Nashville musicians react to Covenant School shooting, call for action

Editor's note: As a public service, The Tennessean has made this content free. Follow the latest updates on the Covenant School shooting as they happen inour live blog here.

As news broke Monday morning of a fatal mass shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville, several of the city's notable musicians expressed sadness, frustration and anger on social media.

Three adults and three children were confirmed dead following a school shooting Monday morning at The Covenant School. The female suspect was killed in an altercation with police.

"Shame on every single politician ok with doing nothing," country singer Mickey Guyton wrote. "...as CHILDREN are getting assassinated on an everyday basis in a place that is supposed to be their safe haven."

Several artists, including country-rocker Margo Price, pointed their statements towards Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. In 2021, Lee signed a law allowing those over 21 to carry a handgun without a permit.

"Our children are dying and being shot in school but you're more worried about drag queens than smart gun laws?"

Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill told followers that The Covenant School in Green Hills is near the school his son attends.

"Multiple children dead but let’s make sure that the gunman had his 2nd Amendment rights," Followill said. "F*** you Bill Lee and f*** the NRA."

"Sending my kids to school shouldn’t feel like sending them to a war zone that they may not come home from," he wrote in a subsequent tweet.

"This is all so sad and nothing is ever done about it except for thoughts and prayers from those at home cleaning their assault rifles."

After Sen. Marsha Blackburn tweeted that her office was "ready to assist," Sheryl Crow responded in the comments: "If you are ready to assist, please pass sensible gun laws so that the children of Tennessee and America at large might attend school without risk of being gunned down."

Responding to the same Blackburn tweet, Rosanne Cash wrote, "Don’t even. You vote against every common sense gun control bill that comes across your desk, you’ve taken over $1 million from the NRA and you rank 14th in all Congress for NRA contributions. Spare us the hand-wringing."

On his weekly "Studio G" stream, Garth Brooks told fans he was on his way to his Nashville studio Monday morning when he was passed by a half-dozen emergency vehicles. Brooks said the studio is roughly a mile from The Covenant School.

"It’s always heartbreaking when you see any kind of situation like what happened today, but to know it’s in your own hometown, it was a little tough," he said."

Thank God for those first responders. I don’t know how they do their job. And thank God for our teachers. They are the angels of our children.

John Rich of country duo Big & Rich praised local law enforcement: “Thank you @MNPDNashville for running toward the danger and neutralizing it without hesitation, or a second thought to your own safety. #Nashville greatly appreciates you.”

On his Instagram stories, country radio personality Bobby Bones told followers he was "a proud gun owner."

"But I also believe in nuance," he continued. "Meaning, not black and white. Your politicians want you to believe there's only black and white. Your politicians take money from groups that also want you to believe it's only one way or the other. Their goal is to divide us. Our goal should be to try to make sure other kids, adults, cousins, teachers aren't senselessly killed.

"And maybe a few more rules to get a firearm wouldn't have stopped today. But it will stop it happening somewhere. And some kids won't have to die for no reason."

In a video shared on Instagram, Brothers Osborne guitarist John Osborne said he'd just gotten to help feed one of his newborn twins for the first time. The Nashville shooting took place 10 minutes away from their hospital.

"I got to hold my daughter, who’s less than a week old, today. And three families are not going to get to hold their children again because of these disgusting, vile acts. Our legislature in less than five days is going to pass a law. What is that law? Is it a red flag law? No. Is it a law to help make sure that psychos have less access to firearms? No. It’s to ban (expletive) drag shows. It’s ridiculous…and apparently, it’s to keep the kids safe."