John Rich Penned ‘Shut Up About Politics’ With Fox TV Personality

A famous country singer and TV personality sit down for a drink ...

Sound like the beginning of a joke? Not in this case, as the singer — John Rich — and the TV personality — Greg Gutfeld of Fox News — actually sat down for a drink and then created a song from their conversation. The final product: the latest John Rich single, “Shut Up About Politics.”

At a recent media roundtable at Rich’s home in Nashville, the Big & Rich star said the convo with Gutfeld went like this: “He said, 'Man don’t you just get sick of hearing about politics all the time? I said, 'Yeah.' He goes, 'I wish people would just shut up about it for a minute.' I said, 'Yeah me too — that sounds like a song!'"

Rich was the first to start hacking away at the song idea post-conversation, and he continued with the creation story: "And so I was in Jacksonville, Florida and I said OK, I’m gonna try to write ‘Shut Up About Politics,’ but there was no paper on the bus. ... I had a Walgreens bag that had my antibiotics in it (Rich was recovering from a sinus infection) and I flipped the bag over and I wrote ‘Shut Up About Politics’ on the back of a Walgreens bag.”

Though it was a collaborative effort, Rich joked he "threw away" all of Gutfeld’s lyrics except for the title. “He’ll tell you that’s true,” Rich says, laughing, “But the genesis of that song idea did come from Greg and myself just talking it through. … Greg I feel, should not quit his day job, but he’s welcome to send me any crazy idea he has. You know there’s another crazy guy I work with named Big Kenny (the other half of Rich's duo Big & Rich), who has a lot of wild ideas and they turn into some good songs too, so it was a fun collaborative effort.”

Rich notes that "Shut Up About Politics" hit No. 1 on the iTunes country chart and that all proceeds from the song will be donated to Folds of Honor to help provide scholarships for military families. In the end, he hopes the song isn't received negatively, but instead stands as a positive message to come together.

“I wrote ‘Shut Up About Politics’ not to tell people stop talking about politics, but I’d like to be able to watch a football game or an awards show or go to a concert or watch a movie or something and not be bombarded with political angles coming from both sides all the time," he admits. "And I think most Americans feel that way. No matter how you vote or what side of the aisle you’re on, enough is enough. Can we please just have some fun together? We want to talk about politics, let’s watch the news, but past that, shut up about politics.”

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