It takes a lot of growth and maturity to realize when you're wrong. Plenty of people never reach that point, stubbornly believing that it's truly their way or the highway. It's so easy to get caught up in your ways that you don't even realize how you're affecting others. For John Rich, he's always admitted to being loud and brash. However, he also knows when he was being particularly prickly with others.
Videos by Wide Open Country
That kind of behavior is evident in his time with Lonestar. Rich was one of the founding members in 1992, serving as the band's bassist and occasionally stepping in for lead vocals. However, his stint ends in 1998 when the band cans him. The prominent story around it was to narrow down the group dynamic to one sole singer to avoid confusion. But John reveals that there was something a little more behind the scenes and a lot of the problems could be traced back to himself.
John Rich Details Lonestar Departure, Tumultuous Headspace After Leaving Band
Recently, Rich joined the Try That in a Small Town podcast where he opens up about leaving Lonestar in 1998. There, he admits that the group collectively fired him and that he deserved that fate. Moreover, he highlights the key differences that caused obvious friction. "You know how I am at 51, I'm a rather intense individual. You can imagine me in my early to mid 20s, what that was all about," John says. They were all married, kids and all that, I'm totally single and I'm writing #1 songs. I got money, I'm running around. I'm wanting to record songs like 'Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy,' they're wanting to record 'Mr. Mom.' Completely opposite views."
Consequently, the tension boils over and the group collectively tell John Rich to collect his things and hit the road. "And the more aggravated I got, the more aggravated they got. They're like, 'Hey, sit down, you're the junior member.' Which I was. And eventually that just became unsustainable," Rich recalls. They said, 'New Year's Eve, the gig we just did...yeah that was your last gig.' This was like January 6th or something... They said, 'So you need to get your stuff off the bus, I'm sorry.' And I went, 'That's it?' They go, 'That's it.'"
