John Rich, a country songwriter, and performer, recently spoke out against what he believes is a lack of freedom in the Nashville music industry.
In an interview with PRAGERU, Rich derided what he referred to as “wokeism” and “creative parameters” he and other artists must adhere to in order to pursue their dreams.
“The wave of wokeism that’s hit this country and especially the entertainment business—that made its way to Nashville. So, these artists are sitting there and they’re being told by their publicist, their managers, the heads of their record labels, ‘Hey, we know that you think these things about America, that you’re against kind of all this woke stuff that we do’—they don’t call themselves ‘woke,’ of course.
“‘But we know that you’re not really for that. But hey, don’t even think about putting out a post that pushes against that. Don’t you say, X, Y, Z on your microphone or on your stage. No, you cannot record that song because it says this.’ And they just completely control these artists and the artist only has two choices at that point,” he said.
He continued to say, “Do they want to go have a career? It’s been their dream. Do they play the game, go forward, and just don’t step on these land mines? Or do they go out and hit the trip wires and light the place up? And lose their record deal. And not get invited to the award show and radio won’t play them and so forth. But basically, erase their career.”
“That’s what they’re faced with. Is there freedom and art in Nashville, like total freedom? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. It’s sad.”
“Wokeism in the entertainment industry has made its way to Nashville.”
Hear country singer-songwriter @johnrich‘s story: https://t.co/izYPuPdgRU pic.twitter.com/CjEtrKN07B
— PragerU (@prageru) September 13, 2022
Rich’s comments come after he released his song titled, “Progress,” which spoke on more of his controversial views. The song appears to be a reaction to what Rich perceives as a lack of total freedom in the music industry.
While Rich didn’t offer specifics on the type of censorship he is dealing with, his comments appear to address a range of restrictions imposed on artists’ careers in the past, including racism and sexism.
In his interview with PRAGERU, Rich described the choices artists are faced with when it comes to the creative parameters they must adhere to. They can either comply and pursue their dreams, or they can “hit the trip wires and light the place up” and risk losing their record deals and other opportunities in the industry.
