Nashville Stars Entertain At The Republican National Convention

2016_Republican_National_Convention_LogoA number of Nashville musicians are performing at this week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.

The official music stage of the event is at Cleveland’s Freedom Plaza, where artists perform both before and after each convention session. The Swon Brothers opened the shows there on Monday evening (July 18) as the stars of the pre-convention activities. A band called Hope Country was also booked.

Monday was also the date of The Buckeye Bash to honor the Ohio delegation and Ohio elected officials. The site was Cleveland Public Hall and the featured band was Rascal Flatts. This benefitted the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.

As previously reported, the Nashville jam band Moon Taxi pulled out of Monday’s Headcount Convention Jam event at the House of Blues. This same venue is hosting shows on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but has not announced any stars.

House Republican Leadership was honored at Concerts for a Cause on Monday at Jacobs Pavilion. The Band Perry performed. According to The Morning Hangover, Big & Rich and Chris Janson entertained on Tuesday (July 19), and Thomas Rhett is on tap for Wednesday (July 20).

But the official RNC stars of Tuesday at Freedom Plaza were Super Diamond and Dave Fenley, and the Wednesday stars there were reported by the RNC to be Lee Brice and Jordy Searcy. Activities at the official site conclude with Hope Country and The Sensations on Thursday (July 21).

A Gospel Brunch at Brickstone on Tuesday morning booked Robert Randolph and Sam Moore. Lee Brice was booked again, this time at a Concerts for a Cause event at Jacobs Pavilion on Wednesday night. He was to be joined by Pat Green.

Also on Wednesday, Martina McBride was scheduled to headline a concert to benefit the arts advocacy group The Creative Coalition. The venue was The Music Box.

A Cleveland Rocks private festival honoring veterans is bookending the RNC. The fest booked Lynyrd Skynyrd for Sunday (July 17) and Kid Rock for Thursday (July 21). The Kid Rock show is being billed as the convention wrap-up party.

Thus far, no Nashville artists have been announced for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next week.

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Robert K. Oermann is a longtime contributor to MusicRow. He is a respected music critic, author and historian.

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