Daily Wire podcast host Isabel Brown on Tuesday put together a tribute episode to honor slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk on what would have been his 32nd birthday. Brown invited big-name country music artists and smaller indie acts to discuss faith, music, and Kirk’s impact on the world.
Legendary country star John Rich also stopped by “The Isabel Brown Show” to pay tribute to Kirk and discuss what it means to stand up for faith and principles in the entertainment industry.
“As an American, you always have this decision to make at some point, especially in today’s culture, and that is, ‘Am I willing to say what I really think and stand for what I really stand for, knowing I’m going to take a horrible bloody nose in my career or possibly worse?’” he told Brown, adding that he “wrestled with that for many years.”
“My American dream was to play country music, be on the radio, play the Grand Ole Opry, write hit songs, all of that,” Rich went on. “And so knowing that the industry was so liberal, if I came out swinging as a Christian conservative patriot, I’m probably going to be short-lived from that point forward … And sure enough, that was the case. I’m not on the radio anymore. I don’t get invited to their big fancy parties. But on the other hand, I can say whatever I want to.”
“I can speak the truth,” the singer said. “And, you know, Charlie represented that. I mean, you see a guy who knew that walking into those situations was going to be uncomfortable at the least and potentially dangerous, which now we know it was actually deadly to walk into those situations. But he represents what it means to be a real Christian.”
“Real Christians don’t just speak the truth when it’s comfortable,” Rich added. “Matter of fact, quite the opposite.”
The singer also mentioned Kirk’s legacy, with more young people following his example and getting married and having children.
“It’s literally the greatest feeling a person can ever have, as you know and as I know,” Rich said of marriage and parenthood. “And I think that that has been downplayed, ridiculed, demonized, even to go out and get married and have kids. I mean, we’ve seen it in the media.”
Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout!
He added, “‘No, you don’t need to do that. You need to be a Kardashian. You need to be a pro athlete. You need to be this, be that.’ What about just being a regular, good dad or a regular, good mom? And they’ve never really talked about the benefits you get back to yourself when you become a good dad or a good mom. There’s nothing in the world that compares.”
Rich said the Christian revival that was set in motion following Kirk’s assassination has been inspiring. “I do think with Charlie’s death, the mask of shallowness has been pulled back off of our culture … It’s giving people a line of sight into the real deep things of life that really matter.”
The country star also offered advice to anyone seeking to live a better life.
“Put things into motion that will outlive you,” he said. “That way down the road when you’re no longer here, whether you die at 31 or 110, somebody somewhere gets to hear or see you do or say something that impacts them long after you’re gone.”
He went on, “It’s okay to go be successful, but your focus should be significance in your music, in your art, in what you say, in your speech. In shows like this, say things that will outlast you. That would be my advice.”
Singer Matthew West agreed with all points and also discussed the challenges of being the father of teenagers. He said he’d “been a fan of Charlie’s for a long time” and was always “inspired by his bold stance, but also the way that he exercised his right to free speech in such a respectful way.”
“I have teenage daughters, you know, who need young influencers like Charlie showing them the way and speaking into their lives like Charlie,” West said. He added that in the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, he felt a “stirring,” which was noticeable when he performed his song “Unashamed” several days later at a stadium in Pennsylvania.
“I definitely have felt just a stirring taking place and a spiritual awakening, as well as just a cultural awakening of going, ‘What kind of voice am I gonna have in the world? And am I willing to use it even if it comes at a cost?’”
West emphasized the impact Kirk was able to make despite being young. “There’s a verse in the Bible that says, ‘Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers,’” he said, referencing a passage that’s been used in reference to Kirk many times since his death.
The singer said the hatred against Kirk is also very revealing as it’s proof of “the legitimate spiritual warfare that we as Christians do believe is constantly raging on around us at all times.”
West said his takeaway is to be even bolder in his faith despite the backlash he may experience. “There’s a line in one of my songs called ‘Unashamed’ and it’s made me think about Charlie,” he told Brown. “And every time I find myself singing it on stage since Charlie’s death, I think about him and I think about like, I just, I almost sing it kind of angry. And the line says, ‘I don’t answer to the crowd/ I answer to a King/ So the louder they shout/ The louder I sing.’”
West also performed a song he wrote as a tribute to Kirk, which came to him on the night of the assassination.
“September 10th, after we found out that Charlie had gone home to be with the Lord, I gathered my wife and my two daughters together and we talked about it and we prayed … later that night, I heard a song coming from my daughter’s bedroom and she was just up there, my 19 year old daughter with her guitar and she was singing … this old hymn from my childhood.”
He added, “And I went to bed that night and … a Bible verse woke me up early that morning. I don’t want to romanticize it, but literally that’s what happened.”
The singer-songwriter said the idea of God being close, even in the face of a tragedy, inspired the song “Be Close,” which he performed on the tribute episode.
Brown’s tribute episode, “A Life Worth Singing For,” also included insight and reflection from Cole Swindell, Abe Parker, and Anne Wilson.
.png)
.png)
