John Rich

Music career

Lonestar

Main article: Lonestar

John Rich was born on January 7, 1974, the son of Jim, a Baptist preacher, and Judy Overton Rich. John graduated from Dickson County Senior High in Dickson, Tennessee and after graduation moved to Nashville where he worked as a singer at Opryland USA. He wanted to be a professional team roper. Not long after, he met up with the group Texasee, which eventually changed its name to Lonestar. While in Lonestar, Rich was the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist with Richie McDonald. Their 1996 single "Heartbroke Every Day" was the only one to feature Rich on lead vocals. Rich also co-wrote two of the band's singles: "Come Cryin' to Me" and "Say When", the former being a number-one single for the group. In January 1998, Rich departed from Lonestar, but was never officially replaced, causing Lonestar to continue as a four-piece band. Afterward, Rich became a solo artist with BNA Records, the same label to which Lonestar was signed. He charted two singles for the label and recorded an album which did not see release until 2006. In 2001, he recorded and self-released Rescue Me, an album he was inspired to record after meeting cancer patient Katie Darnell.

Big & Rich

Main article: Big & Rich

Rich joined Big Kenny in 2002 to form the duo Big & Rich. The duo recorded three studio albums for Warner Bros. Records: Horse of a Different Color, Comin' to Your City and Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace, in 2004, 2005 and 2007 respectively. These albums accounted for ten singles on the country charts, including the Number One "Lost in This Moment". Rich also co-wrote all of the duo's singles, primarily with Big Kenny. In the wake of Big & Rich's success, his 1999 solo album Underneath the Same Moon was issued via BNA, coinciding with the release of Big Kenny's previously unreleased solo album Live a Little. A fourth Big & Rich studio album was released in the summer of 2012, with the inspiring "That's Why I Pray" reaching No. 15 on the country charts.

Work for other artists

Main article: List of songs written by John Rich

During Big & Rich's success, Rich also worked as a songwriter and producer for other artists. His work included production for Gretchen Wilson, Keith Anderson, Jewel and John Anderson. In the same time span, he co-wrote multiple singles for other artists, including the Number One hits "Redneck Woman" for Wilson, "Mississippi Girl" for Faith Hill and "Why" for Jason Aldean.

He also has a co-write on Taylor Swift's 2008 album Fearless, titled "The Way I Loved You".

In 2011, Rich recorded a song with heavy metal band Black Label Society, entitled "Darkest Days", featured on their compilation album, The Song Remains Not the Same.

In 2016, Rich added his voice to a duet with Marie Osmond on her album Music Is Medicine with the song titled "Love This Tough".

''Son of a Preacher Man''

In January 2009, Rich released his third solo single on Warner Bros. Records. The song, "Another You", is the lead-off single to Rich's second studio album, Son of a Preacher Man, which was released on March 24, 2009. He followed this song up with another single, "Shuttin' Detroit Down", recorded only one week before its release in January 2009. Rich promoted the song, which addresses the Chrysler and General Motors bailouts, at Michigan radio stations. The song debuted at No. 34 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the chart week of February 14, 2009, becoming his first solo Top 40 hit and peaking at No. 10 in April. A third single, "The Good Lord and the Man", debuted at No. 59 on the country chart and peaked at No. 56 in July 2009.

''Rich Rocks'' and ''For the Kids''

Both Rich Rocks and For the Kids have only produced one single between them. Country Done Come to Town was released as a single from Rich Rocks in mid-2010 and was a minor chart success.

Television work

In 2007, Rich hosted the first season of a reality show on Country Music Television called Gone Country, which featured celebrities such as Brady Bunch actress Maureen McCormick, singers Bobby Brown, Sisqo, Julio Iglesias Jr., Dee Snider, Carnie Wilson and American Idol runner-up Diana DeGarmo as they try to become songwriters with the help of Nashville songwriters as the celebrities are paired together with the songwriters. The show was filmed at the former home of Barbara Mandrell. He has hosted two more seasons since then.

Rich also served as a judge on the 2008 version of Nashville Star on NBC along with Jewel, singer-songwriter Jeffrey Steele, and host Billy Ray Cyrus.

Rich was a candidate in the 2011 season of The Celebrity Apprentice, which premiered on March 6. In episode 5, he lost as Project Manager for the men's team, Backbone. Despite the first loss, he later won 2 more tasks as Project Manager, raising $1,266,908 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Rich competed with Marlee Matlin in the live season finale, where he was declared the season winner, and received an additional $250,000 for his charity.

Rich served as a mentor in the 2012 reality/competition series The Next: Fame Is at Your Doorstep.

Personal life

John Rich and his wife, Joan, married on December 6, 2008. He has two sons, Cash and Colt.

Rich is an outspoken Christian and credits his faith for his decision to withdraw from the mainstream music industry in favor of a more independent music career.

Political views

Rich is a strong supporter of the Republican Party.

In the 2008 U.S. presidential race, Rich originally supported Fred Thompson. He performed in the closing ceremony of the Republican National Convention on September 3, 2008. He endorsed President Trump in 2016, 2020 and again in 2024. He remains a friend and ally to President Trump.

On April 7, 2015, Rich's song "Shuttin' Detroit Down" was featured in Senator Rand Paul's 2016 presidential campaign announcement. He later declared his support for presumptive nominee Donald Trump following Paul's exit from the race. Big & Rich would later perform at a pre-inaugural ceremony on January 19, 2017, after Trump's victory in the general election. On May 30, 2019, he released "Shut Up About Politics" featuring presenters of the Fox News Channel programme The Five.

In July 2022, Rich released the politically charged "Progress", a song harshly condemning various "progressive" political ideologies. "Progress" reached No. 1, and stayed there for two consecutive weeks on the all-genre iTunes download chart. The following year, he released the similarly political song "I'm Offended", which landed in the Top 5 most downloaded songs on the iTunes all-genre chart. He also scored number one download positions with his songs "Earth To God" and "Santa's Got A Dirty Job." His song "Revelation" was released in July 2024, and reached the number two position on the all-genre iTunes download chart.

In April 2023, Rich was one of many musicians to express support for the Bud Light boycott, announcing that he would no longer sell Anheuser-Busch products at his bar.

In 2026 Rich made a post on the social media platform X advocating the use of the U.S. military to release Tina Peters, who was convicted in August 2024 on seven charges of engaging in a security breach to advance a false conspiracy theory of election fraud from custody in Colorado. Four of the convictions were for felonies.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

• A "I Pray for You" also peaked at number 63 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.

Featured singles

Videography

Music videos

Guest appearances

References

References

1. "Character profile: John Rich". USA Networks.
2. "Reporter".
3. Pruett, David B.. (2010). "MuzikMafia: From the Nashville Scene to the National Mainstream". University Press of Mississippi..
4. McGraw, Bill. "John Rich's "Shuttin' Detroit Down" sizzling on country radio, Web". [[Detroit Free Press]].
5. (July 3, 2012). "The Winner of The CW's "The Next" to Earn Recording Contract With Atlantic Records".
6. (December 7, 2008). "Big & Rich's John Rich Marries Longtime Girlfriend".
7. (December 22, 2024). "Country Star Fell Into Traps of 'Wicked' Industry Until He Turned to Jesus: 'It Is Put Up or Shut Up Time'".
8. "Celebrity Political Donations: John Rich". Newsmeat.com.
9. "Official site". Johnrich.com.
10. "Rand Paul's campaign announcement began with this anti-Wall Street country song".
11. (June 23, 2015). "John Rich: I'm glad Trump is running for president".
12. "Big & Rich to Perform at Trump Inauguration Gala". Rolling Stone.
13. O'Connell, Madeleine. (July 28, 2022). "Listen: John Rich Slams President Joe Biden And More In Anti-Woke New Single 'Progress'".
14. Lorge, Melinda. (August 23, 2023). "John Rich Releases New Song "I'm Offended" From Politically-Charged New Album, 'The Country Truth".
15. Wethington, Caleb. (April 7, 2023). "Travis Tritt, John Rich drop Anheuser-Busch due to company's campaign with trans influencer".
16. "The next Delta operation should be extracting Tina Peters from her holding cell in Colorado.".
17. "John Rich Album & Song Chart History – Country Albums". [[Prometheus Global Media]].
18. "John Rich Album & Song Chart History – Billboard 200". [[Prometheus Global Media]].
19. "John Rich – Rescue Me".
20. "Top Country Albums – Biggest Jump". [[Prometheus Global Media]].
21. "Top Kids Albums – Biggest Jump". [[Prometheus Global Media]].
22. "John Rich Chart History – Country Songs".
23. "John Rich Chart History – Hot 100".
24. "John Rich Chart History – Canadian Hot 100".
25. "John Rich Chart History – Billboard Global 200".
26. "Big Start for Rich".
27. (July 18, 2024). "John Rich Calls Out Eminem in Tucker Carlson Chat—'How Crazy Is That?'". [[Newsweek]].
28. "Results – RPM – Library and Archives Canada – Country Singles". [[RPM (magazine).
29. (March 17, 2023). "John Rich teams with Tom MacDonald for 'End of the World'".