The Central Texas creators of the song “Salt in the Wound” protesting the proposed mosque near ground zero won’t be performing the song live at Saturday’s anti-mosque rally in New York City.

Waco resident Steve Dansby, who sang the lyrics to Axtell songwriter Rita W. Jones’ song, said Wednesday that he, Jones and her husband, Mike, would not be at the New York event because of security concerns.

Mike Jones helped craft the images of the song’s hugely popular YouTube video.

Steve Dansby (left) sings the mosque protest song "Salt in the Wound" written by Rita Jones (right).
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald file

The three had been invited by rally organizer Pamela Geller, affiliated with the organization Stop Islamization of America and a leader of the effort to block construction of an Islamic mosque and community center two blocks from the ruins of the World Trade Center.

The rally is scheduled for 2 p.m. CDT Saturday at the intersection of West Broadway and Park Place, about two blocks from the World Trade Center site and near the location of the proposed Islamic center.

Saturday is the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Dansby hoped to raise sufficient funds to bring his band, Flat Rock Junction, with him to perform the song live at Geller’s event.

But he wasn’t able to do so, and during the past weekend the singer changed his mind about going himself due to security reasons.

Increased security requirements, spurred by an Aug. 24 attack on a Muslim cab driver, led to reduced support from rally organizers for the Central Texas musicians, who already were having to pay their own way, Dansby said.

“They couldn’t offer us transportation or security. . . . We would have had to walk or take a cab to the event,” he said.

After playing before a large crowd with a video screen enlarging his image, Dansby said, he would have felt vulnerable walking through crowded New York streets after the rally.

Rita Jones disagreed with Dans-by’s account, but she declined to say more.

“We’re not going to go, and that’s all I’m going to say,” she said.

The video for “Salt in the Wound,” released about four weeks ago, was nearing 500,000 hits on YouTube, but it was pulled and a new version — one lacking a singing credit for Dansby — was substituted six days ago.

choover@wacotrib.com

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