Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
Country star John Rich is shooting up the charts with his new song “Progress,” and it has one clear message: Most Americans don’t want what the left calls “progress.”
One half of the successful country music duo Big and Rich, Rich has a clear message for President Joe Biden and the Democrats. From the very outset, the song is effective in delivering this idea.
“There’s a hole in this country. Where its heart used to be,” Rich began. “Old Glory’s divided, on fire in the streets.”
A music video released alongside the song shows images of leftists rioting in the streets as Rich sings, and the second line of the song takes direct aim at the Biden administration.
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“They say, ‘Building back better will make America great,'” Rich sang. “If that the wave of the future, all I’ve got to say…”
The song then erupts into the catchy and memorable chorus, and just like in the verse, the messaging is hardly subtle.
“Stick your progress where the sun don’t shine,” Rich sang. “Keep your big mess away from me and mine. If you’d leave us alone, well we’d all be just fine. Stick your progress where the sun don’t shine.”
According to Just the News, Rich’s message was effective almost instantly. “Progress” reached No. 1 on the Apple iTunes chart just hours after its release.
While the song has now made its way to well-known platforms like YouTube and Spotify, Rich initially released it on Truth Social and Rumble, both of which have expressed a commitment to free speech.
“Here I am with no record label, no publisher, no marketing deal,” Rich told Just the News. “I just got a song that speaks to a lot of people, and Truth and Rumble pushed it out there. And man, I’m really proud of what we did today.”
Rich said he feared record labels and leftist media platforms like Twitter and Facebook might censor his song, so his choice of platforms was deliberate.
“When I’m talking about them shutting down our voices, I’m talking about Twitter and YouTube and Facebook,” Rich said.
“And I thought, you know what, I’m gonna reach out to Truth Social and reach out to Rumble because they still allow free speech over there. Why would I launch this song on the platforms that I’m railing against in the lyrics?”
Rich said he hopes the success he has seen will encourage other artists to market themselves on alternative platforms like Rumble and Truth Social. He also explained his motivation for writing the song in the first place.
“I’m watching what I consider to be the dismantling of our country at a lot of different levels,” he said. “And when you sit back and look at it, the vast majority of it’s being perpetuated on us under the banner of ‘progress.’ Like in the name of progress we’re going to send gasoline through the roof so you have to buy an electric car.
“In the name of progress, we’re going to let anybody and everybody into our country, and if that means we get overrun with fentanyl, and every other bad thing, well, so be it. Because that’s progressive: You need to be open-minded and open borders, in the name of progress. They target our kids in the name of progress, they do all these things that are actually the opposite of that. They’re regressive. They’re not constructive, they’re destructive.”
Rich went on to speak about the woke culture that has begun to take over the country music industry at the top.
“Here’s the problem with country radio,” he said. “It’s not your DJs at the radio station. It’s not the people on the ground at the station. It’s the people way up the food chain that run the conglomerates that have bought up 90 percent of all of our radio stations.
“Those people generally — there’s a few good ones in there. And when I say good, I mean, you know, lean conservative. They want free space, they want artists to be heard. But there’s a big [contingent] of them that do not like anybody bucking their woke system.”
It was this invasive wokeness that helped convince Rich his message in “Progress” was important enough to be shared with the world.
After touching on other issues including the border crisis, the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, censorship and attacks on the oil and gas industry, the song ends by repeating the chorus. Meanwhile, clips of Americans joining together and smiling with one another under the lyrics suggest Rich believes there is still hope for America.
In a time where too many artists cater to every demand of the left, it is more than refreshing to see and hear a star like Rich speak up on behalf of conservatives.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
