Members of the country music group Confederate Railroad are asking fans to still attend the Illinois State Fair, even though event organizers booted them because of the band’s name.
This, according to a press release band members put out Tuesday.
“It has been brought to my attention that several people have asked both Restless Heart and Shenandoah to cancel their shows in protest of our cancellation. I have spoken to both acts and encouraged them to perform as scheduled,” said Danny Shirley, speaking for the band.
“Live concerts are how we pay our bills and feed our families. I would never want to see another act lose a payday because of this. Please go out to hear these two great bands.”
As various news outlets have already reported, members of Confederate Railroad were scheduled to perform at the Illinois State Fair in Du Quoin on August 27 along with members of Restless Heart and Shenandoah.
Members of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, however, removed the group from the show because the band has the name “Confederate.”
“This was very disappointing as we have played this fair before and enjoyed it very much. The outpouring of support from Confederate Railroad fans, fans of other acts, and the public in general, has been both overwhelming and very much appreciated,” Shirley said.
“I would also like to thank the actors, athletes and fellow country music artists who have spoken out in support.”
Shirley founded the band, which did backup for country music artists David Allan Coe and Johnny Paycheck.
“As I have said many times onstage, I am by no means a saint but, I am a man of faith and I have faith that God will see us through this as well as whatever comes next! Thank you for your support.”
The group has received one Grammy nomination.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Confederate Railroad” by Yetive Simmons Photography.
If I were this music group, I would change my group’s name from Confederate to something else for the same reason that I think the Nashville Predators should change their name to something other than Predators as that connotation one associates with dangerous psychopathic criminals like sex predators, etc. Why would any team want to call itself “The Predators”? If I were on a sports team, I would not want anybody erroneously associating me with an antisocial psychopathic criminal just because of the team’s name.
But back to the term Confederate. While one is perfectly free to use that term, I don’t recommend it because the Confederacy was NOT about states’ rights or one’s heritage; rather, the Confederacy’s REAL purpose was to forcibly expand slavery beyond its 1860 borders into the Free-Soil states and U.S. territories on the West Coast. The only time that pro-slavery advocates would support states’ rights would be if the rights of the particular states involved supported slavery. But when free-soil states opposed Federal enforcement measures like the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act that forced anti-slave states to support the slave state’s pro-slavery agenda, then the so-called “states’ rights” advocates turned against the rights of anti-slavery states with unabated fury.
Wrong!!! When the war started actually first began Slavery had nothing to do with it and Lincoln himself wanted to send people of color back to Africa! Grant himself had said if he found out they were fighting for abolitionists and slavery he would lay down his sword and join the other side! Slavery only became reason because Lincoln was losing the public and public opinion was to stop and end the war!!