Lee Greenwood Brings His ‘God Bless the USA’ and American Spirit Tour to Palm Coast’s Fitz Arts Center

Ah, yes. There he rumbles on his Oliver tractor at sunup. Or maybe sunset: he’s losing the farm, after all, even though the song dates back to 1984, when a similarly produced ad told us it was morning again in America.

He curves around. He parks. He leans over the steering wheel, his despondent head eclipsing the sun but for a corona–of hope. And off he goes with “God Bless the USA,” the song that–though it never topped any chart, as seven of his other songs and one of his albums did, and though it was intended as a last-song afterthought on his third album–made Lee Greenwood famous.




It became the Republican Party’s unofficial national anthem and the country’s most orthodox patriotic tune since the cymbals and brimstone of John Philip Sousa. It became an oath of allegiance for legions and Greenwood’s visa to presidential elbow-rubbing: he’s performed the song for presidents–not just Republicans–since appearing with fellow-performer Ronald Reagan in 1984, though never with as much infatuation as when he performed for Donald Trump, as he did at his first inaugural concert and hasn’t stopped since.

Love it or hate it–people do both in numbers seemingly as polarized as the country’s politics–it’s the inescapable sound of an ideological triumph yet to peak: Jan. 20 is still ahead.

By nearly-coincidental occasion, Lee Greenwood, who is the same age as Joe Biden–82–will bring his trademark patriotism, his star-spangled-shirt, his veteran recognitions (he’d started working for the USO tours when he was a teenager, though his lottery number allowed him to avoid service in Vietnam), his “God Bless the USA,” his many hit songs and many that weren’t to the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center in Palm Coast the evening of Jan. 23 for a 7 p.m. concert, just six days after Crystal Gayle, that goddess of country, descends with her river of hair on the Fitzgerald stage.




Greenwood will be on his American Spirit Tour, which he’d have kicked off only the night before at Immokalee’s Seminole Casino. It will take him to 17 other venues through November–not quite “From Detroit down to Houston And New York to L.A.,” as his famous song goes: he no longer commands that sort of audience even if his one anthem does. Rather, he’ll be performing in towns with names like Weirsdale, Florida, Waleska, Georgia, Dunbar, Pennsylvania, and another casino in Hinton, Oklahoma, with a date at Little Rock, Ark.’s Rock The Country Festival likely promising his largest audience.

In Palm Coast, a release issued by the Performing Arts Center states, fans can look forward to hearing Greenwood’s chart-topping hits, including “Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands,” “I.O.U.,” and “Dixie Road,” as well as a heartfelt celebration of American pride and unity. “This concert is an extraordinary opportunity to experience the passion, energy, and artistry of one of country music’s most cherished performers,” the release states.

“We are thrilled to host Lee Greenwood and the American Spirit Tour at the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center,” said Amelia Fulmer, the Performing Arts Center’s director. “This is a rare chance for our community to enjoy an evening of incredible music and a celebration of the values that unite us all.”

It’s not entirely clear what prompted the writing of “God Bless the USA.” In the 1993 book he wrote about the song, on which he’s been capitalizing in continuously creative ways, he wrote that the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 by a Soviet missile in September 1983 “was a catalyst, the event that triggered something inside me.” But he’s also attributed the song’s inspiration to his father, who was a World War II veteran, and to veterans in general, as he told NPR six years ago.




He plays a farmer in the song: he grew up on a farm in California but came of age musically playing minor venues in Nevada for 20 years, where he crossed paths with Elvis several times–as a listener only. He especially loved Elvis’s once-iconic, now in parts unsettling, “American Trilogy” (“Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton/Old things they are not forgotten/Look away, look away, look away Dixieland).

“If I ever get to Nashville,” Greenwood told the Nashville Tennessean in a 2021 interview, recalling those days, “and I think that’s probably where I will end up because L.A. chewed me up and spit me out, I’ll write a song kind of like the trilogy.” So he did, still very much singing Dixie around a farm table.

The end of the famous video is enigmatic though: gone is the tractor. After what looks like a hearty lunch with his large family, with singing, reminiscing and promises to “gladly stand up next to you,” he drives off with his belongings, waving goodbye to his family as “Public Auction” signs signal the end of their farm. Clearly, Greenwood made the right choice for himself.

Tickets for the performance are on sale now online. Prices are from $64 to $74 (no processing fees). For more information, visit the Fitzgerald’s website or call 386-437-7547.