Two more acts have quietly exited the MAGA-coded Rock the Country tour festival. After initially appearing on the tour’s lineup poster alongside headliners Kid Rock and Jason Aldean, country singers Morgan Wade and Carter Faith appear to have dropped off the bill. While at press time neither act had commented on their departure on their socials, Rolling Stone reported that sources close to both acts confirmed that they will not be performing on the tour.
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The magazine said that on Friday (Jan. 23) Wade’s name vanished from the tour poster and Faith responded to a fan asking why she was on the bill with an, “I’m not anymore!” At press time a spokesperson for the festival had not responded to Billboard‘s request for comment.
The tour, which bills itself as “a festival for the people… celebrating 250 years of freedom” in this year of the nation’s semiquincentennial, is slated to hit eight tertiary markets in towns such as Ashland, Ky., Bloomingdale, Ga. and Hastings, Mich., with a lineup that also includes Jelly Roll, Creed, Brooks and Dunn, Miranda Lambert, Hank Williams Jr., Shinedown, Ella Langley, Jon Pardi, Nelly, Uncle Kracker, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Brantley Gilbert and others.
Though the event does not have an announced political affiliation, headliner Kid Rock has been a loud and frequent supporter of MAGA figurehead Trump, who introduced the rapper-turned-rocker-turned-country-singer’s set via video message last year. In addition, Aldean, also a vocal Trump supporter, dedicated his controversial hit “Try That in a Small Town” to the then-former president at a July 2024 show, telling the crowd, “this one’s for my friend, Donald Trump.”
Two weeks ago, Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris‘ name was removed from the lineup poster, with a rep for the “Pimpin’ All Over the World” telling RS that his name “wasn’t supposed to be” on the poster to begin with; a spokesperson for the festival confirmed Luda’s exit.
Rock the Country launched in 2024 as a festival centering on country music, though the inclusion of Luda and “Hot in Herre” rapper Nelly — the latter also performed at Donald Trump’s second inaugural ball in 2025 — caused some upset among fans when they were included in this year’s lineup.
In the comment section for the lineup poster on Instagram, one user wondered, “[Ludacris], this is your crowd now? Pretty sad,” while another darkly joked, “In honor of Nelly and Ludacris appearing, they will be provided with their very own water fountain”; Ludacris was slated to only perform at the July 26 date in Anderson, S.C. The tour is slated to launch on May 1-2 in Belleville, Texas.
