John Rich in "Bloody-Knuckle Fistfight" With Nashville Star
Those are his words, not mine. That's how mad John Rich was at the folks at NBC about the Nashville Star reality series, and he says he will "never do Nashville Star ever again as long as NBC has anything to do with it. Ever." In an interview with Sirius XM Satellite Radio about his upcoming solo album, Son of a Preacher Man, and his involvement with CMT's Gone Country, he said working on Nashville Star was frustrating (hence the bloody-knuckle fistfights, I guess). Rich claims NBC didn't know jack about country music, and he didn't like the way the network treated country fans. In putting country music into perspective, Rich explained, "We got a guy named Kenny Chesney who's 40 years old, who's an East Tennessee hillbilly, who sells 80,000 tickets a show." That may be true, but we've also got a girl named Miranda Lambert who's a feisty little Texan who sells a lot of concert tickets. And she came from those Nashville Star roots. So the show can't be all that bad.
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kaye says:
Yeppers, JR! There’s some of us who knew, have known and always will know that NBC didn’t know ‘jack’, ‘john’, ‘jane’ or ’sam’ about country music the way that Nashville Star was put together.
Jasper says:
John Rich is just full of himself.
Dave says:
Wow . . . guess John doesn’t think much of Kenny . . . can’t understand why he ever got involved with NS in the first place, I could have told him it would turn out stupid. Not that GC is much different.
Kate says:
I the intent of the example was to show the ‘potency’ of NS, then it was a poor choice as Miranda’s sales are but a small fraction of KC’s sales.
classiccountryfan says:
it’s not only NBC who doesn’t know jack about country music. Neither does John Rich
cj says:
He never should have compared them in the first place. They are totally individual start. Comparing artists all the time needs to stop. They each bring something different to listeners. John is so into himself.
hotelmotel says:
Why in the world does “comparing artists all the time nee[d] to stop?”
c-natural says:
john rich has worked very, very hard for his success, and while his particular brand of country music isn’t something i particularly care for, he understands the community and the culture of the music, and i do completely respect his right to his career and his opinion. let him get a little riled up. country music used to be so much rougher than it is, and we can’t handle a little attitude? sheesh.
as for miranda lambert, she was a part of nashville star long before nbc had anything to do with it, and it seems as though his beef is really with nbc, right?
Big AJ fan says:
I think the point was about NBC more than the Nashville Star premise. Not sure about comparing KC and ML. Like apples and oranges. I’ll take Miranda anyday over Kenny.
Rita says:
I watched Nashville Star and it still burns me that I will never get those hours of my life back. I agree NBC doesn’t know jack about country. Of all the country shows out there I have to go for Can You Duet. They found real talent out there and they are doing something with it. John can be very out spoken but then again, its a free country and I hope he keeps singing for a long time to come.
Twangtown7 says:
Hey Alsion/CMT, you ever hear of free speech? Quit deleting posts if theres no swear words in it. Very unprofessional.
Anyways, as I was saying, what does John Rich know about country music? He promotes Cowboy Troy!!!
Now tell me, how does that get deleted?
greatdivide says:
He’s right.That show has to be the lamest show on TV..Well, next to CMT’S “Can You Duet” that is.
B.W. LaRoy says:
I admire Johnny for being direct.
Mark Bradley says:
I met John at one of the writer’s nights and as a regular person was inspired by him. He did not notice me singing “not good enough to be noticed but love to sing” but he did come to see this brilliant country song writer who dropped my jaw with his lyrics. John had two beautiful ladies by his side and was dressed in a baseball hat and boots. It was nice to see with all his riches he still had his roots and took the time to see this talented young man. Yes from what I saw John was country and if he’s fighting for country music what the heck. Go for it John…… From Mark Bradley hiding in Guam..
ron says:
you would think that cmt would do nashville star wouldn’t you ?
Chase says:
You slack-jawed yokels!
The above refernce to Miranda Lambert is made by the author: Alison Bonaguro IN RESPONSE to J. Rich’s example of Mr. Chesney’s status as a true, A-level national. BTW Ms. Bonaguro, a minor cleb. launched from a C (or even D?) level “reality” TV show makes a poor comeback to Mr. Rich.
Why am I even wasting my time?