AMES, Iowa – [Freedom Sings](http://mtpress.mtsu.edu/freedomsings/), an accredited program from the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center and Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Media and Entertainment, will perform Wednesday, April 19, at 7 p.m. at the Ames City Auditorium during the Greenlee School’s 15th-annual First Amendment Days. The talented group of musicians performs a concert of previously censored or banned songs to display the importance of First Amendment rights. The program is free and open to all members of the Ames community.
“We strive to remind everyone that free speech includes the arts and particularly music,” said Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center and dean of the College of Media and Entertainment at Middle Tennessee State University. “In Freedom Sings, these are people who have played on some of the biggest records of all time who have banded together to play censored or challenged music.”
The ensemble includes multiple Grammy winners and artists from critically-acclaimed groups like Prince and the Revolution and the Steve Miller Band. Other cast members have written or produced music for artists such as Miranda Lambert, Trisha Yearwood, Carl Perkins, Hootie and the Blowfish and Blake Shelton. Freedom Sings offers a wide range of skilled musicians covering a variety of music styles.
The group played a major role in the creation of the Greenlee School’s First Amendment Days and previously made appearances during the first and 10th years of the annual celebration.
[Find more info on the Iowa State Lectures Program website.](http://www.lectures.iastate.edu)