Alexis Wilkins: Guns, Music, and Freedom: Alexis Wilkins Unfiltered | DSH #1450

Summary

Podcast Summary: Digital Social Hour

Episode: Alexis Wilkins: Guns, Music, and Freedom: Alexis Wilkins Unfiltered | DSH #1450
Date: July 16, 2025
Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Alexis Wilkins

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of Digital Social Hour features country artist and Second Amendment advocate Alexis Wilkins. The discussion centers on her experience navigating the intersection of music, politics, and activism—touching on freedom of expression, the dynamics of the music industry, Second Amendment rights, and her encounters with political controversy. Listeners get an inside look at what it means to be openly conservative in left-leaning spheres and why Wilkins remains unfiltered and unapologetic about her beliefs.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Being a Conservative in Music and Academia

• Navigating Political Hostility

  • Alexis reveals how entering country music and politics “was an accident” but grew out of necessity due to rising political tension (01:30).
  • Despite attending a private Christian university for business and political science, she experienced academic bias:

    “I was given an F in a political class just by a teacher that didn't like me or what I believed. And I wasn't even that vocal.” (01:51)

  • Industry pressure included surprising demands like,

    “You need to take the American flag out of your Instagram bio.” (02:49)

  • Her commitment to supporting veterans and patriotism made stepping away “not an option.”

• Music Industry Climate

  • Alexis clarifies that the country music scene is only "marginally better" than pop when it comes to conservative acceptance:

    “It's still the same labels, it's still the same, you know, kind of grandfathered in executives. So you don't get a lot of reprieve.” (03:49)

  • Direct audience connection via social media has empowered her independence:

    “You have a relationship directly with people who consume your media instead of having to go through a middleman...” (04:23)

  • She highlights the tension women face in the industry if they don't “bend the knee” or fit expected roles. (05:48)

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2. Freedom, Independence, and Artistic Control

• Drawbacks and Benefits of Being Independent
  • While independence poses challenges, it offers crucial creative and political freedom:

    “It's tough being independent, but it's also... there's freedom in it as well.” (04:58)

  • Parallel drawn to podcasting:

    “You got to kind of pick if you want freedom or if you want to be signed to someone, be told [what to say].” (05:03)

  • References to artist Mike Posner’s story of being "shelved" by his label for three years (05:26).

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3. Music that Reflects Values

• Alexis incorporates her values directly into her music:
  • Songs like “Stand” honor veterans, and “Country Back” expresses longing for a proud, patriotic America:

    “Especially last year, I want my country back...” (06:42)

  • She strives to produce music that families can enjoy together:

    “Really just pro music that you can listen to in the car with your kids.” (06:42)

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4. Touring America: Understanding Real Lives

• Alexis has lived in several countries but values her experiences touring across the US most:

  “You get to see the little towns in between the big cities. You get to see like really what America is made of.” (08:12)

  • Touring gave her insight into struggling small towns, coal communities, and what’s at stake in America’s economic and cultural heartland.

    “It gives you a whole new perspective on what matters and how all that needs to be fixed.” (08:57)

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5. Second Amendment Advocacy and Clashes with Activism Groups

• Moms Demand Action Encounter

  • As an NRA board member, Alexis regularly faces opposition from funded anti-gun groups:

    “Mom's Man Action just kind of... have so much money from Bloomberg, like by the hundred of million, and so they just send their people everywhere.” (09:28)

  • She sees gun rights as a “personal responsibility issue” with feminist undertones:

    “If you can protect yourself as a woman, why wouldn't you want to advocate for that?... advocating against guns is kind of a anti feminism thing. It's kind of racist.” (00:41, 10:14)

  • Alexis criticizes complex state-level gun laws that can turn lawful citizens into criminals by accident:

    “They find the nuance. And so those are really the laws that I have problems with or ones that are confusing for your average American citizen...” (10:48)

• Memorable exchange about real-life consequences of these laws:

  Interviewer (Sean): “If you're in Cali, if they break in your house, but they turn around and you shoot them, you get in trouble.”
  Alexis: “Exactly…. In certain states the law would actually be turned on them is just mind blowing to me.” (11:42-12:16)

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6. Perspectives on Current Events and Political Personalities

• Conversation touches on California’s issues under Governor Gavin Newsom:

  “Even left leaning Californians hate Gavin Newsom. So he really, really has some issues to resolve over there out west.” (12:31)

• Noteworthy mention of social media and podcast strategies among politicians, reflecting on Newsom’s failed attempts to emulate right-leaning podcasting success (13:03).
• Sean and Alexis also briefly discuss her relationship with Kash Patel, indicating strong political alignment and the personal adjustments required by his government service (13:21–14:13).
• Notable: Alexis refers to Patel’s experience of having his house swatted while working high up in government, underscoring the risks and stress public figures face (14:18–14:29).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On guns as a feminist issue:

  “If you can protect yourself as a woman, why wouldn't you want to advocate for that?... advocating against guns is kind of a anti feminism thing.”
  — Alexis Wilkins [00:41, 10:14]

• On independence in music and media:

  “You have a relationship directly with people who consume your media instead of having to go through a middleman...”
  — Alexis Wilkins [04:23]

• On academic and industry bias:

  “I was given an F in a political class just by a teacher that didn't like me or what I believed.”
  — Alexis Wilkins [01:51]

• On touring America:

  “It gives you a whole new perspective on what matters and how all that needs to be fixed.”
  — Alexis Wilkins [08:57]

• On gun laws turning citizens into criminals:

  “Finding the minutiae and the small wording that changes someone's rights and turns a law abiding citizen into a criminal just because they...defended themselves.”
  — Alexis Wilkins [10:48]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:41: Guns, feminism, and Second Amendment advocacy
• 01:51–03:24: Experiences of bias in college and the music industry
• 04:23–05:09: Independence as an artist versus being signed to a label
• 06:42–07:23: Patriotism and values in Alexis’ music
• 08:12–08:57: Touring and understanding America’s small towns
• 09:12–10:38: Clash with Moms Demand Action and advocacy for self-defense
• 10:48–12:16: Problematic gun laws by state and real-world dangers
• 12:31–13:06: California, Newsom, and political podcast strategies
• 13:21–14:29: Meeting Kash Patel and public figure challenges

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Tone and Delivery

• Alexis Wilkins speaks candidly, with a blend of conviction and relatability. She’s frank yet empathetic—balancing serious political topics with stories from her musical career. Sean Kelly maintains a conversational and curious tone, encouraging Alexis’s authenticity and providing relatable anecdotes from his own experiences.

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers an insightful, unfiltered look at what it means to be a politically engaged artist in today’s America. Alexis Wilkins’s perspectives shed light on the challenges of maintaining integrity in creative and activist spaces, the unexpected battles for freedom of expression, and the impact of policy on ordinary lives. Through music and advocacy, she continues to champion the values she holds dear, inviting listeners to question, connect, and stay true to themselves.

Transcript

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[Alexis Wilkins]

Might even call it, and this is where people started to get irritated, is it's kind of a feminist issue. If you can protect yourself as a woman, why wouldn't you want to advocate for that? You know, advocating against guns is kind of a anti feminism thing. It's kind of racist. You know, to say that people can't have access to the second amendment unilaterally is pretty terrible.

[Interviewer]

Okay, guys, at Student Action Summit, it's going to be a fun event here with Alexis Wilkins, who is singing the anthem today. Thanks for coming on.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah, happy to be here.

[Interviewer]

You excited to do that?

[Alexis Wilkins]

I am.

[Interviewer]

It's probably one of the bigger crowds for you, right?

[Alexis Wilkins]

It's Turning Point. Crowds are always so fun because you sing the anthem for them and they're actually genuinely excited about what it means. So it's, it's, it's pretty great.

[Interviewer]

It's interesting that you're an artist and in politics at the same time. Usually the artists avoid that.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah, no, absolutely. I, I joked that it all happened as an accident, but that's, you know, country music. I started writing and didn't really realize that it could be a career and just ended up pursuing it. And then you end up on tour and suddenly you look around and you go, oh, I'm doing this full time. That's fun. And then the political thing happened because.

It was just at a really heightened time. It was in, you know, kind of the range from 2018 to 2020. And I was in college from 2016. Anyway, it was business and political science. Was going to a private Christian university and kind of thought that that would protect me from, you know, some of the things that were going on in universities and that wasn't the case. I was. Spare a long story short. Short, I was given an F in a political class just by a teacher that didn't like me or what I believed. And I wasn't even that vocal. It was just clear that I wasn't being indoctrinated.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Alexis Wilkins]

And so between that and having to fight that and going through that process and wanting to help other people that I knew were also probably going through that with that process. And then also that music was very left leaning. We were encouraged to either be silent or to endorse, you know, the other candidate. And I was even told at one point, you know, you need to take the American flag out of your Instagram bio.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Like, things that trivial. And I work a lot with veterans organizations. I was told that, you know, you need to dial that back a little bit. And so for the American flag, the flag under which we all live in this country, and veterans causes, which should not be partisan, and they are very close to my heart. My grandfather served in the Korean War, and. And I have a lot of family in the military. Means a lot to me. The sacrifice is huge, and I recognize that it just wasn't an option. So I ended up leaning into it instead of stepping away from it as a. As a country artist.

[Interviewer]

Well done. Yeah. Similar story for me. I grew up in Jersey and kind of avoided politics my whole life. But then when I got to Rutgers, like, college, I was like, wow, this is really, like, liberal. Like, I don't know how they're teaching this to everyone and just didn't vibe with me, you know?

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And now looking at all these universities, I think, what, 90% of them are liberal. Yeah, something like that. Same with the music industry.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So it's like, damn, we're. We're really a minority out here.

[Alexis Wilkins]

It's true. It's true. And country music is, you know, people think it's the safe haven of conservatism, and it's only marginally better than pop. It's still the same labels. It's still the same, you know, kind of grandfathered in executives. So you don't get a lot of reprieve. You at least get the audience with you, which is, I think, the big part and why I'm so passionately passionate about connecting directly with the audience, because that's. That's ultimately who goes, yes, I like your patriotism, and I will still read your papers and watch your show and listen to your music.

[Interviewer]

Respect. Yeah. It's tough being independent, though, right, Without.

[Alexis Wilkins]

A label, you know, sometimes. But with social media and with some of the connectivity that's happened in the past few years, as you can probably understand, too, you have a relationship directly with people who consume your media instead of having to go through a middleman or being told, when you can release music, you know, if something Happens, you're inspired. You write a song about it. You know, hypothetically, you can just put that out. You don't have to ask anyone. Whereas a label, if you say something that they don't like or do something they don't like, you know, depending on who's in management in that label, they can. They can shut you down. They can shelve you and ultimately control what you put out.

[Interviewer]

So that's true.

[Alexis Wilkins]

It's tough being independent, but it's also there. There's freedom in it as well.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. It's. You got to kind of pick if you want freedom or if you want to be signed to someone, be told. Similar with podcasts, actually.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Really?

[Interviewer]

Yeah. So, like, you start a podcast wanting freedom, I think, but then you get to a certain point where you start signing to organizations and then you kind of lose that freedom.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Interesting.

[Interviewer]

Over time. So I would. I would say it's a little similar, but music industry is definitely more controlling, I'd say.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I had Mike Posner on and he said he got shelled for three years. He couldn't drop any songs. A guy, three years, that's crazy. And all you want to do is create music, right? Yeah. Put it out there.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Especially with his journey or what. I've heard of it. I can imagine so.

[Interviewer]

And you hear a lot of horror stories with labels.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So something needs to change.

[Alexis Wilkins]

It's bad.

[Interviewer]

Especially in the rap industry. I don't know about country, but, you.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Know, like I said, country is a little bit of a safe haven in some ways. But from the label executive side, you're still going to the same exact labels, so you're still getting some of that LA influx. You're still getting executives that have been there for years upon years upon years. And, you know, it's. It's when you're unwilling to compromise with what you're saying and what you're representing, and then you're also unwilling to compromise. Especially, like, just got to say it, as a female in the music industry, you go into rooms that you feel as though you would be farther if you did things that were expected from you. And it's. It's. You can feel it, you know, and you don't make those sacrifices. You don't bend the knee. You stay true to who you are, and you can. You can definitely sense it interpersonally as well. And it's. Honestly, it's fascinating, especially when it's not even on the table. It's just very interesting to feel the dynamic in that way.

[Interviewer]

I bet. Do you Incorporate a lot of political stuff into your music.

[Alexis Wilkins]

I do some. I do very. Just pro America, pro patriotism. I have a song called Stand that's honoring veterans. I have a song called Country Back that basically just said especially last year, I want my country back. And. And that was a thing all throughout campaign season. And so the rest of my music is regular country music, but where I can tie in, you know, pro, pro values, pro patriotism, really just pro music that you can listen to in the car with your kids. You know, I feel like even country radio starts to get a little dicey, which is fine. But it was always something that you could just throw on and feel good about. And so I'd like to keep that nice country back.

[Interviewer]

I bet that one crushed when Biden was president.

[Alexis Wilkins]

You. But it was hard because people were so passionate about it. And I felt bad cause I was right there with them. But there was an element that was really fun to go in crowds. I was touring with Aaron Lewis last year. I'm touring again with Aaron this year. And I wonder. That tour starts this weekend and I wonder how different it's going to be singing it this weekend versus the tour last year.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. I wonder if people will be as passionate about it. Right.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah, I hope so.

[Interviewer]

Any crazy tour stories? You've probably been all over the country. Maybe. I know you've lived in some other countries too.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah, he'd been. Been all over. And the US Is still my favorite. And I was born in Massachusetts, didn't live very long, moved to England and then Switzerland. My dad's job took us all over, back to the States, straight to Arkansas again for his job. And then.

California for a brief minute. My grandparents lived there. And then Tennessee. So just kind of all over the place. And then with torture. It's fun because you get to see the little towns in between the big cities. You get to see like really what America is made of. And not that I needed a change in my perspective, and I wouldn't even call it a change, but it just really enlightens you to see, you know, the small main streets that have shut down because of economic choices, you know, how coal towns work and how the general stores didn't pay people in money, but paid them in store credit. Worked when those shut down, like you kind of hear these stories from the underbelly of America and it's. It gives you a whole new perspective on. On what matters and. And how all that needs to be fixed. Really.

[Interviewer]

That's important. Right. Because they call D.C. a bubble.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Because they're making all these laws, but they're not on the, on the streets. Like you are witnessing what daily people are going through. Right?

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So that's really important perspective. You had a clash with Moms Demand Action. What happened with that?

[Alexis Wilkins]

So with Moms Demand Action, I feel like who hasn't had a little bit of a clash with Moms Demand action in the 2A space. I work a lot in Second Amendment advocacy and I'm on the NRA board and just honored to work on all that stuff with them.

Mom's Man Action just kind of. They have so much money from Bloomberg, like by the hundred of million and so they just send their people everywhere. And it's not to take away from the original thought of people who wanted to protect their kids, but it's not that it's funded by big companies that just don't want second Amendment to stay uninfringed, honestly. And so really just they don't like anyone who's standing up and creating attention for the second Amendment and explaining things in a common sense way and saying, you know, hey, you don't, you don't have to be someone who loves guns and has them everywhere, but you can be someone who understands that it's a response, it's a personal responsibility issue and some might even call it. And this is where people started to get irritated is it's kind of a feminist issue. If you can protect yourself as a woman, why wouldn't you want to advocate for that? You know, advocating against guns is kind of a anti feminism thing. It's kind of racist, you know, to say that people can't have access to the second Amendment unilaterally is, is pretty terrible. So that's where they, they didn't, they don't like common sense. And so that's where we are.

[Interviewer]

Guns do level the playing field. Yeah, can't deny that.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Exactly.

[Interviewer]

If you could change any gun law in America, would you change any or would you just keep it as is?

[Alexis Wilkins]

You know, it's interesting, it's so obviously the Constitution is federal and I believe that it should be unilateral. Of course, it is a state thing as well. And so I think that case by case and state by state, it's so individual, the different issues. You know, we have problem states that I think deserve an influx of attention and you know, bodies going in there, there are people going to do those work on and finding the minutiae and the small wording that changes someone's rights and turns a law abiding Citizen into a criminal just because they def. Defended themselves. You know, they find the nuance. And so those are really the laws that I have problems with or ones that are confusing for your average American citizen or American gun owner to understand what their rights are. But it's really in general, because federally I believe that the second amendment should be unilateral.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. I'm the same way, like depending on the state, if you're in Cali, if they break in your house, but they turn around and you shoot them, you get in trouble.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Right, right.

[Interviewer]

Which is crazy. Like they literally broke in your house. They're causing harm. They're probably having a weapon themselves and you can't shoot them if they turn around.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Exactly. You know, and I've heard so many stories firsthand from women who have had a gun in the house, have been able to defend themselves, and it's been life saving. It's completely saved their. Their lives, caused them to protect themselves from bodily harm, all these horrible things. And the fact that in certain states that the law would actually be turned on them is just mind blowing to me.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Like it shouldn't even be a thought that you could get in trouble in your own house.

[Alexis Wilkins]

No.

[Interviewer]

Like you should just be reacting, you know?

[Alexis Wilkins]

Right. Someone breaks in, there's really not a debate there.

[Interviewer]

But not to me. Cali's going through their issues right now.

[Alexis Wilkins]

They are.

[Interviewer]

They just got hit with the Title 6 lawsuit.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Oh, man. They are.

[Interviewer]

That's a big one.

[Alexis Wilkins]

It's huge. You know, I think it's finally, what do they call it, Finding out time with kind of owning up for all the things that have been going on for the last, I'd say four years, but it's been longer for California. I mean, I feel like even left leaning Californians hate Gavin Newsom. So he really, really has some issues to resolve over there out west.

[Interviewer]

His ratings dropped a lot from his.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Podcast, I heard, which is so interesting. I think he thought from the Trump campaign that that would be just a whole slam dunk. And it has not been.

[Interviewer]

Well, it worked for the right, so I could see why he tried it.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You know what I mean? Podcast it for Republicans. But yeah, it did not work for him. No. And he made the first move on Trump. He sued him first. So he's kind of just getting what he asked for, I guess.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah. Is that. It is.

[Interviewer]

We'll see what happens.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Absolutely.

[Interviewer]

How did you and Kash Patel meet?

[Alexis Wilkins]

We met in Nashville at a friend's house at a.

Feeling it was a true social or Rumble. Like some kind of event that we were going to. It's one of those funny things where I wasn't even going to go and, you know, those things that you end up going to that you weren't going to go to. And we met that was almost three years ago now. And that was. That was kind of that.

[Interviewer]

Wow, that's dope.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Do you agree with him on politically wise? On most things?

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah, no, we're. We're definitely. We're definitely aligned. Like, even though his position now, it's. It's. It's pretty politically agnostic, which is a good thing for America and for the government. Ultimately, that's. That's the best way to do it. You can definitely tell from before. From before that. That we. We definitely agree on things.

[Interviewer]

Was that a huge life change when he took. I bet it was crazy, right?

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah. You can't really prepare, honestly, for something like that, too. Yeah. How do you. How do you really prep?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, I saw he was on some podcasts. I forget which one. He said the. The house got swatted like his own house. And he's the head of the FBI. It's just, like, crazy to me that stuff like that happens. Right?

[Alexis Wilkins]

Yeah, it's wild. It's really wild.

[Interviewer]

Can't believe that. Well, thanks for coming on. Good luck with the anthem today. Anything else you want to close off with here?

[Alexis Wilkins]

No. Anything else? I'm good.

[Interviewer]

No, we're good. We'll link your socials below. Good luck with your upcoming tour as well. We'll put that in the video.

[Alexis Wilkins]

Thank you so much.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Check her out, guys. Thanks for watching. Hope you have a good one.