Renowned country music singer-songwriter John Rich has marked Veterans Day this year by releasing a new version of “The Man,” his unabashedly patriotic song honoring military veterans, especially the “Greatest Generation” of World War II service members. Breitbart caught up with the Nashville hitmaker, who was eager to explain his family connection to the military. He also cautioned younger generations against taking our country and its freedom for granted.
“Many of our young people think freedom is inherited and not earned,” Rich told Breitbart News.
The song’s new music video, which can be watched below, was filmed before an audience of military veterans who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the two Iraq wars.
Watch “The Man,” below:
Rich told Breitbart News that the Veterans of Foreign Wars helped with shooting the video by reaching out to its members.
“I called a few personal friends who are veterans, and put a post out on X [Twitter], calling for World War II men,” he recalled. “It was an absolute honor to watch them all meet each other.”
Rich said today’s young people have a different mindset when it comes to military service.
“I often wonder if America’s youth would be willing to do what the Greatest Generation was willing to do should it come to that,” he told Breitbart News. “Sadly, I think the answer is ‘no.’ Many of our young people think freedom is inherited and not earned.”
Rich said he was inspired to write the song by his grandfather’s service in World War II. He first released the song in 2009 as part of the album Son of a Preacher Man.
“It’s about my own flesh and blood, a man I grew up around and was greatly influenced by” he told Breitbart News. “I had to make sure the lyrics were as strong as he was. I hope this song would have made him proud.”
The new version of the song appears on The Country Truth, Rich’s latest album, which features new songs written by Rich along with some of his favorite collaborators and friends — including Jeffrey Steele, Vicky McGehee, and Dirty Jobs star Mike Rowe. Steele, a Nashville Hall of Fame songwriter, along with co-writer Ira Dean, penned the #1 smash “Am I the Only One,” for Aaron Lewis. Steele also recently released the singles “I’m an American” and “Walk Toward the Fire” — a tribute to the late Andrew Breitbart, which he wrote with Breitbart’s Jon Kahn.
Jeffrey Steele (R) and Ira Dean (L) celebrate their #1 smash hit “Am I the Only One?” (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Parisi)
Watch below:
“The Man” features a pared down instrumentation. The title is also more minimalist — going from “The Good Lord and The Man” to simply “The Man.”
A lot has changed about the public’s attitude toward the military in the past 14 years.
Since Joe Biden took office, the left has become virulently hostile to members of the armed forces, regularly smearing them as racists and extremists.
The Nation, the far-left magazine, recently published an article claiming that military affiliation is “the single strongest predictor of extremist mass violence in America.”
Rich believes such smears are short-sighted.
“Americans who don’t appreciate our military will be begging for their help should they ever find themselves in harm’s way,” he told Breitbart News.
John Rich has amassed a growing number of hit singles — from “PROGRESS” to “End of the World,” and “Shut Up About Politics” — that give voice to the forgotten people of middle America, while taking to task leftist political elites and their woke agenda.
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