Lee Greenwood and his beautiful wife, Kim, make their home in the lush rolling hills of Tennessee, just outside of Nashville in a house that “blessings built.” Quite literally.
For more than four decades, Lee has been the man, the writer and the voice behind the song “God Bless the USA,” one of the most enduring patriotic songs in America’s history. When he originally wrote it in 1983, little could he have imagined the profound impact it would have on an entire nation over the decades to come. He reflects back: “The words ‘I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free’ came to me in the back of my tour bus while rolling down the highway to our next gig. The song more or less ‘wrote itself’ coming naturally as a reflection of my personal pride to be an American. It wasn’t written as a political song. It wasn’t intended to be a ‘Republican or Democrat’ song. ‘God Bless the USA’ was written as a love song from a native son who felt truly blessed and thankful to have been born in this great land.”
On July 4, 2026, Greenwood’s voice will often be heard as America marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “”God Bless the USA” will ring out as the semiquincentennial will be celebrated across the nation with special events—including major commemorations in Washington, DC. It is a once-in-a-generation birthday for the nation
In his personal history, Lee didn’t just don a robe of patriotism in a recording studio. In the 80s, Greenwood became one of country music’s defining male voices, earning major awards from the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association and the Grammys. His hits included “Dixie Road,” “Somebody’s Gonna Love You,” “Going, Going, Gone” and the tender “I.O.U.” Still, history would remember him most for the song he wrote in the back of his tour bus in 1983.
That love of country is also woven into the Greenwood marriage. Kim Payne was Tennessee’s Junior Miss in 1985 and Miss Tennessee USA in 1989, earning degrees in English and Communication from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga before stepping into a lifetime of pageantry, leadership and service. As a performer, she traveled to more than 20 countries and entertained American troops on multiple USO tours. On one of those tours, in the North Atlantic in 1989, she met Lee. Lee and Kim married in 1992 and raised their two sons, Dalton and Parker, in Middle Tennessee.
“Faith and family have always been the anchor for us,” noted Kim, “The song may be what people know, but behind it is a family that has lived with gratitude, has serve God at every opportunity and taught our boys to love this country and never forget the One who blessed it.”
The Greenwoods’ grounding in patriotism and faith is also visible in faith-focused projects, including the God Bless The USA Bible, a King James Version edition presented with the inclusion in the back of America’s founding documents. Lee has said the project was discussed by him, Kim and his management team as they considered what it means for America’s next generation of leadership—our children—to know the meaning and importance of the Founding Documents and the spiritual connection of The Creator’s importance in the heritage that shaped “one nation under God.”
Notes Lee. “What kind of country do we want to hand to the next generation? What stories will we teach our children to honor? Will we remember the men and women who paid for freedom? Will we pray for leaders, love our neighbors, serve our communities and keep faith at the center of our national life? Will we pause to remember at this the 250 Birthday of our great nation that the gift of freedom was not free and that is to be cherished, protected, and passed on?”
Added Lee as a personal note to Nashville Christian Family readers in closing: “Between now and our nation’s magnificent milestone on July 4th, I hope every American will take a personal inventory of their blessings and will breathe a prayer to God to continue to bless our great nation. In this changing world of increasing conflict and threats, we must be diligent. In the profound words of one of my heroes, former President Ronald Reagan: ‘All if us as Americans are joined in a common enterprise to write the story of freedom—the greatest adventure mankind has ever known…”
Jackie Monaghan, Morningstar PR (615) 390-0792, morningstarpr@comcast.net
