My experience as a Scottish musician touring in Donald Trump's America

The National

03-05-2025

I explain I'll be heading to Chicago to perform at the city's Scottish Festival and Highland Games and that I'm desperately trying to programme more shows to make the most of my O-1 visa and recoup the $6535 that it cost me.
Dev has flown from the US to attend a two-day conference in Edinburgh titled New From Scotland. Organised by Wide Days, the conference showcases 11 emerging and established Scottish acts from varying genres with the objective to encourage both domestic and international industry figures and talent-buyers to work with export-ready musicians, strengthening Scotland's reputation as an exporter of world-class talent.
Iona FyfeI reckon the past five years have been among the most challenging that musicians and creatives have ever faced. Brexit, the curtailing of freedom of movement, soaring visa and petition costs, the Covid-19 pandemic, streaming and the rise of artificial intelligence have created the perfect storm of difficulty, red tape and bureaucracy for both emerging and established musicians.
Add in the complexities of navigating geopolitics, activism and cancel culture into the mix, and it is very difficult for musicians to appease and stay 'on the right side' of everyone – their fans, industry figures and, of course, the governments of territories that they are operating in.
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Since the change in the US administration in January, music industry professionals and arts workers have been scrambling to keep up to date with the rapidly evolving changes and tightening of immigration rules.
Anecdotal tales of musicians being denied entry to the US despite holding the appropriate visas have become rife on social media with arts workers circulating advice for fellow workers and musicians who are preparing to enter the US for work.
'Wipe your phone, sign out of all social media accounts' and delete any posts that criticise President Trump was informal advice posted on social media by long-time US agent and producer Robyn Boyd of Wooden Ship Productions. Other comments suggested that failing to provide access to devices and social media accounts were grounds for US Customs and Border Protection to deny entry.
IrishCentral reported that the phones of travellers to the US were being checked in Dublin Airport, an airport where US immigration authorities work out of to provide pre-clearance to the US.
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While social media can ofttimes be a vacuum of scaremongering of anecdotal fluff, the reality of the situation hit home for me in March when Nova Scotia folk duo Cassie and Maggie MacDonald experienced what they described as a 'strange' run-in with police in Ohio.
The Juno award-winning sisters were driving on Interstate 70 while on the phone to their mother when they were tailgated for more than half an hour, pulled over, separated, accused of transporting narcotics, drug searched then interrogated by Guernsey County Sheriff's Office deputies. When the search concluded that the pair were not carrying narcotics, they were then asked: 'Which do you prefer? Canada or America?'
This sinister profiling of Cassie and Maggie shows the extent to which Donald Trump's tariff policies, accusations of Canada being a source of fentanyl and intentions of making Canada the 51st state have trickled down and impacted even the lowest level of county and district policing.
As a musician who has driven the length and breadth of the US on my own late at night after shows, I can't imagine the fear I'd feel to be tailgated, searched and then questioned about my allegiance or preference, Scotland or America? How would I answer? Scotland is my heart, but my heart is also with the millions of ordinary Americans who believe in fairness, equality, freedom of speech and progressive values.
On a national level, the change in administration has ushered in changes to one of the most prestigious institutions in the world.
In February, it was announced that Trump was firing the board of the bipartisan John F Kennedy Centre and installing himself as its chair. In response, several artists including Grammy award-winning folksinger and banjo player Rhiannon Giddens, of Nashville TV show fame, pulled their imminent performances at the centre.
This week, Trump banned all LGBT+ events and Pride events at The Kennedy Centre – a move that has sent WorldPride organisers into a frenzy to secure a new venue with less than a month to go. I believe that we as artists should be resolute in our stance to not only protect but champion freedom of speech and by extension artistic expression.
It is becoming increasingly evident that if you have been critical of the administration and its suite of policies and executive orders, you may very well face difficulty in entering the US as a tourist or a worker.
Naïve of me as it is, I could never have imagined that a change in US administration would permeate and impact the culture and arts sector so profoundly in such little time.
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By February, an arts organisation that I served time on the board of had its National Endowment for the Arts grant placed on review after Trump's changes to DEI policy.
What saddens me the most is that for the most part, everyday, ordinary citizens do not condone or agree with many of the administration's policies and rhetoric.
The US is a huge market for Scottish music, with several bands such as Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Daimh, Breabach and Skerryvore enjoying fruitful performing careers in the country.
While touring the US is prohibitively expensive, I always thoroughly enjoy and cherish my time there and have been humbled by the response of audience members who come out to shows.
As a folk musician who sings Woody Guthrie songs and is unashamedly outspoken about social justice, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't have concerns about my next trip to the US.