The Final Curtain … Now What?

Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard put out a song the other day called “Undivided.”

One line sums up the feelings of so many: “I’m tired of looking left or right / So I’m just looking up.”

A new president swears in next week, and a few thousand more will line up for the vaccine. You wonder what will the country be like in the next four years?

This week three Country music icons were recognized for their lifetime work. Toby Keith and Ricky Skaggs received the National Medal of Arts. Garth Brooks will be honored in May with the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. All three artists are special, and they have done outstanding work.

The Tennessee legislature is being asked to consider putting up a statue on the Capitol grounds honoring Dolly Parton. Private funds will pay for it, and she deserves that tribute. Dolly and Davy Crockett are both folk heroes. Both Tennesseans are heroes to so many. All of these stars have made a difference.

Country music’s time is here again. The next Medal of Arts and Kennedy Center honorees are among us.

Too many artists spent the last year in hibernation. Others have tried to make a difference with social media and even drive-in shows.

Now is the time to use every bit of the stardom and influence available to see if we can get healthy and restart our lives. Calm down the politics, be uniters not dividers.

Have I missed Country artists telling people to get the Covid shot, or are we against that? Where is the PR? Where is the leadership on this issue? We are never going to get back to work and in front of audiences if people refuse to get vaccinated, simple as that.

Why did this virus ever get political in the first place? The masses listen to Music Row, right? So why is Country music scared to promote getting the vaccine? The right and the left need to find common ground on this.

I read a review about a new song that was about the most over the top review I’ve ever read about anything. Why can’t we turn some of that passion toward getting us all back to having a normal life? (I did think that song reviewed was pretty horrible.)

That bomb rocked more than just Nashville’s 2nd Avenue on Christmas day. It shook our comfort level in a city that was already a mess with the ever-present virus. It is going to take strong leadership to get Nashville back to the place we recognize.

The new artists need to surface from wherever they have been hiding. Get back online, get on the radio and TV, wake up! All artists need to find their second wind. Let’s put up a fight to get our lives back!

If the last four years were as bad as some would say, who is going to step up now? No excuses.
The bell has rung.
Who will answer the call?