Joann Butler: “God Bless the USA” four decades later. Did you ever imagine you’d still be performing it after all these years? Lee Greenwood: Oh, I never thought I'd be alive this long. Are you kidding?
Joann Butler: Is there a particular performance that you've done that stands out as one of the most emotional or unforgettable? Lee Greenwood: The fireman's memorial in Yankee Stadium. Terribly moving. Hardly could choke it back.
Joann Butler: Why do you think it's important for Americans to come together for a moment like this? Lee Greenwood: America needs to celebrate itself more often, not just for July 4th. Joann Butler: Can you share a memorable behind-the-scenes story involving a president? Lee Greenwood: President Trump said, "Lee, I'd like to invite you to have a ride home.” And I said, "Well, thanks, but I have to be in Indiana tomorrow." So he said, "You're turning me down?" Joann Butler: Lee, what does the American flag represent to you today?
Lee Greenwood: Pride in country, pride in self, pride as an American. Joann Butler: Does it mean anything different than it did to you years ago? Lee Greenwood: I think I've grown to love it more. Hi, I'm Lee Greenwood and you're watching us right now, Joann Butler and I, in studio.
Keep watching. Joann Butler: Lee, thanks so much for joining us on LifeMinute. It's such an honor to have you here. Lee Greenwood: You're very kind.
Thank you. Joann Butler: So, how are you doing first off? Lee Greenwood: I'm doing good. It's been a full day of media so far.
And we will be going to Alabama tomorrow and then on to Washington DC the next day for the UFC fight at the White House. Joann Butler: Yes. Very exciting. Yeah.
Lots of things going on. Okay. The UFC fight, flag day, and it's also President Trump's birthday. Lee Greenwood: And my wife's birthday tomorrow.
Joann Butler: Is it really? Lee Greenwood: Yeah. The 13th. Joann Butler: Wow.
Yeah so big weekend for you for sure. So tell us about that. Are you excited? You're going to be celebrating with the president.
Lee Greenwood: Oh yeah, it, and we have an invitation to the reception inside the White House as well. But that's always kind of cool. I've never been to a real fight. So, I know that a lot of the casinos I used to work, they used to have fights there at the casino, but I never really showed much interest in that.
I do watch them on TV and I find it interesting because I talked to somebody earlier today and they said, "What do you think the fighters are like?" I said, "They’re like gladiators." Joann Butler: Yes. Lee Greenwood: You know, they're like early gladiators. These guys are, their skill set is unbelievable. I mean, they're a human machine and a killing machine if they want to be.
Really interesting. I'll be interested to see it live. Joann Butler: And what else are you going to be doing? Lee Greenwood: The visit to the White House tomorrow and Sunday will just be for that.
I'll be celebrating my wife's birthday the next week. We go home for a moment. I want, I wanted to take a chance to see our new grandson who's seven weeks old. Unfortunately, they'll be in Chicago and Michigan.
So, I won't, I won't get there. But we'll go back to DC for the 24th, June 24th, which is the Great American Fair, Great American State Fair, and kind of take it all in, you know, kind of visit some of the exhibitions of all the states that they're presenting. I will sing and I will introduce the president that day to culminate the event with the United States Marine Band. Joann Butler: What excites you most about that celebration?
Lee Greenwood: Well, it's kind of like a carnival on steroids. I hope we find some hot dogs. Joann Butler: Oh, I'm sure you will. Maybe cheeseburgers with the president.
I don't know. Why do you think it's important for Americans to come together for a moment like this? Lee Greenwood: We need to do this more often, not just for July 4th. I would say, you know, two, three times a year.
I mean, I've been a member of organizations where, I was on the NEA, the National Endowment of the Arts Council for like 12 years. I'm a trustee for the Kennedy Center. And when you meet only once a year, it just isn't enough. I mean, there's a human connection.
You talk about AI, that's taking the human connection out of us. That's not helpful and it's not healthy. So I think as America needs to celebrate itself more, we need to have New York and Texas talk more, California and Rhode Island talks more, you know, Seattle and Miami talk more, because we have our own little areas, you know, like New York is a, is a microcosm of the rest of the United States where each neighborhood is a different nationality and they protect that. That's what West Side Story was about.
They protect their individual territory. You know? That's not healthy. I mean, we need to be more together.
And that's what integration was about in the early days. The fear of black and white and yellow and red. You know, the more we integrate, the more we're not afraid of each other, the more we make decisions that are good for all of us. So, that would be my answer to you.
Joann Butler: It's a good one. “God Bless the USA” four decades later. Did you ever imagine we'd still be, you know, talking about it? You'd still be performing it after all these years?
Lee Greenwood: Oh, I never thought I'd be alive this long. Are you kidding? I thought the song would long outlive me and now I believe that's probably true. Joann Butler: Oh, for sure.
For sure. It's been a part of so many of our biggest moments. What made you write it? Lee Greenwood: I don't know.
I loved patriotism from the very beginning. Not because my father was in the Navy, I didn't know him well. I marched with my marching band. I was a drum major and I loved the pageantry of the marches and the flags that are waving and the costumes that you wore and not being able to say the uniforms.
I liked the uniforms. I don't know, somewhere along when my, I was in Vegas 20 years, so you know there's no, no of that, none of that there. And then when I moved to Tennessee and I started touring the country, it was the first time that I was able to see all of it. And then I began to admire, you know, that's why I wrote about the lakes of Minnesota.
I had no idea there was 10,000 lakes there. I was like, "Oh my gosh." You know, I did recognize that during the years that I was first in Nashville, that Motown was still alive in Detroit. And Houston, there was no doubt I knew that they were this oil import center. So that kind of gave me a perspective on the compass.
But when it came to writing the song, I immediately settled on the words, I'm proud to be an American. Not since my father had served in the Navy did I have people say they were proud to be an American. They were Italian-American. They're French American.
They're African-American. They're Indian-American. And maybe those last two are right. They can be that.
But everybody else who come here, they drug their heritage with them. And in some ways that's good. I mean, I go to New York and I go to some Italian restaurants. I don't think you could ever ever find better Italian food.
And that's, they are really from the old country. I'll give them that. But when they say they're Italian-American or they say they're Norwegian American, you know, or Norway American, Russian-American or whatever it is, I draw back a little bit at that, because I'm an American American. I was born here as a citizen.
It is my birthright. And there's some kind of honor to that. And so I guess maybe that was my reason for writing it, you know. And then I mention of course all the things in the song that you would recognize that are important to family, career, military, and God.
And I put God first. Joann Butler: Why do you think it continues to connect with generation after generation of Americans? Lee Greenwood: I got an answer for that. It's because parents teach it to their children.
Grandparents teach it to their children. I get so many videos. I can't tell you how many videos I get from little kids that are nine or 10 years old waving a flag singing proud to be an American. I mean, that thrills me to know because that's where you build patriotism.
And so, if you get a young child to understand that patriotism is important, they will support the red, white, and blue in their 20s. In their 30s, they will teach it to their children. Joann Butler: Yeah. Lee Greenwood: And so that's, I think that's why it's lasted.
Joann Butler: And to instill it and not let somebody take it away is, I think important too in this time. Is there a particular performance of your song or any performance that you've done that stands out as one of the most emotional or unforgettable in your career? Lee Greenwood: Probably half a dozen. And, and one that you would not even know why I thought it stood out, of course, Yankee Stadium for the firemen’s memorial after the attack on America.
That was important. I've sang at two president's inaugurations, both at the Lincoln Memorial. One for President Bush 41 and one for President Trump in 2016. When I'm on the Nimitz aircraft carrier in the middle of the Persian Gulf, singing for all these sailors who have been deployed for almost a year.
That was moving. I was in Panama before the invasion, and taking Noriega out, I'm in the jungle, you know, and we got shot at, you know, and by, and took my driver's finger off. And so I'm right there in combat area and the next day I have to sing to the troops, you know. So, it's like, you get on the front line and I figure in lots of ways I'm on the front line of patriotism and so are you.
You display that flag up there. That's beautiful. Joann Butler: Thank you. Your fans love the big hits.
Is there a song of yours that you consider a hidden gem? One you wish that had gotten a little bit more, you know, play? Lee Greenwood: I recorded an album when I was not on a major label. It was called Wounded Heart.
And I wrote that song called “Wounded Heart.” I wish that would have been more played. It was never played on radio. They never got it. I am doing a new gospel album, by the way, just FYI, for the Gaither music group.
Joann Butler: Yes. Tell us about that. Lee Greenwood: Yeah, I'm excited about that because my wife's whole family were, they love gospel. They loved old gospel and hymns and stuff like that.
And so for me to do a gospel album is really a departure, you know, from where, even my roots are not gospel. They're rhythm and blues and jazz and rock from the years in Vegas. I played everything and now country. But to move over to gospel, it's synonymous with country music and so it'll be a nice thing to do.
It's being produced by a guy named Gordon Mote, M-O-T-E, and I hired him to be my road piano player after he graduated Belmont University. I saw his piano recital and I hired him that night. Joann Butler: Oh wow. Lee Greenwood: He is a white male from Alabama, southern Alabama.
He and his brother, both blind from birth. Joann Butler: Wow. Lee Greenwood: So after his years leaving me, started working with other bands. Everybody recognized how talented he was.
Piano player, singer, and perfect pitch. And then he worked with the Gaither vocal group for a number of years. And now he works with everybody. He's actually a piano player for Alabama on the road.
Joann Butler: Oh wow. Lee Greenwood: Yeah. Joann Butler: Oh, that's so exciting. Lee Greenwood: So, you might look that up.
Mote. M-O-T-E. Joann Butler: Will do. All right.
And you mentioned you've been on more than 30 USO tours. A lot of miles, a lot of faces. Is there one service member story that stayed with you all these years? Lee Greenwood: I think our first performance in the Philippines, we went, I went from Nashville to Los Angeles and joined the Bob Hope group and then we went LA to Hawaii and picked up the Hawaii Orchestra and then we strew straight to the Philippines.
We had two C-141s, aircraft carriers. We had Michelle Royer who was Miss America. Barbara Eden, female actress. Joann Butler: Dream of Jeannie, yeah.
Lee Greenwood: And I was Bob Hope’s straight man. But I also, I remember the first time I would sing “God Bless the USA” with the orchestra was in the stadium at Clark Air Force Base and we had 10,000 military in the arena. Yeah, I stepped up and as soon as they played the intro to my song, they all stood up, you know? Joann Butler: Wow.
Lee Greenwood: But of course, you got, you know, the fireman's memorial in Yankee Stadium. Terribly moving. I mean, just hardly could choke it back. Joann Butler: I don't even know how you sing in these moments.
How do you do, how do you pull it together and sing? Lee Greenwood: Yeah, there's that, there's that second. It's like when Carrie Underwood, she was, she was singing at the signing in for the president and if you remember watching that at the Capitol, the music didn't start and she waited. Joann Butler: Oh, yes.
Oh yeah. Yes. It's like that where she didn’t meet, I guess. She didn't miss a beat.
And you partnered with Allied Flag. Tell us about that. Lee Greenwood: That's been really cool. In order to have a partnership with someone, you have to have a good marriage.
I love the fact that they have asked me to endorse their flag. There's a couple of flag companies, but I think this group here really, Allied Flag, they really do a great job making sure that their flags are put in places that are important and they don't charge for a lot of them. I don't know if, can you see this or not? This is a box.
Joann Butler: Yes sure can. Lee Greenwood: Okay. So, it slides out like that. Joann Butler: It's nice.
Lee Greenwood: So, it's easy access to get, you don't have to tear it apart to get to it. It's made in the United States. That's important. And it's weatherproof.
It's nylon. And on the back of it, it has my picture and how I endorse it. Joann Butler: That's so nice. Lee Greenwood: And make sure that everyone can have access to it at Bass Pro Shops, which is Johnny Morris, my good friend.
Nothing like, nothing like an American company like Bass Pro Shops. Oh my gosh. Joann Butler: Oh, yeah. Lee Greenwood: I mean, everybody goes there for everything.
There's just no negative. It's just,and in the south, it's as big as Buc-ee's. Do you know what Buc-ee's is? Joann Butler: No.
Lee Greenwood: Oh, you don't know what Buc-ee's is? The gas stations. Joann Butler: Oh Lee Greenwood: They started in Texas. The biggest one is at exit 407 going to the national park in Sevierville and it’s like 60 pumps.
60 pumps. And they sell so much food inside. They have barbecue and they have everything. And they have the cleanest restrooms and the largest restrooms you've ever seen.
Joann Butler: Wow. Lee Greenwood: So it's a great tourist stop if you're driving on the road. You get gas, you get food, go to the restroom and you get out of there pretty quick. Joann Butler: Oh, that's great.
Lee Greenwood: So, Buc-ee's anyway, but… Joann Butler: Well, Bass is bigger than Buc-ee's. I've heard of Bass, that's for sure. Lee Greenwood: Yeah.
So, there's something for you. So, so Bass Pro, I don't know if Bass Pro are in New York. I don't think so. That's where you'll find this.
Allied Flags or if they order it online, it's alliedflag.com. That's easy. Joann Butler: Awesome. Lee Greenwood: But they have them, I know they have them in the stores now because I got this yesterday and they were shipped out three days ago.
So… Joann Butler: Nice. Lee, what does the American flag represent to you today? And what should it mean to everyone?
Lee Greenwood: I have to line up the words. I think first, pride. Pride in country, pride in self, pride as an American. The second would be sacrifice.
The Revolutionary War, the sacrifice in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam. Fighting for other people because that's what America stands for. And like Ronald Reagan said in 1984, we are the last stand for freedom. America is the last stand.
I loved him. He came up with so many great quotes, you know, he just knew how to do that. And thirdly, the flag stands for my whole life. It's where I've lived.
It's where I was born. It's where I'll die. Joann Butler: Does it mean anything different than it did to you years ago or the same? Lee Greenwood: I think I've grown to love it more.
I mean, it used to be something of pageantry where you wave it when you play the national anthem, but now I have my own song. So, it's interesting. You know, they wave the flag when I sing, too. Joann Butler: And looking back on your incredible career, was there a moment you realized your music had become something larger than, you know, entertainment?
That it had become, you know, an American culture, which it is. What was the moment where you realized… Lee Greenwood: All of the years, putting “God Bless the USA” aside because that's an umbrella, you know, and it's not a parachute. So, my career has always charged forward because I have a creative ability.
I have an energetic ability and I think I have a cunning ability to make a living. I think I know what it is that I need to survive and how to manipulate the river that comes to us when we have to negotiate a job or payment. I think I'm good about that. So I was never, never afraid of that.
Joann Butler: And you've had a front row seat to American history obviously. Can you share a memorable behind the scenes story involving a president that you've never forgotten? Lee Greenwood: I was recently in Qatar with President Trump. My wife went with me.
He was visiting three countries, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Emirates. So we joined him in Qatar because I've been there before and it was an invitation by the prince, by the Emir, and I performed at the palace and then I, they asked me if I would sing at Al Udeid which is the military base. And so I said yes I would, and so we go there, and they had American military and they also had the Qatarians military, huge base, and recently there had been some missiles from Iran that went there, of course, you know. I performed and I introduced the president and Pete Hegseth was standing next to me and my wife is sitting with the military on my left.
And so after I got through and he made his speech, it was funny because a lot of the, I don't know what to call them, not the Sikhs, but the people that wear the white hats and the robes, you know, they were all taking pictures and videos of me because I represent the president. It was really interesting that they treated me like a dignitary, like an ambassador. And so backstage, we're getting ready to leave and the president takes pictures with a couple people and then with Kim and I. And he said, "Lee, I'd like to invite you to have a ride home." And I said, "Well, thanks, but I have to be in Indiana tomorrow and I can't go onto the Emirates." He said, "You're turning me down?" I said, "Yeah." And my wife said, "I don't have to be there tomorrow." So, there's your story.
Joann Butler: That's a good one. That's a good one. What gives you the most hope about America's future? Lee Greenwood: Productivity, creativity, and our youth.
Joann Butler: I love it. Can you share a special 250th birthday message for America for us? Lee Greenwood: I can't wait till 300. Joann Butler: I love it.
I love it. That was great. Thank you so much. Lee Greenwood: Okay, thank you.
Gotta go. Joann Butler: God bless you. Happy birthday, your wife. Have a good weekend.
