Donald J. Trump was able to parlay his celebrity status into a successful run for the White House, can a Tennessee congressional candidate do the same thing?
Some of the biggest names in the country music industry, both artists and songwriters, are publicly encouraging award winning songwriter Lee Thomas Miller to run for Congress in the 7th Congressional District seat that is being vacated by Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn who is running for the U.S. Senate. Nearly 80 artists and songwriters have signed and released a letter supporting and urging Miller to run. Some of the names on the letter are sure to draw attention, including Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Kix Brooks, Brandon Heath, John Schneider, Craig Wiseman, Chris Destefano, Larry Stewart, and famed drummer Paul Leim.
Miller is an award winning conservative songwriter who lives in Williamson County with his wife Jana and their four kids. He has penned hit songs for some of the top country artists, including Trace Adkins, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Jamey Johnson, Tim McGraw, Joe Nichols and Brandon Heath. Among his best known hit songs are “In Color,” “The Impossible,” “You’re Gonna Miss This,” and “I’m Still a Guy.” Despite seven No. 1 songs and 10 top-10 songs and three Grammy nominations the son of Kentucky tobacco farmer and small town librarian is well known in music industry circles though not yet in the political arena. That could be changing soon.
Miller has served as President of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, which prompted the signers of the letter to note: “An accomplished songwriter in Congress representing Music. Now that would be cool.”
But the letter also specifically noted that Miller’s potential service would extend beyond his knowledge and leadership in the music industry.
“In your role as songwriter advocate, you have demonstrated a keen understanding of our issues and developed an expertise in the policy questions that will define our future. You have shown leadership skills we desperately need in Congress. Citizen legislators make sense.
And while we are motivated to write you because we care about music, we have confidence that you have the qualities necessary to be a thoughtful and effective representative of all the Tennesseans who live throughout the district.”
Miller recently told The Tennessee Star that he is preparing for a potential race and should be announcing something “sooner rather than later.” The support of entertainers and songwriters urging him to run, with many of them living in the 7th District, could be a strong added push to his decision.
State Senator Mark Green (R-Clarksville) is currently the only announced candidate for the Republican nomination in the 7th Congressional District.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Dear-Lee-Letter-from-Music-Industry.pdf” title=”Dear Lee Letter from Music Industry”]
Bottom line is that Mark Green served in combat this guy wrote about it.
[…] Lee Thomas Miller is being encouraged by country music industry leaders to enter the race for the Republican nomination in the 7th Congressional […]
One issue candidate, music royalties. Artist want royalties from online sales and that’s why all of these artist are on board. Not that it’s a bad thing but I’d like to hear his position on more critical issues.
I thought Brad Paisley was a Democrat, and the last time I heard Kix Brooks comment about politics he was assuring the voters of Tennessee during 2014 that Lamar Alexander would be a fine Tennessee conservative in his next term as Senator. Anyway, when deciding who to choose to be the next congressman for the seventh district somehow I think that the multi-year conservative voting record of Senator Mark Green is a more impressive credential.