Old Crow Medicine Show rally for gun safety in their new song “Louder Than Guns,” a response to last month’s Nashville school shooting. “I don’t want to wake up on another Groundhog Day,” vocalist-fiddler Ketch Secor sings on the track before shouting, “No, I don’t want to hear another rat-a-tat-tat-tat echo down the hallway.” A choir of children join the group for the song’s outro, singing, “Louder than guns/More powerful than bullets flying/Can’t you hear the people crying?” The kids keep singing, “louder than guns.”
Throughout the song’s music video, the band — which has partnered with 97Percent, a bipartisan organization advocating for gun safety — displays statistics, with sources, explaining why they’re supporting gun control. “Each day 12 children die from gun violence in America,” reads one. “More than 349,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine in 1999,” reads another. In between scenes of the group performing, footage of gun-safety protests in Washington, D.C., supports their cries for action.
“When the lives of six teachers and students were snuffed out in a couple minutes at Covenant School in Nashville, I knew I had to speak out, and so I sought every opportunity to do so,” said Secor, a father of two who also cofounded a Nashville school, in a statement. “I wrote the song ‘Louder Than Guns’ and recorded it just a week after the funerals for the slain.
“Before we recorded the track, I carved their names in my fiddle — Hallie, Evelyn, William, the three nine-year-olds, and Mike, Cynthia, and Katherine, the three educators,” he continued. “I dedicate this song to them because I swore when the shooting came to Nashville I was going to work my hardest to make it the last stop on this runaway train of murders, gun violence, and terror. I stand up not knowing the answers as to how this will be done. I am a musician, not a politician. But I will use my voice from now on to demand the change our communities deserve; won’t you join us in Old Crow Medicine Show and take a stand in your community, too?”
Sechor, himself, is redoubling his efforts by joining the board of 97Percent. “We’re proud to partner with 97Percent, an organization focused on pragmatic, impactful solutions that both non–gun owners and gun owners want, because we recognize the huge importance of getting through the gridlock on the issue of gun violence,” he said. “Parents across America must set the example for politicians; the time is now for the Left and Right to come together at the bargaining table. As 97Percent believes, we’re never going to make progress without engaging gun owners. Old Crow hopes our partnership will be a calling to gun owners and sportsmen. The time to act is now and both sides simply must come together before the next innocent lives are lost.”
Earlier this month, Sechor spoke with Rolling Stone about the importance of gun control and said he intended to reach out to his local politicians for conversations around the issue. “I want to sit down with [Tennessee] Governor Lee,” he said. “I want to sit down with Senator [Marsha] Blackburn and Senator [Bill] Hagerty. … I’m upset with the circumstances of the America that I’m bringing my children up in. And even though I didn’t vote for those guys, they are the leaders of my state, and of my state in the nation. I need them to know that I want to peaceably demonstrate how unacceptable the new terms of being a parent in Nashville, Tennessee, are.”