John Anderson attended the Hall of Fame ceremony three days ago and died in his sleep.
Now Trump's Special Envoy for American Landowners is calling on Governor DeSantis to give Florida's greatest native son the honor he deserved.
John Rich wants "Seminole Wind" as the official state song of Florida – and he's promising to bring Nashville down with him when it happens.
A Man Who Loved His State More Than His Career
John Anderson was 71 years old and one of the most decorated artists in country music history.
Four decades of hits.
Sixty charting singles.
A Grammy nomination.
An ACM Career Achievement Award.
https://twitter.com/TasteOfCountry/status/2113699476825116985?s=20
Hall of Fame inductee, class of 2024.
He was born in Apopka, Florida – and he never forgot it.
In the early 1990s, Anderson drove through his home state, watched condominiums swallow the Everglades, visited his 95-year-old grandmother, and came home heartbroken.
He didn't write a letter to a politician.
He picked up his guitar and wrote "Seminole Wind."
That song hit #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1992.
It bounced out of truck speakers across the South for two straight years.
CMT named the video one of the 100 greatest in country music history – twice.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida embraced it as their own – they welcomed Anderson onto reservation land for the music video and appeared in it themselves.
That's not something the Seminole Nation does for outsiders.
Florida's Real State Song Already Has a Home
Florida's official state song right now is "The Swanee River (Old Folks At Home)."
It was written in 1851 by Stephen Foster – a Pennsylvania songwriter who never lived in Florida. The state adopted it in 1935.
Nobody can hum it.
Nobody plays it.
Nobody knows it exists.
John Rich – Trump's Special Envoy for American Landowners, sworn in July 2026 – posted this to X after Anderson's death:
"Ron DeSantis should consider making 'Seminole Wind' the official state song of Florida. John Anderson captured the spirit of this state in his song, and was a native born Floridian. Gov DeSantis, would you consider making that happen? A bunch of us would fly down if you would," he said.
https://twitter.com/johnrich/status/2113245074523832765?s=20
Read that last sentence again.
John Rich is not making a suggestion.
He is making a promise.
He has the relationships in Nashville and in Washington, DC to deliver exactly what he's describing – a moment Florida would remember for a generation.
Rich was responding to an original post by DeSantis honoring John Anderson.
“RIP to a great country artist and the pride of Apopka, FL, John Anderson,” DeSantis wrote. “‘Seminole Wind’ is one of the best songs of all-time about Florida.”
DeSantis Should Make the Call Today
Anderson spent his final public evening watching the induction ceremony in Nashville.
Three days later his family announced he had "died peacefully in his sleep" – no cause given, no warning, just a quiet exit from a man who made loud, beautiful music for fifty years.
There will never be a better moment than this one.
https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/2113329602819158121?s=20
DeSantis has never been shy about standing up for real Florida culture over the manufactured kind.
This is as real as it gets – a native Floridian who loved his state enough to write its story into a song, earned the respect of the Seminole people who lived that story, and spent five decades being recognized as one of the greatest to ever do it.
Florida should give John Anderson what Stephen Foster never earned and never could.
Make "Seminole Wind" the state song.
Do it now, while the music still echoes.
Sources:
- Aaron Ryan, "John Rich Calls For Governor Ron DeSantis To Make John Anderson's 'Seminole Wind' The Official State Song Of Florida," Whiskey Riff, October 22, 2026.
- Country Music Hall of Fame, "Medallion Ceremony 2024," countrymusichalloffame.org, October 20, 2024.
- Florida Seminole Tourism, "Long Time Friend of the Seminole Tribe of Florida," floridaseminoletourism.com, 2025.
- comediansandspeakers.com, "John Anderson Biography," comediansandspeakers.com.
