Lee Greenwood and Chris Janson to appear at the 2024 Republican National Convention
Lee Greenwood and Chris Janson continued their series of appearances in support of Donald Trump on the first night of the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Donald Trump appears at the RNC with a bandaged ear
Donald Trump appears on the first night of the Republican National Convention with a plaster on his ear
2017 Grand Ole Opry inductee Chris Janson and multiple “God Bless the USA” country chart-topping singer Lee Greenwood performed on the first night of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Center in Milwaukee.
For the latter, it continued a four-decade-long series of iconic moments in the Republican Party linked to his patriotic anthem released in 1984.
“Prayers work. This nation is built on faith. Prayers work. Because when Donald Trump turned his head just slightly, he was sure the bullet had missed him just enough to save his life and become the next President of the United States,” Greenwood said from the podium before introducing former President Trump to the crowd and singing “God Bless the USA.”
“They are not going to overthrow this man. He has the courage, the strength and he will be the next president of the United States,” Greenwood added.
Trump’s surprise appearance at the convention came after a gunman opened fire at his rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday. The incident left the former head of government and two other people injured and one man dead.
Chants of “Fight, fight, fight” rang out from the crowd as Greenwood finished his song and Trump – whose right ear was bandaged after the assassination attempt – stood front and center on the stage.
Chris Janson continues his series of appearances at the Republican National Convention supporting Trump
Janson performed his latest single, “All American Guy,” at a series of concerts and festival appearances across the country in July, including headlining in front of 25,000 people at the Hodag Country Festival in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, 48 hours before his performance at the Republican National Convention.
“Country music is for the fans and I have the best fans! This is the real America. This is real country music. The energy around me felt so unified and wonderful that I just decided to bring them all on stage,” he added, describing how he was surrounded by patrons at the side of the stage and VIP guests who accompanied him on stage to close the event.
Janson joined the house band at the 2016 convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland to sing a version of Tim McGraw’s “Truck Yeah” called “Trump Yeah.”
Chris Janson and LoCash helped write “Truck Yeah” for McGraw in 2012.
Of his recent work, Janson added in a 2023 Tennessean feature:
“For most Americans, the values of family, God and our local communities are not just what country music is about – they are alluring to all of us.”
Lee Greenwood’s long-standing support of the Republicans
Two decades after beginning his career as the frontman of a pop band in Las Vegas, Greenwood was lured to Music City in 1979 by Mel Tillis’ bandleader Larry McFaden.
Half a decade later, “God Bless The USA” was released – Greenwood’s seventh consecutive top 10 single. It was originally written in response to the shooting down of a Korean passenger plane en route from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seoul by the Soviet military in September 1983, which was mistaken for a US spy plane. All 269 passengers and crew on board, including Georgia resident Larry McDonald, a member of the US House of Representatives, died.
Ronald Reagan included the song in a video shown at the 1984 Republican National Convention. Four years later, during the presidential campaign, Greenwood sang the song in support of George HW Bush at rallies and at the 1988 Republican National Convention.
Years later, the song also acquired military significance.
During the 1991 Gulf War and after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the song eventually became a cross-genre top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
For Greenwood, the song’s references to his home state of California, the country’s pop culture centers of New York City and Los Angeles, as well as Detroit and Houston, make strategic sense because they are “economically part of the base of our economy – Motortown and the oil industry,” as he noted in a 2012 interview.
Greenwood and Trump
During the 2016, 2020 and 2024 U.S. presidential campaigns, President Donald Trump used Greenwood’s song as the introductory track for his campaign rallies. Greenwood, an avid Trump supporter, also frequently appeared as a campaign speaker for the former president.
Trump has also publicly endorsed Greenwood’s Bible, “God Bless the USA,” which was published in May 2021.
Originally released to commemorate the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, it features Greenwood’s handwritten version of the refrain “God Bless the USA” alongside the text of the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Pledge of Allegiance, and the King James Bible.
“Our founding fathers did a great job building America on Judeo-Christian values,” Trump said in a video posted on social media in March, urging his supporters to buy Greenwood’s Bible. “Now that foundation may be under attack like never before.”
“All Americans must have a Bible in their home and I have many. It is my favorite book,” Trump added. “Religion is so important and so lacking, but it will come back.”
On July 13, after the shooting at Trump’s rally, Greenwood posted the following on social media:
“Tonight’s attack has brought the nation ever closer to chaos and an emergency lockdown. We must pray. Let America pray again!”
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