The United States (pt.1, A-D)

Roy Acuff ~ The country music legend, with hits like "Great Speckled Bird" and "I Saw The Light", once ran for governor of Tennessee in 1948 as Republican. He had joined the Republican Party after a spat with a Democratic Governor who had publicly insulted Acuff as a "hillbilly", but when Acuff surprisingly won the actual nomination he ran for the governorship itself, using as his campaign platform the ten commandments, and lost, albeit to a different Democrat.

ROY ACUFF ~ "I SAW THE LIGHT";


Rocky Adkins; A Democratic member and Minority Leader of the Kentucky Legislature is also a decent Bluegrass singer

ROCKY ADKINS ~ "ROLLIN IN MY SWEET BABY'S ARMS";


Afroman (real name Joseph Edgar Foreman) Rapper known for his 2000 stoner rap hit "Because I Got High" announced he was running for President as an independent of a platform of ending homelessness and, wait for it, pot legalization. Natch.

AFROMAN ~ "BECAUSE I GOT HIGH";


Clay Aiken; After coming in second as a contestant in the 2003 season of "American Idol" Aiken went on to a career as a recording artist before announcing he would run for Congress in South Carolina as a Democrat in 2014 but was unsuccessful.

CLAY AIKEN ~ "INVISIBLE";


Kathryn Allen; A Utah doctor who has announced her intention to run as a Democrat for congress against Jason Chaffetz before he surprised Washington by announcing his own intention to resign. Besides being a doctor and former congressional aide Allen is a musician who plays the accordion who is running on a pro-environment, pro-education, pro-health-care and pro-arts platform.

Herbert J. Anslinger ~ The head of the Federal Narcotics Commission who ruled with a Hoover-like iron hand for forty years with a special hatred for musicians actually was a pianist himself who worked in his youth providing accompaniment for silent movies.


John Ashcroft (& Larry Craig, Jim Jeffords & Trent Lott) ~ Governor of Missouri from 1985-93 then senator from 1995-2001 when he was famously defeated by Mel Carnahan a candidate who happened to have been dead for a few weeks. As senator he was one of a group of Republicans calling themselves "The Singing Senators" who frequently sang at public functions as a barbershop and gospel quartet. This included an appearance with the Oak Ridge Boys The other members included Trent Lott of Mississippi, Larry Craig of Utah and Jim Jeffords of Vermont. After his defeat he became George Bush's Attorney General. Among his more noteworthy accomplishments was singing a melodramatic anthem called "Let the Eagle soar" on television. Ashcroft actually had written the song and had even recorded a few independent gospel albums in the 1970's, one along with a Missouri Democrat Max Bacon. Ashcroft is now a lobbyist for the National Association of Broadcasters. As for the other members of the Singing Senators, Jeffords switched parties and became a Democrat, Trent Lott became Republican House Leader before having to resign as leader after praising segregationist Strom Thurmand (Lott also chose not to run again) and Larry Craig was forced out after a sex scandal involving gay sex in the men's room of an airport.

JOHN ASHCROFT ~ "LET THE EAGLE SOAR" (backwards);



Lee Atwater ~ Not actually elected to anything, Atwater ran the campaigns for the elder George Bush. He also played blues/rock guitar, including a guest shot on the Letterman Show and recording with BB King.

George Barner ~ State Commissioner of Thurston County Washington circa 1985 also had a side gig with his band the Trendsetters who recorded a version of "Louie Louie" which probably tells you what kind of band they were. (a cool one)

Charles Barron ~ A firebrand New York City councilman since 2001 and former Black Panther who has also run for mayor in 2005 but dropped out, then ran in the Democratic congressional primary in 2006 and lost. He then formed his own Democratic Freedom Party to run for Governor in 2010 and lost again. In his youth he was also a steel drum player and has said that he would like to return to the drums in the future.

Mark Clark Bates ~ A young editor of a small paper from Tennessee who put together a right-wing folk group called the Goldwaters (he was one of the singers) to campaign for Barry Goldwater's 1964 Presidential run. They toured that year and even recorded an album but broke up after their and namesake lost in a blowout. Bates later became business manager to C&W singer Tex Ritter and managed his unsuccessful 1970 campaign for the GOP Senate nomination. He later decided to give it a try himself running as an independent candidate for Governor in 1976 but lost getting only five thousand votes.

THE GOLDWATERS ~ "STOPPED SHORT";


Paul Bearer ~ Singer for 1980's New York Hardcore band Sheer Terror and long time Anti-Nazi announced his independent write0in campaign for Pfresident in 2020 with Steve POss, the former singer for another New York Hardcore band the Cavity Creeps as his VP candidate. However POss died mere weeks before the election.

SHEER TERROR ~ "BROKEN";


Lulu Belle ~ A popular star of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930's to the 1950's as half of the duo Lulu Belle and Scotty with the original version of "Have I Told you lately that I love you", along with the pro-McCarthy ditty "I'm no Communist". She later served a few terms in the North Carolina House as a conservative Democrat in the 1970's.

LULU BELLE AND SCOTTY ~ "I'M NO COMMUNIST";




Jello Biafra ~ Singer for the infamous San Francisco punk band The Dead Kennedys took time out to run for mayor in 1979, coming in third to Diane Feinstein and prompting a change in laws to ban future candidates for running under assumed names. His real name is Eric Boucher in case you were wondering. In 2000 he ran for the for the Green Party's presidential nomination losing to Ralph Nader. After losing he campaigned for Nader and did so again in 2004 and 2008.

THE DEAD KENNEDYS ~ "CALIFORNIA UBER ALLES";




Wayne Bledsoe ~ A regular Renaissance Man, Dr Bledsoe has been a fixture on the Missouri Bluegrass scene for decades as a musician, radio show host, writer, editor of Bluegrass magazine and President of the International Bluegrass Music Association. Besides that he was also a professor of Ancient and Medieval History at the University for 32 years and served as Chair of the Department of History and Political Science. Oh yeah, and he also ran for the State House in 2008 as a Democrat when he lost to the far less interesting Republican.

Randy Blythe ~ Singer for Metal bands Lamb Of God and Pigface announced his candidacy for the Presidency in 2016 as a vaguely libertarian atheist. One possible problem being that he was at that time under indictment in the Czech Republic for the death of a fan who he pushed off stage (he was eventually found responsible but acquitted of criminal charges). Another problem was that he wasn't actually on the ballot so he would have been a write-in candidate. Surprisingly he didn't win.

LAMB OF GOD ~ "RUIN"


Jon Bon Jovi ~ New Jersey's second biggest rock star (after you know who) was appointed to the President's new White House Council for Community Solutions by President Obama in 2010. No I don't know what that means either, but he does do a lot of charity work and has campaigned heavily for every Democratic Presidential ticket since Gore. And if that seems trivial keep in mind that Schwarzenegger's political career started out in much the same way. Actually forget I mentioned it.

BON JOVI ~ BLAZE OF GLORY;


Sonny Bono ~ The short half of Sonny and Cher and before that a songwriter with Phil Spector. Even during the 1960's Bono was known as an anti-drug conservative. After Cher dumped him he had an abortive solo and acting career in which his best role was as a bomb toting loser in one of the "Airplane" movies before opening a restaurant in Palm Springs, California. After a dispute with the city council he ran for mayor of Palm Springs as a Republican and won, serving from 1988 to 92 and then ran for and won election to U.S. congress from 1994 to 98 when he died in a freak skiing accident.

SONNY AND CHER ~ "I GOT YOU BABE";


Justin Brannan; Guitarist w/Strait-Edge Thrash band Indecision has recently won as the Democratic candidate for a city council seat in Brooklyn

INDECISION;


Elton Britt ~ A popular yodeling cowboy star from the 1930's when he replaced Stuart Hamblen (see below, in the Berverly Hillbillies, a popular western stringband, he also ran briefly and surprisingly for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960 against JFK, LBJ, Hubert Humphrey, Stuart Symington and Adlai Stevenson. Somewhat less surprisingly he lost and quickly dropped out.

ELTON BRITT ~ "MAYBE I'LL CRY OVER YOU";


Scott Brown ~ A Massachusettes Republican Congressman from 1998-2004 and Senator 2010-13, until defeated by Elizabeth Warren, later unsuccesful Senate candidate in New Hampshire, then ambassador to New Zealand under Trump. He also has a side job leading a bar band called Scott Brown & The Diplomats.

SCOTT BROWN & THE DIPLOMATS ~ "LIVING AFTER MIDNIGHT";


Pete Buttigieg ~ The Mayor of South Bend Indiana and current candidate for the nomination for the Democratic Party's 2020 nomination is known for speaking nine languages (although it's unclear just how fluent he actually is) and being playing jazz fusion piano and guitar which led to guest gigs with the South Bend Symphony (although being mayor probably helped) and the Ben Folds Five along with a few campaign events. Actual video evidence show he is definitely less talented than Bill Clinton however.

PETE BUTTIGIEG;


Robert Byrd ~ The octogenarian Democratic senator from West Virginia since 1959 (and elected to other offices since 1947!) was also a respected Old Time Country fiddle player who recorded an album with The Country Gentlemen in 1978 and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry and "Hee Haw". Unfortunately he had been unable to play for many years due to tremors in his hands and old age when he died, still in office in 2010.

ROBERT BYRD ~ "CRIPPLE CREEK";





Blanche Calloway ~ The older sister of Cab Calloway was a also a Jazz singer in the 1920's & 30's and became one of the first women to lead a big band. Besides being a major influence on Cab (which he frequently stated in interviews) her bands also included the likes of Cozy Cole, Ben Webster and Ruth Brown. While she recorded a number of excellent singles she never managed a major hit and her career slowed down after WW2 when she quit the road and opened a Jazz club in Washington DC and became a radio station program director. She also involved herself in politics in various states Pennsylvania and Florida as a member of the Board of the NAACP and a liberal Democrat member of the DNC supporting civil rights and voting rights (becoming the first black woman to vote in Florida) and opposing war for which she was once arrested.

BLANCHE CALLOWAY ~ "IT LOOKS LIKE SUZIE";


Bill Clinton ~ The U.S. president from 1992 to 2000 and before that governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 92 was also well known as good sax player who's first ambition was to be a professional musician. As a teen he played in a jazz combo with Randy Goodrun who would later become a Grammy Award winning songwriter. Clinton later decided he would be more successful as a politician but he frequently played in public, most famously on the Arsenio Hall Show during the 92 election and during his endless inaugural parties. He would later be invited to play at a Czech jazz club by President Vaclav Havel.

BILL CLINTON ~ "HEARTBREAK HOTEL";


Calvin Coolidge ~ U.S. President from 1923 to 1928 and before that Vice President and governor of Massachusetts; the second Jazz Age president was more sedate than the first (Harding; see below) in more ways than one, and played the harmonica.

Bill Cornett ~ Known as Banjo Bill, was a respected Old Time Country player who recorded for Smithsonian/Folkways while still serving in the Kentucky State Legislature as a Democrat in the 1960's.

BANJO BILL CORNETT ~ "BORN IN OLD KENTUCKY";



Joe Crowley ~ The long-term New York Democratic Congressman had served for twenty years and was high ranking member of the caucus but only became a national figure in 2018 when he was defeated for re-election by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Which is about the time people discovered he also had a Dad Rock band.

JOE CROWLEY ~ "PINK CADILLAC";


Mike Curb ~ The owner of Sidewalk Records and later the modestly named Curb Records, Curb was also the manager of MGM and Verve records starting in 1969. He also was a writer, arranger and producer for such artists as Roy Orbison, the Osmond Family, Lou Rawls, Sammy Davis, Jr, Solomon Burke and Davie Allan & The Arrows as well as his equally modestly named Mike Curb Congregation, a terrible example of Up With People type muzaky 1970's pop. A Republican crony of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, in 1970 Curb announced a purge of "drug related" artists as part of a morality purge. While Curb bragged that he would be willing to risk losing chart topping artists the only artists actually dropped were the non money making Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa. Curb was largely ridiculed for his grandstanding. Zappa himself pointed out that his contract was up anyway and he wanted out. Another money making MGM artist, Eric Burdon, publicly bragged about his drug use and dared Curb to fire him. He didn't. Then another MGM artist, The Grateful Dead, released an album of drug related psych-rock and Richie Havens released another album with some drug references without complaint from Curb. A Velvet Underground "Best of" was also released with overt drug songs like "Waiting For My Man" and "Heroin". Curb later ran for Lieutenant Governor of California in 1978 and won. After he lost nominations in 1982 and 1986 he returned to the music business with his own Curb Records in 1994, where his company records mostly country artists artists such as Wynonna Judd, LeAnn Rimes, Hank Williams Jr., Hank III, Tim McGraw, Kimberley Locke, Sawyer Brown and Jr Brown. Curb is also an equity partner in the gospel music company Word Label Group. Hank III has since had an acrimonious departure from Curb after complaining that his attempts to record hard rock were being stifled. Curb has remained a vocal critic of what he deems to be offensive rock and hip hop, especially any drug references, although to be fair he has also been a vocal proponent of gay rights within the Republican Party.

THE MIKE CURB CONGREGATION ~ "I SAW THE LIGHT";


Peter Daou ~ A Lebanese-American Democratic political strategist who has worked for John Kerry, Hilary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and various Congressional candidates. However before this in the 1990's he was known as a Jazz & Electronic keyboardist and producer who worked with Björk, Miles Davis, Mariah Carey, and Diana Ross along with his own group appropriately called The Daou.

THE DAOU ~ "SYMPATHY BOUQUET";


Jimmie Davis ~ Governor of Louisiana from 1944 to 1948 and again from 1960 to 1964 was also a major country music star with his biggest hit being the classic "You Are My Sunshine". He had recorded under the name "Uncle Jimmy Davis" but after serving a term he billed himslef as "Gov Jimmie Davis". During his second term he pardoned Freddy Fender who had been sent up for a long prison term after a pot bust.

JIMMIE DAVIS ~ "YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE";


Charles K. Dawes ~ U.S. Vice President under Coolidge from 1924-28; in his earlier years he was also a pianist and composer who wrote "Melody in A Major" which would later have lyrics added to it as "It's All In The Game" which would become a huge hit several times in the 1950's and 60's being recorded by Tommy Edwards, Brook Benton, the Four Tops, Cliff Richard, Nat King Cole and Van Morrison. Dawes didn't live to see (or hear) this however since he died in 1951. He probably never jammed with Coolidge either since the two men thoroughly hated each other.

TOMMY EDWARDS ~ "IN THE GAME" (co-written by Charles K Dawes);





Andrew Ian Dodge ~ A high profile organizer and spokesman for the Republican Tea Party in New England, Dodge is also a long-haired, goateed, tattooed and pierced aspiring amateur rock singer and songwriter who has written some no doubt catchy songs about limited government and states rights which have oddly not become hits. Dodge is also an aspiring science fiction writer. In the run-up to the 2012 election Dodge was musing about challenging sitting moderate Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine in 2012 as not being conservative enough for his liking. In the end she decided to retire and Dodge did not run.

Fredrick Douglas ~ The great American Abolitionist and Civil Rights Leader began life as a slave before he learned to read (largely self taught), escaped and became a world famous Anti-Slavery advocate. He also learned to play classical violin and was reportedly quite talented. His son Joseph would go on to become a well known and respected concert violinist.

J.Everett Dutschke; A member of a Mississippi self-described hard-rock-hip-hop rock band called Dusty and the RoboDrum which sounds pretty terrible. Although not as terrible as Dutschke later running for for the Mississippi state house in 2007 with an especially nasty but unsuccessful campaign for the Republicans. But even that was not nearly as terrible as getting charged with sexual assault or sending a series of letters laced with toxic niacin in 2013 to various figures including President Obama for which he tried to frame a rival blues singer/Elvis impersonator. I swear I did not make any of that up. Dutschke was quickly caught and sent to prison for a long stretch.