Cape Cod Performer ‘Canceled’ for Singing at Trump Rally

Carly Tefft, an up-and-coming performer from Cape Cod, says she was recently canceled by a Dennis, Massachusetts business owner because she performed the national anthem during a campaign appearance for former President Donald Trump.

Tefft, a 2015 graduate from Berkley School of Music, is a singer-songwriter now living in Nashville who still calls the Cape home.

Tefft has performed the national anthem many times for sporting events, including at Fenway Park, in addition to state and local events.

Tefft said that "the Star-Spangled Banner is unifying," and while "political figures are very divisive," the national anthem "shouldn't be anything divisive."

Home in Massachusetts in April, Tefft said she "got a call from the Trump team asking if I wanted to sing the National Anthem," which she called a "great opportunity."

She performed at the Trump rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on April 27, 2023. It cost her a job at the Harvest Gallery.

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Tefft said she posted a video of the rally performance, and several days later received a call from the Harvest Gallery's owner Michael Pearson who called the video "a bit controversial" and said, according to Tefft, "I would no longer be allowed to perform there for the rest of the year and he canceled my shows."

"I was really disappointed," she said.

Tefft said Pearson told her "he felt that his customers would feel threatened" if she appeared "and that's something he didn't want to have happen."

"The only question he asked me was if I was a Trump supporter," she said. "No matter what I said, he'd already made up his mind."

Tefft said it was "an honor" to sing for the former president.

"It's not about who is president now and who was president then, it's what this country was founded on, and that is why I chose to go ahead and sing," she said.

Tefft said the reaction to her experience has been "very much positive" and that she is "blown away by all the support." Even folks who identify as non-Trump supporters have reached out and said "this isn't right," she said.

WBSM reached out to Harvest Gallery on Thursday afternoon to see if they wanted to provide a statement, but had not received a response as of this writing.

Despite being canceled in Dennis, Tefft has a full slate of appearances in Massachusetts and Nashville and has a new song being released on July 4.

A full listing of her shows can be found at CarlyTefft.com and her music is available on all of the major music streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes.