Southern Rock Band Confederate Railroad has been removed from the lineup of the Illinois-based festival DuQuoin State Fair due to their name. Although the band themselves have not commented on the predicament, a few of their peers spoke up about the issue in support of the group.
The Predicament of Confederate Railroad
Both the Southern Illinois WSIL-TV and the Pinckneyville Press local newspapers have reported that Confederate Railroad was scheduled to perform at the DuQuoin State Fair in DuQuoin, Illinois, on the 27th of August.
They were supposed to join fellow country bands Shenandoah and Restless Heart as part of a segment called “90’s Country ReLoaded Day” at the DuQuoin State Fair. The latter of the two groups will still perform.
However, according to the aforementioned state fair’s manager Josh Gross, the Illinois Department of Agriculture had chosen to remove the band from the fair’s initial lineup after a writer for the Illinois-centered political blog entitled Capitol Fax posted the appropriateness of the band to be playing at a state-owned venue.
Gross released a statement regarding the decision to remove the band from the roster.
“While every artists has a right to expression, we believe this decision is in the best interest of serving all of the people in our state.”
As per reports of the Pinckneyville Press, Confederate Railroad declined to comment on the issue when they were contacted via Facebook. The band had not also posted a statement on any of their social media accounts, but both Charlie Daniels and the Oak Ridge Boys member Joe Bonsall have voiced their star disapproval of the decision on their respective Twitter accounts.
Daniels writes that political correctness is ‘out of control.’
“This political correctness thing is totally out of control. When a fair cancels the Confederate Railroad band because of their name its giving in to facism, plain and simple and our freedom disappears piece by piece. Sick of it [sic].”
While Bonsall chimes in that they are singing good songs.
“Canceling @ConfederateRR JUST because their name is CONFEDERATE RAILROAD is a crock of crap!!! These are good men singing good songs … God please help us all …”
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