Shinedown announced on Friday that they will no longer perform at the Rock the Country festival, which has ties to the MAGA movement, this summer. “Our band’s purpose is to unite, not divide,” the group said in a social media message.
They join a quorum, including Ludacris, Morgan Wade, and Carter Faith, who have decided to drop out of the touring festival, which Kid Rock, a key investor in the event, is headlining.
“We know this decision will create differences of opinion,” the band said. “But we do not want to participate in something we believe will create further division.”
Another artist whose name is no longer listed on the festival’s website, though they appear on the lineup page, is Creed. “I have not been told anything,” a rep for Creed tells Rolling Stone, adding that they had no further information.
If the rest of the lineup holds, the Rock the Country festival will be held in two-night stands in cities around the country this spring and summer. In addition to Kid Rock, performers include Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Jelly Roll, Brooks and Dunn, Miranda Lambert, and Hank Williams, Jr., among many others. Shinedown’s name is no longer listed on the festival’s home page of its website, but are still on the lineup page, as is Carter Faith.
The Anderson, South Carolina date of the festival is no longer listed on the website. Creed and Shinedown were scheduled to perform at it, as were Ludacris, Gretchen Wilson, and Lakeview — whose names no longer feature on the festival’s website.
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Although the Rock the Country festival is not explicitly political, Rolling Stone has reported that in 2024 it served as a platform for Gavin Adcock to rail against then-President Joe Biden and that Donald Trump introduced Kid Rock at concerts via a video message. Adcock is a top-line performer on this year’s lineup. This year’s artwork for Rock the Country bills it as “A Festival for the People” and that it is “Celebrating 250 years of Freedom.”
Shinedown’s last album, Planet Zero, came out in 2022. Last year, they released a number of stand-alone singles, including “Searchlight,” which came out in November.