“These days have got to get behind us. It’s time for our kids to feel safe,” Secor says
NEED TO KNOW
- A new documentary follows Old Crow Medicine Show lead singer Ketch Secor as he travels across the country with journalist David Greene hosting conversations about gun rights and gun violence in the U.S.
- Secor calls himself “the man for the job” because the audience at his shows is “like a swath of America”
- Louder Than Guns is now playing in select theaters
What happens when differing opinions about gun violence and reform are brought together at one table for thoughtful, meaningful dialogue?
The answer lies in the new documentary Louder Than Guns, which follows Old Crow Medicine Show lead singer Ketch Secor, who cowrote Darius Rucker’s 2013 No. 1 country hit “Wagon Wheel,” as he embarks on a journey with his friend, public radio journalist David Greene, to host open conversations about gun rights and gun violence in the United States. The film shares its title with his band’s 2023 song.
After the 2023 mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Secor, 47 — whose children were at another school across town at the time — felt gun violence was hitting too close to home to remain silent any longer. The singer-songwriter, who also penned a New York Times op-ed titled “Country Music Can Lead America Out of Its Obsession with Guns,” says in the documentary that he believes he is uniquely positioned to help initiate these conversations.
“I guess I feel like I’m the man for the job, and I don’t want this job,” Secor says at the beginning of the film. “David calls me, and he’s like, ‘What you’re doing sounds like a movement. It’s a movement toward looking at your front row like a swath of America. Nobody else has that demographic study out there, and they make up the mix that might be able to move the needle on gun violence.’”…