Please welcome. How are you. Good morning. So history as you all know was about words. That is why you are here the stately rhythms of the declaration of the independence the cadence of the constitution it is about the muffled drum and the sound of the surf and minister and the march on washington to live as to the full meaning of our creed and music is one of the most universal expressions you can listen to a song that you might disagree that you would ever listen to a speech. As sure as the patriots carried their swords and guns and their poetry to move the revolution forward when i hear music i fear no danger and that pretty much sums up what we wanted to write about when we wrote the book. Until about three weeks ago mcgraw thought the row was a running back. [laughter] see were here at the inflection point. He is a reason we won the national championship. [laughter] i rooted for clemson we are the unlikely duo. I amit very fit. [laughter] i am very well known for my good looks and singing voice. When we started this project i was down in dallas and george w. Bush said what you working on . I said im doing this project with tim mcgraw. I thought this was a project with faith hill then his sorry ass shows up in here we are. So this began we were neighbors in nashville. Given the period of history i have written about had i ever considered the role music played in that history i was embarrassed to say i had not and a great nonfiction project is one like a liberal arts degree you learn something about the world you are vaguely interested in but did not know. As an artist you are of the culture but also dont want to be partisan. No. Music as a way to transcend through party lines and racial lines and from speech barriers. It has a way to communicate that you cannot communicate any other way sometimes and that relates to the beginning of the spoken word stories have been told throughout history through music and for me i want to move people by those stories that i tell and thats what i do with music is tell stories and part of writing this book is how music help to propel that story forward. Every era of American Life the tensions can be found 1768 or John Dickinson wrote the liberty song eight years before the declaration of independenc independence, we all know Yankee Doodle dandy and the starspangled banner. The songs of the enslaved fundamentally religious songs about deliverance and one of the things we had to deal with was how do we deal with the civil war the irrepressible conflict and tim grew up in louisiana when he came to tennessee he was excited because we had electricity. [laughter] this is how it goes for the entire talk. He was excited about a hardback book. Hopefully there is someone here from louisiana. [laughter] way in the back. Close to the bar. Well done my roommate in college was jack daniels. [laughter] we had to deal with dixie and the south and if you think about the civil war you can understand the tensions with dixie and the republic and your thoughts are pretty interesting. I grew up in the deep south of louisiana literally. And those that were in the middle of the cotton field. And to move Irrigation Systems and dixie was a part of our culture and growing up and still to this day when i hear this song dixie esters my soul that although in my head it was a song written for a different purpose than what i believed it was written for. You dont have to push very hard to see irony but it was written for menstrual blackfeet performers in new york city how the formally enslaved wish they could be back in slavery. That is what the song was written for so we have to deal withne this how do you tell the tensions of the story. We had a performance that went along with it. We had to go through the thought process how do you sing this song or deliver it in a way that doesnt come across to anyone as being idoffensive . The way we decided to come up with that is a trilogy and it combines dixie and the combination sets the tone of what we were trying to say and to show the arc of what it mean means. Somebody else came from mississippi to tennessee. You may have heard of him. That is the wrong song. [laughter] that is why he should not have the controller. [laughter] very exciting. He can handle a book but nothing electronic. And you find american trilogy for me . If i have to sing jamie will throw me out. No. There is another story for that song. We will get there. American trilogy. We will home until then. Grabbed the guitar and bring it out. [cheers and applause] no. No. [laughter] keep going. Thee first one. No. Thats the last one. [laughter] but i do know that song really well. Thank god. There. Get its actually the second song on the list. Sorry. We will keep going. That is not it either. Thats not it. Thats not it. No hope . To we have hope . Okay. We will get to that. American trilogy was really moving and you all enjoyed it. [laughter]r] one of the most moving things we did. It really was. [laughter] one of the things that you find on the road with mcgraw there are certain types of fans mine are all slightly older with gin blossoms. And has a more diverse fan base. And looking at the depression brother can you spare a dime and God Bless America. And then to explicitly wrote this land is your land in answer to God Bless America. But we always have been. And then to crash into the sixties and the cultural tensions and with that patriotic when it comes to protest music and then to grow up and 67 and as you ride around in the car so those songs that i remember were from the late sixties era my mom was listening to so it struck me that music has more meaning than just something to enjoy the first time i remember saying they are something to say they just dont have a cute little song they are really trying to Say Something thats part of the reason i became an artist but also starting this project it made me realize the songs from the sixties and those draw a direct line to the liberty song from 1968 or whenever it was and what she was one they were trying to say so they were there all along we just know more about m it. Protest and patriotism are two sides of the same coin pick your metaphor. Ed sullivan comes on the air he had the four tops frosty the snowman voice, the comedian and a guy named barry sadler who was the green beret this was the number one song in america 1966. No. No. [laughter] but this is the trilogy i think. Hit rewind. No. [laughter] green beret. But they were standing there performing their song about the green beret and fighting it is so patriotic and so moving everybody gathered around it was magnetic post for people. Remember john wayne who made green berets of vietnam movie was a world war ii movie in the attempt to have that emmoral clarity and the attention with thate of course is our friend Merle Haggard. And again back to louisiana five and six years old and then i spent a lot of time writing around and that 18 wheeler listening to the eight track of Merle Haggard. And all these great Country Singers this is my education of Country Music and those jukeboxes at truck stops at four in the morning and my first memory the first introduction to music she worked at a bus stop cafeteria before she met my stepdad and i was in the playpen right by the jukebox. [laughter] i would sit there all day every day while she worked. And our faith wants to keep you in the playpen. [laughter] some kind i dont know if it is a playpen. Green beret. All right. [applause] play that one. It so interesting a number of you are singing along. That was 1966 number one song in america by 1968 you cannot have release that. That is how quickly the war change for full. The sentiment for sure. Merle haggard riding along on a bus one day. Im sure drinking protein shakes. [laughter] and healthy vaping. [laughter] there is a lot of hydration and water and the road sign of muskogee. [applause] Merle Haggard if i have to put a list to gather up my favorite artist who is at the top of ally time as a country artist it would be Merle Haggard because of his stories but his ability and the way he spoke to the common man and perform songs every Country Singer including myself with the lineage and that style they can market themselves back toes Merle Haggard. He went back and forth of that was a parody or a red state and them and it depended on the protein shakes. [laughter] but nixon took advantage of this there are only two places in march 1974 could safely go and one was the grand ole opry and to show up and nixon was terribly clumsy. There used to be a thing with a yoyo and that was a disaster but brent scroll croft when nixon would put a metal on someone because he hand open and they had a flashback so finally they had to put scotch tape on thee metals. And then is greeted to that theme because at that point everything is falling apart. And that was 45 years ago. And the Republican Party in the same way the Democratic Party was reaching out to the counterculture with a march on washington peter paul and mary. So if you are despairing, then we crash into the 1980s with president reagan and though whole notion of america and two different songs that are two sides of that coin. You can have god bless the usa in that could move you or listen to Bruce Springsteen and born in the usa and they both have different meanings and coming from different places. In fact reagan wanted to adopt the song members would have nothing to do with it because they didnt get what it was saying from bruces point of view. But when we were putting this together and playing songs we were going to do born in the usa and i told this story i promise myself i would neverce do Bruce Springsteen song once because i did and one concert always honor somebody big in music. Someone that has had a big impact. One year they were doing springsteen and he is a friend of mine he asked if faith and i would do a song and we said sure. So we show up some of the biggest names in the music business like staying and john legend we were proud to be a part of the group. And then it sounded really good bruces congratulating me and said it sounds good by the way at the end of the show im going to get up and sing, and i forget the name of the song. I will sing glory days. All the artist will get behind me and we set of course. We set of course we will sing the chorus. Neil young and staying in bruce im sitting right beside and he starts to play and he calls the artist up so we stand up there i have my cowboy hat on my wife is beside me and he is there singing he starts to get to the second verse he looks back at one of the artist and says to the second verse there like no and then they say no. So nobody wants to see the song he says cowboy hat sing the son song. I didnt know the second verse. And i didnt want to be the third person to say no so i thought how hard can it be . [laughter] i know the song everybody is oward it walk like i know what im doing. [laughter] the lyrics are on the teleprompter but i cant find the ability to save my life so he pushes me out of the way i turned beet red i step back in line beside my wife and she does one of these on me. [laughter] literally moves away from me. Y [laughter] that is why i will never ever do a springsteen song. [applause] is such on so easy to get caught up in a because it such a great song and then you beat your chest and then you listen to the first and it comes from a different point ofli you. So he said this was his favorite springsteen song the White House Press corps password the previous song had been. With three days it was born to run. The wasnt sure our president reagan had heard that. As a swing state and a former member that we used to call reagan democrats. So it was a big deal Bruce Springsteen came straight out of that constituency that reagan was trying to our firm in 1984. New jersey owned Bruce Springsteen patriotic song and then there was big push back this is how Ronald Reagan learned about Bruce Springsteen that explains a lot. And then george is the only person present company included whoever war of bowtie to a Bruce Springsteen concert. I dont think its that striking but apparently it is. So there was another song that merv griffin had discovered. And in 1982 and 83 come to nashville. And merv is close to mrs. Reagan and then greenwood saying this and it became the reagan anthem. It still strikes me because i associated growing up and feeling very patriotic and certainly as a fantastic singer and writer the song moves me. [applause] event to speak to a great country. It was pretty incredible. And with the mid eighties and september w 11 president reagan i never met him but i did get to know mrs. Reagan a little bit and wow. [laughter] i dont need to tell anybody here about that. [laughter] i have one you have scars from barbara bush i have them from nancy. [laughter] but president reagans transformative power Jimmy Stewart once said if rodney married nancy the first time he one ronnie married her the first time he would get an academy award. So the great phrase was a shining city on ang hill. The only guy i know who can improve onro jesus. That the addition of the word shining is so important that i have heard ministers say as jesus said america shall be shining city how that was rendered i dont know. We were at lunch one day and. As you know sometimes it was even accurate. So i just heard a minister say this couple weeks before about jesus and the shining city on the hill. She ordered that one third of the cobb salad and did not eat it. I said its incredible. President reagan improved on jesus without blinking said oh yes thats the kind of thing ronnie did. [laughter] may we all someday be loved as nancy davis loved Ronald Reagan. But they capture their hepatriotism and then that is what it was about. And it was the affirmative cultural statement that patriotism could be popular again. You can make that case as a speech in the campaign but we went around america. When these things stand up watching they stand up. So. Thats what music does. And that marks moments in the life sometimes you hear a song up at your back into afhe situation that puts me laying in a hammoc hammock. That explains a lot about themy accounting. And also talking about the idea that musical shows up in places a big huge parts in our country and in our lives in a lot of ways. Irving berlin wrote God Bless America and thought it was too sentimental and put t it in a drawer and pulled it out 1940. And andy attache and would write these marvelous reports and then to put out word when mr. Berlin just the Prime Minister in berlin. And then to say all i know he writes much better about politics than he talks. It was irving berlin. [laughter] who had mistakenly come to lunch. Its amazing we are all not speaking german as it turns out. And those that has no relevance but is churchill within the mens room at the house of commons doing what one does and as the Prime Minister comes in and then churchill steps away from and says are you feeling standoffish today and churchill says no every time you see Something Big you want to nationalize it. An [laughter] i use to bring highbrow. [laughter] we are in a divided era that music has represented, illuminated to us way the divisions on the past what you see in the sarah. Sometimes music is there to make you feel good. And give both sides no matter what side of the aisle you full on. No matter what type of music that you likely to something that has a way to stir your soul and lazy some insight to another point of view. Music is a way of doing that and i think that for me, when this come along with an interest comes along, i tried to do that and sometimes it just try to make a song think a lot make you cry. One of the sons a really for me, is one of those trends in response princeton very limited work. Jon you just mix tours. But that is why am here. [laughter]. Tim he speaks to me about vocabulary the same time. I have my own history professor. Jon i am about that accurate. [laughter]. Was a very george w. Bush moment. So he may be president next. Deal know the story. Very quickly. You have to be pretty confident in yourself and george w. Bush is to have a conference at your president ial library on comedy in the presidency. This pretty bull thing to do. So he bites will ferrell the more michael to come out of the library in dallas. And there sitting around backstage before the gone. An sentiment is pretty easy for yall. This agreement mr. President. I give you your teacher e. [laughter]. And i look at each other in the state should we tell him. Mr. President we made that up. English was crushed. Because they thought is that it. And then he said we didnt make this. You underestimated it. [laughter]. So what did you say it was pretty. Tim when i was trying to say in my louisiana language in my native tongue was. Jon with a simultaneous translator. Tim one of the songs that i notice when i think that no matter what audience i am singing to come is what i do a song live like you are dying. And then some really one of the songs that i feel like an very privilege didnt last to be the vessel for that song. I dont feel like that is my song, that was meant for everybody and everybody finds a way to relate to that nothing thats what thats what greek music does to that. [applause]. And forcing them a career that i am able to have songs like that as part of my repertoire and as an artist, and is ultimately what you want to do is move people and bring people together in a way that they may not have been brought together without a solid that her message like that. Jon do you ever think about the difference between a political song and a cultural 100. Tim i dont. I think just think about good songs that song is a really move you. I dont think i necessarily would do is im just because it was meant to be political. I would do song was meant to move you. And whether it has of political angle to it maybe but if it still a well written song, a song that has an emotion to connect, not just one side of the society but to all society. Jon thats really important. Tim which would be more cultural than political. Jon one of the things, remember, for the sum of our parts. So our dispositions very. Later the uncomfortable realities of the current era is the politicians are far more often mayors of who we are rather than, if we really wanted something different, they would give us something different. That is the nature of the enterprise. So if you can create art, if you can create a climate in which maybe is spend a little more time listening to those angels rather than workboat worst instincts, we can nudge things forward a little bit. And thats about as best we can do. If you can get to 51 percent of the time doing the right thing, that is a heckuva good day. I dont take it very often. I dont make it particularly in this way i keep hoping that faith is going to show up but she hasnt yet. So quickly, the last times i saw the senior president bush, was in may 3 summers ago. A buddy of mine in nashville had just released a song. I played it on my phone for president bush. And he listened to it and at that point it was very difficult for him to talk. He had parkinsons he was very quiet about it though. So when he spoke, you listened. And we played this a dissent, in full. Beautiful. So heres a song about us. Always stay humble and kind. Go to church, because your mama said, always be humble and kind always be humble and kind. Always be humble and kind. Jon my friend, tim mcgraw. [applause]. Tim if i could share something, lawyer of that song and shes a great artist. She sat down, to show you how a great song comes about. She sat down in her living room, she has five children and her husband was a plumber. She said in her living room because some of her kids had moved away and she had two kids left home. She was wanting to write a message to her kids about how to treat people when they go out of the house within the home. So she sat down and wrote this little note really for her children who actually have two left home and she wanted to read it to them. And she wrote it in 30 minutes. That is the power of music. Jon absolutely. Ing you on the road toys for the american story. Ho