Exclusive: 'God Bless The USA' Singer Lee Greenwood Shares His Emotions When Trump Walked Into RNC Monday

[MILWAUKEE] The country singer, whose signature song “God Bless the U.S.A.” is President Donald J. Trump’s walk-on song, told RedState what it was like to introduce the president Monday night as he entered the Republican National Convention held here July 15 through July 18.

“It was an emotional moment,” said Lee Greenwood, who also sells the God Bless the USA Bible, endorsed by Trump.

“I knew it would've been a normal moment and not necessarily business as usual, but it would've been a normal moment had it not been an assassination two days before,” he said.

“It filled me with emotion as well. I was excited,” the singer said. “I was very excited to know that my friend Donald J. Trump is alive, and he's going to once again take the reins of not just the RNC but of the country.”

A source familiar with the president’s Monday appearance told RedState Trump was overwhelmed by the crowd's response when he went up on the monitors backstage. As the crowd roared and Greenwood began to sing, he told his staff he was going to wait to gather himself.

Greenwood said he was surprised that the president did not come out on the cue of the song.

“I was taking it, all that, in,” he said.

“My music is playing--I've already sung a verse of my song, "God Bless the U.S.A.," which is his entrance music and has been, and it was in his last term as well,” said the singer who has sold more than 25 million albums, with seven Number 1 hits.

“I'm anticipating what the next few seconds is going to unfold,” said the South Gate, California, native. “Is he going to wave at the audience? What is his demeanor? He seemed a little bit exhausted, but wouldn't you be if you got shot?”

The son of a Navy veteran, who enlisted after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, said he felt he needed to support his friend.

“I think he was a little apprehensive about what to expect from the crowd,” he said. “He wanted to be around his people, the convention, the people that want to get behind him and be president again.”

Greenwood said Trump gave him a look that told him the president was going to be OK.

“The moment when he turned and looked at me--I know this is the moment that I needed to uplift him,” he said. “I began to sing the chorus again and then make the introduction, I could see the smile just starting on his face a little bit and recognizing the fact that we are all on his team.”

Greenwood: Trump requested me for Monday’s convention entrance

The country singer said he has been singing his song at Republican conventions since 1984, and it became so closely associated with President Ronald W. Reagan that Greenwood agreed to sell the song to Reagan’s presidential campaign for $1. The deal never came to pass because his record company, which actually owned the rights, intervened.

In the last four decades, the song has been the mainstay of Republican events, but also military and other patriotic occasions; however, it took it to another level with Trump and his rallies.

Greenwood said he never had the personal relationship with other GOP presidents as he has with Trump.

“I sang at his first inauguration, and I'd sang it many of the times at his rallies on stage and introduced him,” he said. “There’s a lot of trust there.”

Greenwood said it was not clear to him if he would get the call for Trump’s walk into the Fiserv Forum that Monday night, the same day delegates voted to nominate Trump and his chosen running mate, Ohio’s Republican Sen. JD Vance.

“I think even in his duress on Sunday, he told his team: ‘Call Greenwood, I want him there on Monday morning, so that he's available for me Monday night,” he said.

“It still wasn't clear if I would be allowed to introduce him, but just to sing the song that he loves, so it wasn't until Monday afternoon that we knew we were actually going to do that,” he said.

“I know the president,” he said. “I've been in his company now for quite some time, and it always gives me an opportunity to express my feelings of gratitude for his service to the country.”

In his speech Thursday to accept the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Trump name-checked Greenwood and his signature song, turning towards the singer with a smile.

“I saw a chart of great songs to America, it was No. 1 on the charts,” the president said.

“That’s Lee Greenwood, No. 1, a very special, beautiful person, a beautiful man,” he said.

My first time singing for an American president was in 1984 at the RNC Convention for Ronald Reagan. Forty years later, I was honored to sing for another charismatic and powerful president, Donald J. Trump! Thank you President Trump for fighting so hard for this country. It was a… pic.twitter.com/8j7Wn5dWHm
— Lee Greenwood (@TheLeeGreenwood) July 20, 2024

Greenwood: Elvis key to the ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’ origin story

Greenwood said because his father was serving in the Navy, he always had a special appreciation for the military.

“I was a drum major from a high school marching band, and I remember marching along with military bands,” he said. “I love the discipline, I love the pageantry, I love the uniforms.”

Feeding off this martial culture, the key impetus was his performing at the same Las Vegas hotel as Elvis Presley was headlining.

“I went to Nevada, and I stayed there for a long time,” Greenwood said.

“Elvis worked in the same room that I did the Hilton Hotel, which is now the Westgate, and I was the star of the lounge,” he said. “Bill Medley from the Righteous Brothers was my opening act, and Elvis was in the main room. I used to go see him all the time.”

During his Las Vegas era, Presley sang a medley called “An American Trilogy.” The song, which was arranged by Mickey Newbury, combined "Dixie,” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and the Bahamian folk song “All My Trials.”

The song was a plea for cultural unity in the United States, and it was the mainstay of his shows during the last five years of his life.

“When he would do the ‘Trilogy,’ Elvis was very reverent, and I said: “If I ever get my own career, I want to do the ‘Trilogy’ just like Elvis did, because that's something the nation needs to have for unity,” he said.

“Well, lo and behold, I didn't have my career, but three years in Nashville, Tennessee, and then I sat down and wrote my own anthem.”

Greenwood said he respects the power of his song and what it has done for him.

“There is a big cross-section of the audience that has kept my career in the limelight with just that one song,” he said. “As a country music artist and have been touring for these 40 years, I know that ‘God Bless the U.S.A' stands out in front of me."

Greenwood said that the song, which has topped the country charts three times, had a power he did not expect from the beginning.

“The first time that I ever sang it on stage with my touring show, it was just a song for maybe a month or two, and then people started standing up,” he said.

“I realized that what I have written is a song that unites people like never before.”

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