Blaze News original: 5 popular musicians who are unapologetically conservative

The music industry is often considered to be a business dominated by liberals. However, there are a handful of prominent musicians who are staunchly conservative.

No matter the music genre, there are musicians and singers who possess traditional values and promote right-leaning political viewpoints.

Conservative musicians often incorporate themes of patriotism, small-town values, faith, and individual liberty into their songs. Some singers make their political preferences known by endorsing Republican candidates or criticizing liberal politicians. A few musical groups will even perform at conservative political events.

Music acts that present an authentic conservative message can resonate with music lovers and garner a loyal fanbase that will support them for years.

Openly conservative musicians often face challenges and enhanced scrutiny in an industry that is generally perceived as liberal-leaning.

The songs of conservative singers can shape both the musical landscape and political discourse in America, which can be a unique weapon in the ongoing culture wars.

This list will highlight the best and most popular musicians who are unapologetically conservative and how their political beliefs shape their artistry and resonate with their fans.

Aaron Lewis

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Aaron Lewis is the frontman of the popular rock band Staind as well as a solo country music artist. Lewis is unapologetically conservative and is not afraid to voice his political opinions in real life and in his songs.

Lewis started his country music career in 2010 after being the frontman for the multi-platinum-selling alternative rock band Staind. Switching genres and becoming a solo artist has allowed Lewis to be more vocal about his right-leaning politics.

Lewis often features conservative themes in his country music songs.

In his song "Let's Go Fishing," Lewis sings about "making America great again," "turning off CNN," and uses the anti-Biden "Let's Go, Brandon" catchphrase.

The lyrics for "Country Boy" state: "Now, two flags fly above my land that really sum up how I feel / One is the colors that fly high and proud, the red, the white, the blue / The other one's got a rattlesnake with a simple statement made: 'Don't Tread On Me' is what is says and I'll take that to my grave / Because this is me / I'm proud to be American and strong in my beliefs / And I've said it before but I'll say it again / 'Cause I've never needed government to hold my hand."

The patriotic lyrics in "Am I the Only One" include: "Am I the only one sittin' here / Still holdin' on, holdin' back my tears / For the ones who paid with the lives they gave / God bless the U.S.A. / I'm not the only one, willin' to fight / For my love of the red and white / And the blue, burnin' on the ground / Another statue comin' down in a town near you / Watchin' the threads of Old Glory come undone."

Lewis told Blaze News, "I feel it’s my responsibility to do something good with what God has been so gracious to bless me with. I'm very fact-based. When it comes to the things I’ll say on stage, I can back them up with receipts."

The singer added, "I was around before cell phones and computers. I know what life was like before the deep state and the Democrats were given the ultimate power of the computer and power to brainwash everybody."

As Blaze News reported in 2021, Lewis blasted Democrats for being "responsible for every f***ing scar that exists" in America.

Lewis said there was "an all-out call" for his cancelation when he released "Am I the Only One," which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country chart in 2021.

During a January appearance on "The Devin Nunes Podcast," Lewis told the former Republican House representative, "I'm very blessed in the sense that even though my label president, Scott Borchetta, does not agree with us at all, he believes in the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression, and he's a president of a record label; that is creativity, that's freedom of expression."

Lewis said, "I can't say that I was always a conservative. I mean, when you're younger, it's more about ... There's an old saying that when you're young, if you're not a liberal, you don't have a heart. And then when you're older, if you're still a liberal, you don't have a brain. Or something to that effect. But what happened was is that I got older and responsibilities came into play and having a family and having a home that I had to take care of."

"I don't understand how so many people can be so brainwashed when it is so crystal clear. It's never been so crystal clear," Lewis continued. "The veil has never been pulled away to the extent that it is right now. And it blows my mind that people are so brainwashed that they call it ... Everything's flip-flopped. Truth, lies and propaganda, and the propaganda is hailed as truth. The narrative is hailed as truth, and it's societal insanity."

Blaze News previously reported that Scott Borchetta said, "Aaron Lewis and I have political disagreements. But there are also things we agree on. I think that's the foundation for the idea of our country. It doesn't work if we're so divided that we can't reach across the aisle, have a conversation or an argument, and ultimately shake hands. If we can't do that, and this moment is so divisive, we may never get our country back."

Borchetta continued, "To just 'cancel' (drop) Aaron is ridiculous, and I'm disappointed that you would even suggest such a thing. Comparing Aaron Lewis to the Ghetto Boys? That's a reach and a half. You don't have to agree or acknowledge, but Aaron's message is speaking to millions of people. Let it be a wake up call to Reps and Dems alike — be loud and be heard! It woke you up. It inspired you to make a statement. It worked. And it's working. It's inspiring conversation."

Lewis named BlazeTV's Mark Levin as one of his go-to sources for news.

Trace Adkins

Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images for Universal Music Group

Country music star Trace Adkins is not afraid to voice his penchant for conservative values.

Adkins has incorporated conservative and Christian messages in several of his songs, including "Fightin' Words," Tough People Do," "American Man," "Songs About Me," "Welcome to Hell," and "Muddy Water."

The deep-voiced singer has paid homage to American military members and those who made the ultimate sacrifice during hostile conflicts in his songs, including "Arlington," "Til the Last Shot's Fired," "Empty Chair," "Still a Soldier," and "Semper Fi."

Adkins has volunteered with the Wounded Warrior Project — an organization that provides medical assistance, mental health therapy, and career counseling to wounded service members returning home from the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since 2002, Trace Adkins has performed in 12 USO tours all across the world.

Adkins previously said he is a "lifelong member of the NRA."

Adkins has a history of performing for Republican politicians.

Adkins endorsed Mitt Romney and performed at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

In 2015, Adkins performed the National Anthem at former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam's second inauguration.

The country music star performed at Donald Trump's nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention

He also performed at the 2020 Republican National Convention.

John Rich

John Angelillo-Pool via Getty Images

Country music star John Rich has consistently championed conservative values during his career. The multi-platinum artist and one-half of the duo Big & Rich has also promoted his faith in his songs.

Rich's music video for his song "Revelation" dramatizes the battle between the Archangel Michael and Satan, as described in Revelation 12.

The music video concludes with the text of Revelation 12:10-11 on the screen: "And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Rich said of writing his religious song, "I was at home in Nashville, not even thinking about writing a song, when suddenly it felt like a hammer hit me in the back of the head."

"When the Lord slaps you upside the head with something, you have a physical reaction to it,” Rich said. “The message I felt coming back to me was, ‘Take it all the way to the mat.’”

In his song "Progress" — which reached No. 1 on iTunes — Rich skewers progressive politics.

The lyrics read, "Stick your progress where the sun don't shine / Keep your big mess away from me and mine / If you leave us alone, well, we'd all be just fine / Stick your progress where the sun don't shine."

Rich performed at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) used Rich's anti-Wall Street anthem "Shuttin' Detroit Down" to promote his 2016 presidential campaign.

The lyrics state: "Cause in the real world they're shutting Detroit down / While the boss man takes his bonus pay and jets on out of town and DC's bailing out them bankers as the farmers auction ground / Yeah while they're living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town / Here in the real world they're shuttin' Detroit down."

Rich has been a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, and Big & Rich performed at a pre-inaugural ceremony for Trump in 2017.

Winston Marshall

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Hangout Music Festival

Winston Marshall had been the banjoist and lead guitarist for the popular folk-rock band Mumford & Sons — up until he was canceled for complimenting a conservative journalist.

As Blaze News reported in March 2021, Marshall congratulated Andy Ngo on his new book titled "Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy."

However, Marshall was swarmed with criticisms by liberal music fans for supporting a conservative journalist.

The controversy became so overwhelming that he took a break from Mumford & Sons "to examine [his] blindspots."

In June 2021, Marshall explained why he was leaving the band.

"I failed to foresee that my commenting on a book critical of the far-left could be interpreted as approval of the equally abhorrent far-right," Marshall wrote. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Thirteen members of my family were murdered in the concentration camps of the Holocaust. My grandma, unlike her cousins, aunts, and uncles, survived. She and I were close. My family knows the evils of fascism painfully well. To say the least. To call me 'fascist' was ludicrous beyond belief."

Marshall noted that a "viral mob" came after him.

"Then followed libelous articles calling me 'right-wing' and such," he continued. "Though there's nothing wrong with being conservative, when forced to politically label myself, I flutter between 'centrist,' 'liberal' or the more honest 'bit this, bit that.' Being labeled erroneously just goes to show how binary political discourse has become. I had criticized the 'left', so I must be the 'right,' or so their logic goes."

Marshall told BlazeTV's Glenn Beck that he regretted his decision to apologize to the woke mob for his praise of the conservative journalist.

"Another point, by the way, that I found it very frustrating, was that that left-wing media in this country and in my country don't even talk about [Antifa]. We can all see this footage. We see it online," Marshall told "The Glenn Beck Program." "But they don't talk about it, and that's part of my, I think, interest initially in tweeting about Andy's book. Because I think people need to see what's going on, and it's a blind spot there. ... CNN and MSNBC, they don't cover it. Biden in his presidential election said it was just 'an idea' that didn't exist. I mean, did he not see the courthouse in Oregon being burnt down?"

As Blaze News previously reported, Marshall credited his Christian faith in giving him the strength to quit Mumford & Sons.

“My faith has played a big part in this period of my life, and actually the week before making the final decision [to leave the band], I was pretty much planted in my local Catholic church around the corner from the house," Marshall said. “It's a bloody big moment for me. That's probably why after a while, the apology was bothering me like it did, particularly that I'd felt like I'd been participating in that lie that we already talked about. I couldn't square those things in my conscience."

In May 2024, Marshall challenged former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during an Oxford Union debate that went viral. Marshall compared the Jan. 6 Capitol riots with the George Floyd riots during the summer of 2020.

"I'm sure Congresswoman Pelosi will agree that the entire month of June 2020, when the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, was under siege and under insurrection by radical progressives, those, too, were dark days for America," Marshall stated.

He said, "My point, though, is that all political movements are susceptible to violence and, indeed, insurrection. Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is democracy. And why else have universal suffrage if not to keep elites in check?"

Lee Greenwood

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Lee Greenwood has charted 33 singles on Billboard's Hot Country chart, including 20 Top 10 hits, over his illustrious career that spans more than 42 years. However, none of his songs have had as lasting popularity as his patriotic anthem "God Bless the U.S.A."

"God Bless the U.S.A." became a popular patriotic song during the Gulf War in 1991 after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and at Trump campaign rallies.

Greenwood's signature song was released in 1984, yet the single has trended on Billboard in 1984, 2001, and 2020.

Greenwood wrote the song with the intention of uniting Americans.

"I always wanted to write a song about this country that would be cohesive and tie it together," Greenwood told Inside Edition in 2011.

"God Bless the U.S.A." was the unofficial anthem for President Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign and was the theme song for a film about Reagan shown at the 1984 Republican National Convention.

The Grammy Award-winning country-western singer performed the song at a campaign rally for Republican nominee George H.W. Bush in 1988.

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