Church and Sullivan Give Us The National Anthem We Need

Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan sing the Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl LV.

I'm not a country music fan.  I like the Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard type country but that ain't what country music is anymore.  So, I had no special feeling when Eric Church began strumming his electric guitar to the Star-Spangled Banner during pregame of Sunday's Super Bowl.  But soon I was struck by the wonderful straightforward, no-nonsense manner in which Church was performing, his voice so clear and twangy and strong.  It is rare to hear our national anthem approached that way.

Then, for the second stanza, a warm and smooth female voice joined in with sensational confidence.  It was suddenly two different styles of the anthem performing in perfect harmony.  Church provided the steady backbone while Jazmine Sullivan provided the vocal fireworks.  Sullivan would go high and low, fast and slow, and always come back to where Church was moving right along.  

Their proud voices and styles in harmony at the conclusion of the anthem blew me away.  My god, this was exactly the symbolism this country needs right now.  A blue collar country singer and an urbane pop/hip-hop star in wonderful harmony.  It was the very unity President Biden was talking about in his inauguration speech.  Nothing could be finer.

Except the woke press thinks Jazmine should have handled things all by herself.  I've seen several articles the past few days declaring their desire to have heard the spectacle of Sullivan alone.  Surely, she could have managed it and it would have been marvelous, but - really?   The press really can't see how magical the two of them were at this moment for our country?

Today I read an article that more or less represents this shallow perspective straightforwardly titled "Jazmine Sullivan Was Robbed Of Her Big Moment."  Oh god.  At one point the article reads: "It would have made more sense to pair Jazmine with a Black woman country singer..."

Hold on here.  Forget the marvelous, obvious symbolism of racial and cultural unity that actually was for a moment and let's read that quote again.  What if, instead, it had been written: "It would have made more sense to pair Eric with a White male pop singer."

If that sentence were written anywhere in the press, whatever publication published it would be rioted, firebombed and banned from social media.  The double-standard of that reprehensible, simultaneously racist and sexist remark is mountainous.  

The woke-influence within the press is just our prejudices rebranded.  Wokeness is, quite obviously, blind to anything remotely resembling the genuine cultural unity this nation so desperately needs.

But, I'll let that utter bullshit slide.  The duet was extraordinary and anyone wishing to take Church out to the equation is blinded by their own wokeness.  I don't care if you don't like country music.  I just told you I don't care for it either.  In fact, that was the first song I think I've ever listened to by Eric Church.  

And I don't care if you think Jazmine deserved the spotlight.  She had the spotlight, no question.  She was all over the place in extravagant glory with her vocals.  There was no taking that glory away from her.

But in her glory she was exalted to something higher because she relied on the constant working-class strength of Eric Church.  It isn't that Church has Sullivan's voice.  He doesn't.  But she doesn't have his either.  The earthy grounded voice that, when combined with the glory, produces a singular thing of wonder.

Which is precisely the hope of America.  

It is unachievable, of course.  The Woke-Left enrages the Alt-Right and the feeling is mutual.  But Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan showed us what to aim for in a way either one was powerless to do alone.  That speaks with more validity than anything the critics have to say.

Part of what blew me away was the perfectly timed air force flyover at the end.  It featured America's three strategic bomber types flying in tight formation.  It was impressive sight and the first of its kind, ever.  Yeah, I was blown away by what I was seeing and hearing.

I realize some people feel there is too much of a "military flavor" to professional football games.  I can even sympathize with that perspective.  The militarization of American sports is a legitimate concern, as it is in other facets of society.  

Nevertheless, I am a student of military history and I could definitely appreciate what I saw.  It is the Super Bowl for god's sake.  If you are going to make a big to-do about anything it should be that.  

It is rare that the Star-Spangled Banner is sung in a straightforward way.  Lady Gaga did that with the Marine Corps Band at Biden's inauguration.  It started out much simpler at Super Bowl LV.  Church laid down the backbone that was lifted up by Sullivan and her vocal power.   We were given a unique, memorable performance.  And nobody is going to tell me that anyone was robbed of anything.

This was an outstanding example of the performers, the anthem and the flyover raised to the level of performance art.

If we can't wake up to the splendid symbolism of unity when it stares us in the face there is no hope for resolving our discord.  I fear that there is no authentic willpower for it.