Kid Rock is ready to Rock the Country.
It was announced last month that Jason Aldean and Kid Rock are teaming up for a seven-stop festival tour called Rock the Country, which will bring the two-day festival to seven small towns across the country.
Each stop will be headlined by Aldean and Kid Rock, and will feature names like Hank Williams Jr., Miranda Lambert, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Koe Wetzel, Travis Tritt, Randy Houser, Brantley Gilbert, and even Nelly on select dates.
The announcement was met with backlash from fans of Miranda Lambert, who were upset that she would appear on a lineup with the outspoken Kid Rock and Jason Aldean.
But according to Kid Rock, it’s all about giving back to small towns around the country that may not have the entertainment options nearby like big cities do.
Speaking about the tour with Tucker Carlson, Rock explained the thought behind Rock the Country:
“I see a need for a big portion of this country that’s underserved entertainment wise. And that’s pretty prevalent when you see the success of shows like Yellowstone and Duck Dynasty, things like that.
People are just starving for it. So we wanted to go out and give hard-working people that love this country a music festival. Something for them.
Come show your patriotism, just like they do at my shows, but do it with a force of people.”
Ultimately though, he says it’s about working with small towns to provide an experience that they may not have otherwise:
“Just trying to provide something for these smaller towns, where we have a lot more freedom, to do things that we might not be able to do in the bigger cities.
And especially to work with the local people there, whether it could be the police, firefighters, the city councils, whatever.”
It’s a sentiment that’s echoed by Shane Quick, the President of Touring and Strategic Expansion for LiveCo, the company behind Rock the Country.
Quick is also the founder of Rock the South, the massive festival held annually in Cullman, Alabama. And he told Whiskey Riff that it was the success of that festival in a small town in Alabama that made him realize the need to bring the show to other small towns around the country:
“We’re taking that same mentality of celebrating small town America, celebrating people helping people, and the good nature of small town people.”
And not only that, Quick says that it gives the towns an opportunity to show off all that they have to offer:
“I think we picked seven incredible small towns, that when people come from all over the country to these little small towns, they’re going to experience what we feel like is the best of America.”
Rock the Country will kick off in Gonzalez, Louisiana on April 5 & 6, 2024, and will also hit towns like Ashland, KY, Rome, GA, Ocala, FL, Mobile, AL, and Poplar Bluff, MO before winding up in Anderson, SC next summer.
