachers holding back tears, knowing their children are no longer safe.

“When it comes to your home, it's different.”

Wagon Wheel and gun culture

Secor's biggest hit, Wagon Wheel, often blares from trucks with NRA stickers. He notes that while his music reaches gun-owning audiences, country radio avoids discussing modern gun violence or assault weapons.

Country music's safe space problem

Contemporary country radio is a safe space where listeners avoid political divisiveness. Instead, songs deal in nostalgia and feel-good stories, leaving audiences untouched by the reality of gun violence in America.

Guns in country music history

Classic country songs like Johnny Cash's I Shot a Man in Reno and Hank Jr.'s Country Boy Can Survive openly referenced guns. Modern country avoids the topic entirely, even as many listeners own AR-15s.

The real bravery

When people call Secor brave for speaking out, he pushes back. The real bravery belongs to the third grader who pulled the fire alarm during the shooting at Covenant School.

“You know who's brave is the kid that pulled the fire alarm, you know, in the hallway under gunfire in our town in a school, a kid that was a third grader.”

The news cycle moves on

Two weeks after the shooting, while graves were still fresh, the news cycle shifted to other stories. Secor is determined to keep the focus on the three children killed until their deaths mean something.

Nashville's progressive potential

Despite Tennessee's conservative state legislature, Nashville is a progressive city with a history of leading social change. Secor believes the city is uniquely positioned to lead a response to gun violence.

Nashville's civil rights legacy

In the late nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties, Nashville was the proving ground for the civil rights movement. John Lewis and the Freedom Riders trained there. Secor sees gun violence as the next great moral test.

Tennessee's history of change

Tennessee cast the deciding vote on women's suffrage and has been a bellwether state twice before. Secor believes the next fifty years will show these years as the deciding time for an assault weapons ban.

The Dixie Chicks precedent

Country radio still has a strong grip on artists. The Dixie Chicks were ostracized for criticizing President George W. Bush, making mainstream country stars wary of activism.

Secor's unique position

Unlike mainstream chart-toppers, Secor is not beholden to radio programmers or award shows. He can speak freely, but he's asking bigger artists with far greater reach to use their platforms.

Reaching out to fellow musicians

Secor has texted Nashville musicians in the past two weeks, sharing his op-ed and asking them to engage. The most frustrating response has been silence, which he sees as complicity.

“The most frustrating one is silence. I say in the op ed piece that I think silence is complicity.”

A benefit concert shows movement

A benefit concert for Covenant School features number one chart toppers, not just the usual Americana artists. This signals that mainstream country artists are beginning to engage with the issue.

One step leads to the next

When one artist takes a step, the movement can quickly follow and the next step becomes easier. Kelsea Ballerini spoke about gun violence at an awards show, showing momentum is building.

Secor's message to reluctant artists

Country music has the power to carry truth rooted in gospel tradition. Secor believes the genre can break free from the fences that have corralled it and fulfill its great destiny.

“Country music has a great destiny in these times to swing out past the fences that have corralled it in so tightly.”

Louder Than Guns song released

Secor recorded a new song called Louder Than Guns just two days after the shooting. The song calls for voices to rise up and end gun violence in schools.

The song's message

Louder Than Guns opens with Groundhog Day imagery of repeated tragedy. It argues that thoughts and prayers are not enough and calls every town to speak out against gun violence.

“Louder than guns. More powerful than bullets flying. Is the voice rising up saying it's about time to put the last nail in the coffin.”