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Shinedown drummer Barry Kerch has called out Ludacris for dropping off the Kid Rock-led “Rock the Country” traveling festival.
The 2026 Rock the Country festival is hitting eight small towns across the United States this year, with Kid Rock headlining five of the stops. Shinedown and Ludacris were set to share the bill for the Sunday, July 26th lineup in Anderson, South Carolina.
While Kid Rock wasn’t on the actual bill for this specific weekend of the traveling fest, his right-wing political associations and the fest’s MAGA undertones and patriotic branding appeared to lead to backlash among Ludacris’ fanbase, with the rapper’s camp citing a “mix-up” as he dropped off the bill four days after it was announced.
Now Shinedown’s Kerch has chimed in, revealing that his band has also received pushback for playing the fest.
“There’s been tons,” said Kerch on the latest episode of the “The Vinyl Road” podcast (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “The knives come out when they don’t like it, especially now politically. And we are an apolitical band. But the knives have come out. It’s crazy. And to be honest, I had no idea, and neither did [Shinedown singer] Brent [Smith] — I think [guitarist] Zach [Myers] maybe had a clue — I had no idea this was Kid Rock’s thing. It was just, ‘Hey, here’s an offer. It looks like a cool lineup, and it’s a mix of country and rock. Okay, we’ll play it.’ We took the offer and played it, and then all of a sudden we find out, ‘Oh, this has got some political leaning to it.'”
Kerch continued, “I don’t care. I’m just gonna go play a show. I really, really don’t care. You can keep your politics to yourself. I have no opinion one way or the other on Kid Rock. I love his music. This is about music. Ludacris wasn’t tough… I mean, it’s not like he needs the money, Jeez. If he’s not tough enough to stick it out, that’s just silly. That’s him being a coward, in my opinion.”
The drummer was then asked if Shinedown would ever turn down a gig due to political affiliations.
“I would hope not, but [Shinedown] is a democracy,” Kerch replied. “There’s four of us to vote. My vote would be no, but if three of the other guys vote against it, then, again, it’s a democracy. I can’t change their vote. But I would hope not. ‘Cause I like to stick by my grounds. And listen, I don’t do politics when it comes to the business of Shinedown. I have my own beliefs. I keep those to myself, and so do the other three guys. I just wanna go play a rock show with some country bands ’cause it looks like fun.”
Fellow rockers Creed are also on the bill for the Anderson, South Carolina-weekend of the fest, with dates in other cities running from May through September. Watch the podcast clip with Shinedown drummer Barry Kerch below.
English (US) · 