Name 'em, John. Obviously John Rich has never been shy about making his political opinions known. One half of Big & Rich, the singer isn't afraid to ruffle feathers with his support of President Donald Trump or his criticism of Joe Biden. Rich has spoken publicly in the past about "wokeness" killing country music, blaming labels and publicists for telling artists not to speak out on politics over fear of alienating fans: "They completely just control artists and the artists only has two choices: Do they wanna go have a career, it’s been their dream, do they play the game, go forward and just don’t step on these landmines? Or, do they go out and hit the trip wires and light the place up,? And lose their record deal, and not get invited to the awards show, and radio won’t play them, but… basically erase their career. That’s what they’re faced with. Is there freedom in art in Nashville, total freedom? Absolutely not." Of course, there are a few artists on both sides of the aisle who aren't afraid to speak out about their political beliefs. But according to Rich, there are plenty of artists in Nashville who support Donald Trump behind the scenes but won't say so publicly. It was announced earlier today that Carrie Underwood would be performing "America the Beautiful" at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration next week, and naturally there were plenty of people who were upset and promised to boycott her music. https://twitter.com/GinnyMcDonald8/status/1878881390537928931 Totally sane reactions, right? But Rich praised Underwood for not being afraid of standing up for what she believes in, while calling out "top tier artists" who support Trump but won't admit it publicly: "There are several top tier country artists who support Trump, and I wish they'd finally have the balls to come forward and be counted. Ain't nothing outlaw about keeping your mouth shut to appease the record label. Carrie Underwood is making you look like a bunch of sissy boys." https://twitter.com/johnrich/status/1878903413272084703 I'm sure there will be plenty of theories about who Rich is talking about, but it doesn't sound like he's ready to name names just yet... For her part, Carrie is defending her decision to perform at the inauguration despite the criticism, saying that she's "honored" to be able to support our country: "I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event. I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future." And performing at a presidential inauguration shouldn't be something that an artist has to defend. Garth Brooks performed at the inauguration for President Joe Biden back in 2020, and there weren't calls to "boycott" his music (mainly because nobody was really surprised that he was performing for Biden, but still). It's an honor for any artist to perform at such an important event for our country, and artists should be free to express their political opinions - or not - without having to worry about being "cancelled."