{"id":66069,"date":"2026-06-05T18:01:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/why-politician-justin-pearson-joined-bryan-andrews-onstage-at-cma-fest\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T18:01:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:01:28","slug":"why-politician-justin-pearson-joined-bryan-andrews-onstage-at-cma-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/why-politician-justin-pearson-joined-bryan-andrews-onstage-at-cma-fest\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Politician Justin Pearson Joined Bryan Andrews Onstage at CMA Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/bryan-andrews\/\" id=\"auto-tag_bryan-andrews\" data-tag=\"bryan-andrews\">Bryan Andrews<\/a> made his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/cma-fest\/\" id=\"auto-tag_cma-fest\" data-tag=\"cma-fest\">CMA Fest<\/a> debut on Thursday afternoon by taking the stage to a recording of President Trump\u2019s greatest hits. But the Carrollton, Missouri, country singer wasn\u2019t playing talking points like \u201cWe will make America great again!\u201d over the PA in agreement. Rather, he was there to light them up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAndrews has made a name for himself online as an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/bryan-andrews-liberal-country-singer-politics-interview-1235495120\/\">outspoken critic<\/a> of Trump and the Republican Party in a series of often expletive-laced videos. Onstage at CMA Fest, he let his music do the talking, performing songs like \u201cAre We Great Yet?\u201d and the new \u201cNot See\u201d (say it aloud) to a modest but lively and diverse crowd, some wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts, others in hats that read \u201cResist.\u201d One man on the street posed for photos with a \u201cFuck Trump\u201d flag draped across his back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tBut Andrews didn\u2019t tackle his CMA Fest debut alone. Near the end of his 5 p.m. set, he welcomed state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, a candidate running to represent Tennessee\u2019s 9th congressional district, who, along with Rep. Justin Jones, was expelled for his role in a gun control protest on the Tennessee State House floor in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tIn what is surely a first for CMA Fest, Pearson \u2014 who wrote about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-features\/justin-pearson-protest-op-ed-1235560694\/\">importance of protest<\/a> in an essay for <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> \u2014\u00a0railed against billionaires, data centers, and the high cost of living in the U.S., before imploring the crowd, many of them tourists unable to cast a ballot in Tennessee, to vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cThey can vote somewhere,\u201d Pearson told <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> following his CMA Fest appearance. \u201cAll across this country you need to be exercising your right to vote. \u00a0Check your registration, make sure your family is registered, and then go exercise your right to vote. Because that\u2019s our power, and if we lose that, that\u2019s another way that we lose our ability to stand up to these billionaires, to people who are really trying to take over our country in really dangerous ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAndrews says he and Pearson connected after the representative was featured in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DYFQOfXxgRj\/?hl=en\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DYFQOfXxgRj\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">photo<\/a> standing toe-to-toe with a guard denying him entry to a May senate committee meeting about redistricting in Tennessee.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ editors-pick-module lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve been fast friends since,\u201d says Pearson, who stayed onstage with Andrews to sing along to Andrews\u2019 song \u201cYeehaw\u201d (sample lyric: \u201cYee-haw, fuck the law\/Land of the free, ain\u2019t free for all). \u201cMusic is a protest. With all this racist redistricting going on, [Andrews\u2019] music really met the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tLater that night across the Cumberland River, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-country\/jason-aldean-supports-trump-felony-conviction-1235030522\/\">outspoken Trump advocate<\/a> Jason Aldean performed for the thousands gathered at Nissan Stadium. While Andrews was on a smaller stage downtown, outside of the city\u2019s arena, he says he was thrilled by the turnout, even if he noted some surprised faces from the stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cIt was a little bit surprising, but I think it worked out and I think people are starting to realize that art and politics plays a huge role in everybody\u2019s life,\u201d Andrew says.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tIt\u2019s a message that Pearson hopes country music fans absorb from his surprise CMA Fest drop-in. \u201cWhether you\u2019re Democrat, Republican, Independent, or whatever it is, people are talking about issues, about the economic problems we\u2019re dealing with, healthcare problems we\u2019re dealing with,\u201d he says. \u201cCountry music fans are living in a difficult time right now, and being able to speak to that is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tSays Andrews: \u201cHistory will be told through art.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/justin-pearson-bryan-andrews-cma-fest-1235573156\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bryan Andrews made his CMA Fest debut on Thursday afternoon by taking the stage to a recording of President Trump\u2019s greatest hits. But the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":66070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}