John Rich has already achieved more than he ever thought possible. The 46-year-old is a successful songwriter, business owner and TV show host, not to mention his award-winning career as one-half of the hit duo, Big & Rich. For John, the success came at a price, at least at first, before he found a way to cope — which he credits in part to his growing Christian faith.
“My attitude over different sectors of my life has changed dramatically, depending on where my head space was, what I was maybe upset about at the time,” John admits to Circle All Access. “Getting success after being kicked around a lot, there’s various ways to handle that. I didn’t handle it too well a lot of times. I decided, ‘I finally had some success, and by God you’re all gonna know about it. I’m gonna beat you over the head with a hundred dollar bills’ and stuff like that. I was a pretty hard person to be around at times, and then at other times, you even back out.
“I think now where I’m sitting is I just can’t believe it, number one,” he continues. “And any goal I ever set for myself has been surpassed. And so I go, ‘Well, now what do You want me to do?’ [God] just continues to give me thoughts and ideas, and the gusto to go for them. You hear the cliché , ‘God opens doors for people.’ And I say, ‘God opens doors for people who have the nerve to run through the door.’ I don’t believe He opens doors for everybody to everything that’s their wildest dream, because I think it takes a lot of lack of fear or ability to overcome your fear, to take on something big.”
John learned plenty not only from his success, but also from the times his plans didn’t work out according to his plan.
“You are gonna get the crap kicked out of you,’ John insists. “It’s gonna happen. You’re gonna get disappointed, you’re gonna get shut down. You’re gonna get knocked around, disrespected, go backwards, in front of everybody, especially in this business. The whole town sees it when you win, and they all see it when you don’t win. In those moments is where you determine who you actually are, and how bad do you really want it, and what does it really mean to you, ultimately. I’ve been through a lot of those maneuvers in my career so far.”
John’s faith in God grew stronger by seeing how well his life turned out, even when he concedes he sometimes ran away from the faith he was raised on.
“He also knows about timing, because you could hit somebody with something at one point in their life, and they couldn’t handle it, and later on they can handle it,” John maintained. “He’s the architect of everybody’s life. And so, acknowledging that is a big deal. Many years went by where I knew it to be true, but I didn’t adhere to it. I was very Prodigal Son for a while.”
John owns Redneck Riviera whiskey, along with the Redneck Riviera Bar & BBQ, located in downtown Nashville. He is also the host of the TV show, The Pursuit! With John Rich, airing on Fox News.