No, The Randy Rogers Band is NOT Playing at Trump’s Presidential Inauguration
Deep breaths everybody, deep breaths. You can put your pitchforks away. Yes, The Randy Rogers Band will be playing in Washington D.C. for a function that runs parallel with the Presidential inauguration in January, but it is a long-running event that’s been held since 1953 by the Texas State Society called Black Tie and Boots in Oxon Hill, Maryland that has become one of the most prestigious events leading up to the inauguration for the last 60 years, but has no direct affiliation with Mr. Trump’s official inauguration itself.
After a plethora of media outlets reported on the inaugural performance with click bait headlines to bamboozle you into thinking Randy Rogers was strapping on his six string in solidarity with Trump, which would be tantamount to pledging allegiance to Satan and taking the stage to bite the heads off of babies in some people’s minds, Randy Rogers was forced to publicly address the situation on Wednesday (12-21) to douse the fires being stoked to burn him at the stake.
“Calm down, everybody. We are playing an event for the Texas State Society in DC. It’s grand, historic and an honor,” he said on Twitter.
It could have been Hillary Clinton being inaugurated, or the Purple People Eater, and this event would still be occurring, and someone would play the music for it. As Randy Rogers says, it’s an honor for a Texas band to be chosen for the event, and they booked the gig before Trump was elected.
The musical performers for the Trump inauguration has been a hot button issue in country music and beyond as planners struggle to find anyone willing to step up. Garth Brooks’ name was bandied about for a while, and his publicist said, “Garth has performed for the five living presidents. While rumor has it that he has been asked to perform for President-elect Trump, he has not been able to commit yet.” Garth himself told TMZ, “It’s always about serving. It’s what you do.”
But apparently the idea of Garth playing was 86’d at some point. Some reports have said ambassadorships have been offered for a big name to perform the inauguration, while other big names have been turned down like Andrea Bocelli. Young classical singer Jackie Evancho will sing the National Anthem, while Big & Rich have been tapped to play a function for the Recording Industry Association of America, a.k.a. The Grammys, probably because nobody else wanted to be mischaracterized as playing Trump’s inauguration (see The Randy Rogers Band).Â
Can’t wait for four years of this shit.
Corncaster
December 21, 2016 @ 7:52 pm
this is what you get when “the personal is the political” — like a boot on your face, forever, Orwell said
Kyleboy
December 21, 2016 @ 8:05 pm
I didn’t vote trump I voted third party, but calm your tits kyle. I love your website but you gotta think 90% of rogers fans did vote trump. Probably 75% or your followers voted trump. I don’t like him but I’m not gonna freak out until I see what he actually does. Chill with hating on him, at least until he takes office.
Trigger
December 21, 2016 @ 8:17 pm
Kyleboy,
See, this is the problem. I spent the entire last week defending myself as a sexist and assumed Trump supporter (https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/i-am-not-a-misogynist-an-editorial/), and now I’m hating on Trump? This is the precarious position you’re put in when you truly take an apolitical stance.
I’m not hating on Trump, or loving on Trump. What I’m hating on is the mania surrounding the entire topic where The Randy Rogers Band can’t play a gig they booked before Trump was even elected and have to address a gurgling backlash due to misconceptions.
I am steadfastly committed to keeping Saving Country Music agnostic to politics unless it directly intersects with the music, as it did here. And then my only obligation is to telling the story.
Chad
December 21, 2016 @ 9:18 pm
Seems I only comment on vaguely political posts, Trigger. I’ll try to keep this one modest — as one of the 25% of your readers (per “Kyleboy’s” statistical analysis) who sure as hell didn’t vote for Trump, I’ll posit that his particular brand of hyperpartisan attack-style politics means anyone associated with him is going to be construed as taking a political position, even more than usual. I just don’t agree with the “he’s the president and it’s my duty to perform if asked” logic. I’m sure Ted Nugent and Kid Rock would have refused to perform at a Clinton inaugural.
I recognize your attempt at being neutral and apolitical. But I’d argue that, for some people, it’s that attitude that gets us into these messes. Everything is politics.
Trigger
December 21, 2016 @ 9:41 pm
I feel confident the readership of Saving Country Music is much closer to 50/50. Certain demographics are stimulated to post on certain topics than others, which can sometimes make the numbers look skewed. Yes, there are more conservatives in traditional country, but there are also more liberals in Americana. My hope is through the shared love of music, we can understand that we all have a lot more in common with each other than the polarized political system which looks to spread mania to keep its system flush with currency leads us to believe.
Tom
December 22, 2016 @ 10:22 am
“……there are also more liberals in Americana.”
Liberals, maybe, but not pro-establishment Democrats, and in this election Hillary was the face of establishment politics.
I would guess more like 40% independent/third party, 35% Trump, and 25% Clinton.
HaydenLane
December 24, 2016 @ 9:45 pm
There’s certainly more that identify as liberal in songwriting, regardless of genre. Or any form of the arts, for that matter.
Rita Ballou
December 21, 2016 @ 8:06 pm
The event is called the “Black Tie and Boots Presidential Inaugural Ball.” If people automatically ASSUME it is something that it isn’t because they don’t bother reading the clearly stated description in the metadata, is it still considered “clickbait?” I know that we posted about on this story…with information straight from a press release…but our website only allows a certain number of characters in a blog post title. I personally consider “clickbait” something like: YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT SHOCKING VENUE THE RANDY ROGERS BAND HAS CHOSEN TO PLAY.
People need to just calm down. Randy was booked for this event prior to the damned election.
Trigger
December 21, 2016 @ 8:13 pm
Rita,
Please don’t think I was accusing you or KOKE of posting click bait. In fact I think it was one of your posts that alerted me to the backlash going on against Randy. I was referring more to entertainment websites that don’t know Randy Rogers from Adam, but salivated when they saw a Texas artist they could tie to the inauguration through loose wording.
Big Cat
December 21, 2016 @ 8:24 pm
Sounds like a bunch of pussies to me
Jacob Ware
December 21, 2016 @ 8:26 pm
I am g!ad to say I had not heard this yet. Although, I don’t think this would necessarily hurt their reputation as much as one would think. I think more people support him than will come forward, although I think that support is waning because of the obviously self serving appointments as of late. You got to remember, a hell of a lot of southerners, especially texans formally supported him. Randy Rogers majority fan base is Texas, not to say he doesn’t have any national recognition, but he belongs to us. And this is the hallmark of a true Texas country artist, independence from mainstream opinions, trends, judgement, and influence.
I literally don’t know a single white person besides myself that doesn’t at least pretend to support trump. I should preface that with I can’t vote and so I don’t care. But really ii don’t care if they did I wouldn’t hold iit against em. Hopefully they impeach him anyway, though the industry ii work started booming the day after election. It wasn’t doing bad before but you could see all the jobs and plans open up.
Acca Dacca
December 21, 2016 @ 8:43 pm
It’s unfortunate that the RIAA function is on inauguration day as well. Aside from obvious reasons, the actual event is known as Musicians On Call, which “brings the healing power of music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities nationwide” — i.e. it’s a charity event. Say what you want about Big & Rich, but they do a LOT of charity work — every other week seems to hold some new story of them holding a benefit show or helping out a cause — and they don’t deserve to be smeared any more than the Randy Rogers Band. But of course, seemingly every article covering this has been quick to point out the timing and also the fact that John Rich was the winner of Celebrity Apprentice in 2011. I suppose that the duo is lucky they’re a rather low-key and partially reviled outfit to begin with.
And what do you mean four years, Trigger? If we’re “lucky” we’ll get eight.
Kross
December 21, 2016 @ 9:03 pm
Too bad, I think it would do more for RRB carrer in a positive way. He should play if invited.
Jared S
December 22, 2016 @ 3:58 pm
Try reading more than the headline.
seak05
December 21, 2016 @ 9:16 pm
Toby Keith and Alabama are both playing a Trump affiliated fundraiser in DC the day after the inauguration & haven’t received any death threats that I’ve seen. I suspect most of their fans voted for Trump. In truth I suspect most country acts would get more heat for turning it down.
It seems like Trump doesn’t really want a slew of country acts though, but for pop acts, fans would be unhappy. With Mark Burnett involved their was a rumor that Trump wanted Gwen Stefani, her fans would go nuts (t’s harder to tell LGBTQ folks that it’s not personal, when the VP has advocated for conversion therapy, that’s sort of personal).
Trigger
December 21, 2016 @ 9:44 pm
Yeah funny I posted this article because of the backlash against the Randy Rogers Band, and now they’re receiving a backlash because folks are too lazy to read the story and think they purposely turned an invitation down. I give up.
seak05
December 21, 2016 @ 10:19 pm
Yeah, tbf it’s not new, a bunch of NASCAR drivers turned down an invite from Pres. Obama to cite one example. A Keith or Alabama can play for Trump because them/their fans/image match up with who supported PE Trump, Springsteen can play for Obama because same (the backlash comes from people who already don’t like them, so….. But Springsteen playing for Trump would get backlash from his fans, and same for Keith playing for Pres. Obama
HaydenLane
December 24, 2016 @ 9:50 pm
Wasn’t Toby Keith an outspoken democrat for a long time?
Chris
December 22, 2016 @ 12:48 pm
I didn’t hear anything about backlash against RRB, but I have been working obscene hours and could have missed it.
I don’t dispute it, but I didn’t see anything about that.
JC Eldredge
December 21, 2016 @ 9:27 pm
Daryl Worley is performing at one of the balls, according to the website. There is another country guy listed but I’ve never heard of him.
http://www.greatamericanball.com/entertainment/
Whiskeytown
December 21, 2016 @ 10:34 pm
Unrelated, just heard the that Randy Rogers has purchased the historic Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos. No matter what side of the political fence your on, this is great news.
Chris
December 22, 2016 @ 5:58 am
I like the name of the event-Black Tie and Boots.
I always wear my lack gator tail boots with my tux.
I did a couple of weeks ago at our firm Christmas party.
Our outgoing Lt Governor always wears a pair of black ostrich quill boots with the Great Seal of Tn embossed on them.
Craig
December 22, 2016 @ 6:36 am
Remember what it was rock and roll to do whatever the F&^% you wanted? Can you imagine telling Johnny Cash ‘wait, don’t do that, Twitter will be pissed’?
Jordan
December 22, 2016 @ 6:58 am
Yes!
DJ
December 22, 2016 @ 7:24 am
Good lord
RD
December 22, 2016 @ 12:16 pm
I heard that Trump is going to name David Allan Coe poet laureate.
Chris
December 22, 2016 @ 12:58 pm
I don’t look to artists of any nature (authors, musicians, painters, etc.) for their political thoughts and inclinations.
Nor do I look to any elected officials or other politicos for literature, music, etc.
Fat Freddy's Cat
December 22, 2016 @ 12:59 pm
I don’t agree with the idea that everything in our lives is or ought to be decided by politics. I believe that anyone who makes everything political is living less than a full life.
In the realm of music, none of my favorite musicians completely shares my political views. Some are fiercely progressive; others are social conservatives. I am neither. But I don’t judge their music based on their political views. This goes double for those musicians I know personally; their politics differ from mine but I’m very happy and proud to call them friends. My life is richer because they’re in it, and because their music is in it.
CountryKnight
December 22, 2016 @ 3:07 pm
Death threats to a teenage girl.
“Tolerance.”
Jack Williams
December 22, 2016 @ 3:56 pm
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/Jewish-family-flees-Lancaster-County.html
“Christians.”
CountryKnight
December 22, 2016 @ 4:03 pm
Nice try. There are not any death threats mentioned in that article.
Try again.
And maybe people should not cancel a Christmas classic.
Jack Williams
December 22, 2016 @ 4:19 pm
I see. No death threats mentioned in the article so that settles it. They fled in fear of self righteous so-called Christians like you.
CountryKnight
December 22, 2016 @ 4:24 pm
It is a false comparison. No death threats equals false comparison.
Tolerance was directly referring to the people making the death threats who, most likely, pride themselves on their tolerance.
So-called Christians? So, you are an expert on what a Christian is? Pray tell, share with us.
Jack Williams
December 22, 2016 @ 7:34 pm
The family, who had nothing to do with the cancellation of the play, fled their home after seeing some Breitbart commenters ask that their address be posted. What do you suppose they wanted that for? The family didn’t want to take any chances after the recent Comet Ping Pong incident.
I’m not seeing anything definitive about a death threat to Jackie Evancho, as I’m assuming that’s what you’re talking about. Just one political message board has such title about a death threat but the text of the one tweet shown in the entry and attributed to “one person” wasn’t actually a death threat. Couldn’t find anything on it on Fox or Breitbart either. I would think they’d be all over that.
I grew up in an observant Catholic family (church every Sunday and all holy days of obligation). I went to 12 years of Catholic school. Let’s just say I’m pretty good at spotting sanctimonious hyprocrites.
Oh. Here’s something for your reading pleasure.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/12/trumps-harassment-of-an-18-year-old-girl-on-twitter-led-to-death-threats.html
Trigger
December 22, 2016 @ 7:55 pm
Folks, I heard about apparent death threats to announced performers at Trump’s inauguration via a news program. I’m not seeing similar reports online. Perhaps the report I heard was presumptuous, I don’t know, but I’ve stricken that from this article because I cannot independently corroborate it, or find an appropriate link to that information. I once received a death threat for positing a praise-filled review of Colter Wall, I guess because he once opened for Shooter Jennings? I just assumed everyone receives death threats, but apparently it’s only me 🙂 .
I’m not saying the threats didn’t happen, but I can’t independently verify them at the moment. Sorry for the confusion.
JC Eldredge
December 22, 2016 @ 9:30 pm
The family actually went on a pre planned vacation. They had to have their attorney release that information after the media jumped on the story and made it sound like they were running for their lives. They even said that they were never upset about the play, never complained, only asked in September that their child be excused from participating because they were Jewish. Breitbart and Fox News twisted it to state that they had complained and readers were then trying to dox them and print their address. It wasn’t even local families that were upset, but readers of the manipulated news story that were calling for the family’s heads and demanding that their personal information be shared.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/jimdalrympleii/jewish-family-didnt-flee-town-after-being-blamed-for-christm
Jack Williams
December 23, 2016 @ 8:18 am
Ah. A fake news story, then. I saw the story on a few sites I considered reputable, but I guess I need to be a little more discriminating. Still, a fair amount of ugliness there and I do think some local families were upset. There was first a local story about the cancelled, which Fox and Breitbart then ran with. My guess would be that it was some local folks who were the source for that story. According to WaPo (which I don’t think ran the fake story), a local rabbi said the child was getting harassed by classmates, whom they blamed for the play getting cancelled. The school principal sent a letter to parents categorically denying that the play was cancelled for religious issues.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/12/22/jewish-family-in-lancaster-pa-threatened-after-being-falsely-blamed-for-cancellation-of-school-christmas-play/
CountryKnight
December 23, 2016 @ 7:10 pm
Check your sources next time, Jack, before running your mouth.
I feel like an apology is in order.
Jack Williams
December 23, 2016 @ 7:57 pm
Are you kidding me? At least there was good amount of truth to the story and some ugliness on the part of some “Christians” (threats, harassment). There doesn’t appear to anything to the claim that Jackie Evancho received death threats and yet you ran with it to try to score some cheap culture warrior points. And then you have the gall to tell me to check my sources before “running my mouth” and that an apology is in order. You are some piece of work.
Nadia Lockheart
December 22, 2016 @ 5:20 pm
I certainly didn’t vote Trump, but it nonetheless greatly saddens me when something as broad as music is victim to tribalism.
It’s counterintuitive. Focus your grievances on the elected official himself. Sending death threats or maligning others for either their confirmed or presumed support or commitments arranged beforehand is a tragedy.
Mike W.
December 22, 2016 @ 6:14 pm
Yeah, but sadly this is nothing new. Remember last year when Tim McGraw was under fire from some segments of the right for playing a Sandy Hook benefit concert? Both sides have large segments of believers who just practice intolerance of ideas and/or opinions. It’s only gotten worse thanks to social media and all the crap associated with Facebook and Twitter.
Nadia Lockheart
December 22, 2016 @ 6:27 pm
You know, as much as I loathe the anti-intellectual trendlines that have resulted in the rise of pseudo-journalism on both ends of the ideological continuum, I just wish that many more would be willing to seek out not just their usual sources, but the top five or six searched sites from conflicting ideologies as well to get a more complete understanding of where others are coming from in their attitudes and conclusions.
I keep coming back to this site because I have long believed Trigger makes a concerted effort to take in the whole mosaic approach in investigating matters, rather than bank on narrow preconceived perceptions.
PCS20832
December 22, 2016 @ 10:10 pm
I don’t know the RRB. But, I’m old enough to recall a time where I was clueless as to the political leanings of my favorite musicians. And life was better in so many ways.
Gerald
December 23, 2016 @ 9:17 am
A blogger that hates trump and is an sjw!? Crazy!
Trigger
December 23, 2016 @ 9:26 am
Who is that?
Whiskey_Pete
December 23, 2016 @ 10:06 am
Make Country Music Great Again.
RD
December 23, 2016 @ 9:31 pm
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/41/68/12/4168129a35cbe44db31f2f849af1c7f1.jpg
Don
December 24, 2016 @ 7:46 am
That’s too bad, that would have been cool if they were!
Jen
December 26, 2016 @ 8:29 am
I couldn’t care less who plays at the inauguration. I won’t be watching. I don’t even have a TV booked to cable, and I don’t have the patience to sit through hours of boring political bullshut, and I voted for the man. I sure as hell wasn’t voting for Hitlery Cliton! Anyway, I’m just sick of all these celebs opening their mouths about politics. I don’t watch movies for the political rhetoric. I watch movies for entertainment. I also listen to music for the same reason. If you want to play, then do so. Don’t worry about what others think. In that case, you’re doing your job. However, an entertainer should never be paid to spout politics, because it makes at least half their fan base hate them. I know after so much leftist BS before the election and after, I’m no longer going to pay to watch any movies or listen to any music. I’m done with Hollywood altogether. At least we didn’t see a bunch of Nasvhille artists come out speaking against anyone who was against their candidate, because I don’t think any of them really said whom they voted for! Some, it was obvious whom they wouldn’t vote for, but otherwise, I respect them staying neutral. BTW: i believe Darryl Worley said he would be performing one of the inaugural events. I follow him on FB, and he actually mentioned it. He’ll be singing “Have You Forgotten”.