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Lee Greenwood has been performing on the campaign trail with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Image credit Wikimedia Commons

In a black and white western shirt with 6-inch fringe on the sleeves, Lee Greenwood has been belting his time-tested hit “Proud to Be an American” in Ohio, Colorado and Virginia.

It’s a patriotic song that Greenwood first performed for President Reagan, then for President Bush – both of them.

“I toured with John McCain, Bob Dole, Sarah Palin,” Greenwood says in an interview between campaign appearances. “I’m a conservative Christian, and I feel it would be out of context if I were on the other side of the aisle.”

Greenwood says he’s turned down offers to sing for Democratic candidates.

Celebrities of all stripes lend their spotlight to campaigns – nothing novel about that, says John Rumble, senior historian of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

“But if you look at all of these folks supporting Romney this year,” he says. “Rodney Adkins, the Oak Ridge Boys, Hank Jr., of course.”

There are some loud-and-proud Democrats in the business, Rumble says. But the big name country artists largely sing from the same songbook these days. Who can blame them? Overnight, fans turned on the Dixie Chicks in 2003 when they criticized President Bush and the Iraq War.

“Their sudden disappearance from radio after all this tremendous success I think really threw not just a bucket but a barrel of cold water on other country artists who might have been vocal about supporting Democratic or independent candidates,” Rumble says.

Working Music

Country music fans who flock to Nashville seem to have no problem with their rhinestone rockers getting political.

“If they were on the stump for Obama, yes,” says Pat Sandrini. “But Romney? No. It’s a good thing.”

Sandrini and her husband Robert are farmers in California’s central valley. They say country music is about patriotism, family, and hard work. Robert Sandrini says the themes line up with his brand of Republican views.

“We are all working,” he says. “Yes we have the money, but we work for the money. We work every day hard to get our money. So if they say we’re the rich people. We might be, but because we’re working for it.”

Politically charged tunes are always coming out, and a few country artists have tried to ride the campaign wave this year. The first track on a new release from the outspoken Hank Williams Jr. is called ‘Takin Back the Country.’

Lesser known acts are joining the chorus too, like a southern rock group named Rayburn. A new song titled ‘Keep the Change’ sounds squarely aimed at President Obama and his 2008 campaign slogan. Songwriter Eldon Huff of Kingston Springs says not so fast.

‘A Dangerous Game’

“I don’t think we really had anything particular in mind or any one person in mind that we were writing about,” Huff says in a web video about his song. “It was just the political climate of today.”

Mike Slusser has been playing on Lower Broadway for more than a decade and says country music fans value common sense. Photo credit Blake Farmer/WPLN

Listeners will have to decide for themselves. But this is where the rubber meets the road for musicians who can’t afford to alienate any fans, like Mike Slusser. He’s a familiar face in Nashville’s tourist district. He’s been playing for tips on the sidewalk for more than a decade.

“It’s a dangerous game – politics – because you have to appeal to everybody,” he says.

To Slusser, it’s a game not worth playing, even if he could get cheers with some good Obama zingers. He counts himself to be a typical country music fan – blue collar with traditional values. But he sees another common thread.

“I think the main thing about country people is common sense,” he says.

And common sense isn’t owned by one party or the other, Slusser says.

But for now, common sense is telling most of those in the country music industry to keep their mouths shut if Mitt Romney’s not their man.