When Donald Trump was being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, celebrities and music stars were adamant about not performing at the inauguration. Even country music legend Garth Brooks, who has many fans that are Trump supporters and often plays to the same base as Trump, refused to perform to honor Trump as he was sworn into the highest office in the land.
Nevertheless, Brooks changed his tune about performing at presidential inaugurations because just four years later, he was chomping at the bit to get a slot at then-President-elect Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony. Although Brooks is a red-blooded Republican, he preferred Biden over Trump and decided to do the performance because Jill Biden called Brooks with “a very sweet ask” to participate in the inaugural ceremony by performing some of his country music hits.
“I might be the only Republican at this place, but it’s about reaching across and loving one another,” Brooks said about performing at Biden’s inauguration. He also wanted to use his power to bring Republicans and Democrats together through music – because everyone loves Garth Brooks’s music – since he was sick and “so tired of being divided” after four years of Trump in power.
In contrast to Trump, Brooks believes in his heart that President Joe Biden is “hellbent on making things good” in America again.
Back in 2017, Brooks was singing a different song when it came to the presidential inauguration. Although he didn’t make a stink publicly about Trump beating Hillary Clinton in the electoral college and never publicly joined the refrain that Trump is “not my president,” Brooks did make a statement by deciding to defy his Republican Party and not perform at Trump’s special day.
In 2021, Brooks decided to perform to honor President Biden because he wanted “to serve” the people of America as a singer and country music legend and “not a political statement, a statement of unity.”
In the video below from PBS, you can hear Garth Brooks perform “Amazing Grace” as a blessing to the American people during the inauguration of President Joe Biden. He wasn’t willing to do the same for Trump.
Brooks delivered a soulful performance of Amazing Grace after Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into the highest offices in the entire world. Brooks drew the crowd into the performance by asking the thousands of people gathered in the United States Capitol to mark the transition of power from the Republicans to the Democrats by requesting that people sing the final verse of the famous song.
“This is a great day in our household,” Brooks said when he announced he would be participating in Biden’s 2021 inauguration after skipping out on fellow Republican Trump’s just four years prior. “In our household, this is not a political statement; this is a statement of unity.”
Brooks previously performed at the inauguration of then-President Barack Obama in 2009.