Country Artists Unite Against Data Centers
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- Brad Paisley led opposition to a proposed Nashville data center planned 500 yards from the local zoo, with Jack White, Sheryl Crow, and Margo Price endorsing his Instagram push to halt construction
- Gavin Adcock, a confrontational conservative artist who has Facetimed with Donald Trump, called data center developers "rich money-grubbing assholes" and said rural farmers are "getting punished for living in the country"
- Tanya Tucker urged Texas Governor Greg Abbott to pause data center projects in the state, where The Texas Tribune reports approximately 248 centers are planned
- Willie Nelson came out against data centers near his native Abbott, Texas, warning of water theft, light pollution, and the demise of rural America
- John Rich, recently named President Trump's "Special Envoy for American Landowners," said Washington news on data center policy is coming "in a couple of weeks" and quoted Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on doing it "the right way"
- A May Gallup poll found only 7% of respondents strongly favored data center construction; protesters also appeared at Trump's Michigan speech where a massive OpenAI site is planned
Why it matters: A May Gallup poll found just 7% of Americans strongly favor data centers, yet Texas alone has approximately 248 projects planned — meaning the bipartisan country-music opposition led by Paisley, Nelson, Tucker, and even Trump-aligned artists like Adcock and Rich is converging into one of the few issues cutting across partisan and geographic lines in the current political landscape.
