Country Music Artists Reflect on September 11 and Its Enduring Impact
When hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center towers in New York City, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania on September 11 2001 the tragedy changed the country forever. Alan Jackson sang about the shock asking, "Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?" Many country music artists remember that morning in detail feeling unsure hearing calls to service and rushing to give comfort with music.
Key Highlights
Country music artists shared memories of learning about the attacks on September 11 2001.
Country music artists turned their feelings into songs, charity records and benefit shows.
Country music artists reflected on service first responders and the lasting cultural change after the tragedy.
Midwest Wilderness to Military Activation
For one country music artist September 11 started from modern phones. He slept in a teepee on the Midwest prairie while hunting free-range bison. He and his friends did not return to the camp until late at night. The morning they found a note from the ranch owner and learned about the full tragedy. As an Army Reserve member the artist packed his car and drove straight back to Nashville, ready for possible deployment when his unit was called.
Honoring First Responders and Modern-Day Heroes
Another country music artist remembers being asleep when his wife, Lisa quietly led him to the television. After the attack the artist felt sorrow and went for a hike. He saw how quiet the sky was, with no planes in the air. Moved by stories of retired Green Berets wanting to re-enlist the artist worked with Hayden Nicholas to write "Code of the West " a song for soldiers, police officers and firefighters who ran into danger.
Responses and Benefit Releases
Aaron Tippin was in his outdoor shop in Smithville, Tennessee drinking coffee with two state troopers when the second plane struck the Twin Towers. While people came to his shop to buy ammunition Tippin got ready to release "Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly " a song he had written two years earlier. With Lyric Street Records Tippin and the musicians gave up their money to send the song to radio fast giving all the money to the American Red Cross for the families of victims.
Reflections from Tennessee to Los Angeles
Country music artists remembered different feelings at first. One artist stood at the Tennessee Driver’s License Bureau when his son called. He first thought the first plane might be a mistake by air traffic control. Then he felt a strong protective anger. Lee Greenwood was stuck in Los Angeles for meetings when his wife called him to turn on the TV. He could not fly back to Nashville so he offered his help to Mayor Giuliani in New York City. He then sang at memorials for firefighters and police at the World Series and at a NASCAR race in Dover singing the anthem just as news of strikes in Baghdad began.
Greenwood later talked about the weight of the tragedy in his book Does God Still Bless the USA? in a first chapter called "I’m Not Over September 11." Through benefit shows, patriotic songs and personal sacrifices country music artists stepped forward to lift the spirit during one of the hardest times, in modern history.
