Kid Rock speaks out.
If you’ve been keeping up with the news lately, then you might already know about what’s going on at historic Beechwood Hall in Franklin, Tennessee.
The home, which was previously owned by country icon Hank Williams, and was suspected to have inspired his song “Mansion on a Hill,” was originally built in 1856, and is one of the few buildings of its size to survive the Civil War. It’s also a registered national historic landmark.
In addition to being owned and cared for by Hank Williams in the final years before his death, the manor and its 700-odd acres was also purchased by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
Last year, the McGraws sold the property, including the Beechwood Hall structure, to a fund manager from California named Larry Keele and his wife, and recent photos of the property show that it is slowly being de-constructed.
At the time of the sale, one of the conditions was that the new owners keep up and preserve the home in its original form.
Locals have even stated that in addition to being dismantled, the property is being neglected, with windows and doors leaving the home “open to the elements with zero protection.”
The Heritage Foundation of Williamson County, a non-profit preservation organization, said in a statement it is working in a “collaborative and positive manner” with the new owners to “create a comprehensive preservation plan, and bring resources and solutions to the table for discussion.”
You can read more on that story HERE, but last night, Kid Rock appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss what the property means and how important it is that the history is preserved:
“I think like so many other people in this country, we’re sick of seeing history tore to the ground.
Whether it be in the form of monuments, statues, and now something so important here in Nashville, like the former home of Hank Williams, Beechwood Hall.
I also might note it was the former home of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. You know, where does this end?”
He continued, saying many transplants have moved to Tennessee, and it feels like “an invasion from the state of California”:
“We kind of all knew that from the beginning once this fiasco started that it was never gonna end, and now we kinda feel like we’re under an invasion from the state of California.
Which, we understand in a lot of ways, I have a lot of friends here that came from these spots, California, New York City.
We feel that a lot of people say it, but they say it under their breathe because they’re scared to say it out loud, so once again I’ll be the guy.”
He added that, if people from other parts of the country want to move to Tennessee with their “woke policies,” they should “leave your effin’ politics at the state line”:
“They come here leaving these woke policies from these cities, you know, for better schools, lower taxes, lower crime, that you’ve talked about a million times, and we tell ’em, leave your effin’ politics at the state line.
And this is just one more example of somebody from, California who, as I understood gave a handshake to people in the community and through this foundation that he’s a donor for. And now he basically is, seems like, taking another avenue to tear it down.
And I don’t think there’s anything more important in country music, if not American music, than Hank Williams. One of the greatest songwriters of all time.”
When Tucker pressed Kid Rock about why someone would want to move to a new place and tear down the history there, he had one reason:
“Yeah, we call it dumb liberals.”
He continued, saying he wants to bring attention to this historic home in an effort to save the history for generations to come:
“I’ve just kinda become the person to put it out there, so I think now that you’re broadcasting the story to all of America, I think there’s gonna be many, many people to get on board.
You can go to savebeechwood.org, and I think you’re gonna see a lot more country music stars, musicians, just great people in the community that wanna preserve this for the next generation to come, generations beyond that.”
He also added that, while he wants to go about saving it in a diplomatic manner, he can “get some hillbilly stuff goin ‘ too” if need be:
“And when you come into it with a handshake kinda thing and say, ‘I’m going to preserve this,’ and then you start weaseling around to do other things, you know, we hope to get this resolved in a good manner, but if not, we can get some hillbilly stuff goin’ on too.”
It remains to be seen how this will all shake out, and hopefully they can figure out a way to preserve the historic mansion and its important history, but you can watch Kid Rock’s full appearance on the show here:
