The Democratic National Convention has released a list of the musical acts that will be performing during next week’s dramatically downsized, 100-percent “virtual” convention.
The lineup includes John Legend, Leon Bridges, Billie Eilish, Jennifer Hudson, The Chicks, and Common.
The Chicks made headlines earlier this year when the groups, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, removed “Dixie” to distance themselves from any moniker that has any connection to the Old South.
»RELATED: ‘Dixie’ no more: Country music group changes name to The Chicks
The group is no stranger to political or social controversy. In 2003, just before President George W. Bush launched an invasion of Iraq on the basis of searching for weapons of mass destruction, vocalist Natalie Maines told a London audience the band did not endorse the war and were “ashamed” of Bush being from Texas.
The trio has won 13 Grammy Awards, including five in 2007. By March 2020, with 33 million certified albums sold and sales of 27.5 million albums in the U.S. alone, they had become the top-selling all-female band and biggest-selling country group in the U.S. during the Nielsen SoundScan era.
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The convention, which formally begins Monday, will have no physical gathering place or audience. The program will instead consist of a series of online video addresses — half of which will be prerecorded — that play out for two hours each night until Biden formally accepts the Democratic presidential nomination in a mostly empty Delaware ballroom on Thursday.
Along the way, Joe Biden’s party will make history by unveiling the nation’s first Black vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.
“Nothing about 2020 has been normal. So I don’t think anyone expected that this convention would be normal either,” said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who was under consideration to serve as Biden’s running mate and will speak at the convention. “I hope wherever people are that they’re excited about the moment and the opportunity that lies before us.”
The online gathering comes as Democratic officials work to energize supporters behind Biden’s candidacy — not simply against President Donald Trump’s. While Trump is a huge motivator for many Democrats, there is some concern within the party that lower-information voters who lean Democrat and swing voters aren’t locks to cast ballots for Biden this fall, especially as the pandemic creates barriers to voting.
Credit: NABJ/NAHJ
Still, Biden attracted the support of former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, who is scheduled to speak Monday. The Biden campaign hinted that Kasich would not be the only high-profile Republican featured at the convention, but refused to say more.
The inclusion of Kasich, who opposed abortion rights and fought labor unions while in office, rankled some progressives. One of the far left's champions, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is scheduled to speak for just 60 seconds to help introduce Sanders the day after Kasich. Prominent liberal activist Ady Barkan, who previously backed Sanders, is scheduled to deliver remarks the next day.
But without the opportunity for the approximately 4,800 Democratic delegates from across the country to gather on the same convention hall floor, as is tradition, the opportunity for a genuine convention debate over the direction of the party has been eliminated.
The high-profile Black speakers also on the program include former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Barack Obama, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Bottoms, who will introduce a video tribute to the late Georgia congressman John Lewis on Thursday night, ahead of Biden’s speech.
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