John Rich Explains the Concept Behind New Show ‘The Pursuit’ (Exclusive)

John Rich has made a name for himself as one-half of country duo Big & Rich and as a songwriter, and now, he wants to inspire others to follow their dreams with his new show, The Pursuit! with John Rich. The series premiered on Fox Nation on Feb. 17 and follows Rich as he interviews a number of people who have all achieved success in their fields, whether it be the music industry or the military.

“The Pursuit is based off of something that I’ve said for many years on stages, interviews, and that is that our Constitution doesn’t guarantee us happiness; it guarantees us the right to pursue happiness,” Rich told PopCulture.com. “And the fact that we’re allowed to pursue happiness should inherently make us happy. We’re the only country in the world that has a right to pursue happiness, to chase what we call the American dream.”

“I wanted to build a show based on that fact and interview all different kinds of Americans from all different backgrounds that have exercised their right to pursue happiness, and find out what their journeys have been like, what their stories are like, where they come from, what their successes were, but sometimes even more importantly, what were the failures and how did you deal with that?” he continued. “Because anybody that ever tries anything big is going to experience a lot of failures. That’s where it shakes out as to who winds up at the place they want to be at the end of the day, is who’s got the grit and determination to stick it out.”

Rich shared that through conducting his interviews, he noticed one common thread connecting all of his subjects that might be the most important lesson of all.

“One thing I’m learning as I interview all these people is there’s a real parallel that they all have, regardless of what their backgrounds are, is that their perspective is really everything,” he said. “They’re able to view a defeat or view a failure as just part of the process. Instead of letting it knock them out and take them out of the game, it actually propels them to where they finally go. That’s the American spirit. That’s American dream chasers 101.”

The Pursuit was filmed at Rich’s home in Nashville and features guests and personal friends of Rich including Gretchen Wilson, former United States Army soldier Noah Galloway, Wynonna Judd, inventor Ronnie Barrett and more.

“We don’t have the right to be happy. We have the right to pursue happiness,” Rich mused. “There’s a big difference between those two things. It’s like Americans that might say, ‘Well, I deserve this. I deserve that.’ Well, not really. You have what you need. It’s called America, and you’re allowed to go for it in this country.

“Think of all the billions of people that woke up this morning around our planet that have just as much talent as we do, just as much drive, ambition, passion, intellect, but they’re not allowed to pursue whatever their dream is because they don’t live in a country that allows them to do that,” he added. “We are very fortunate that our country allows us to do that, and I think it’s incumbent on every American to take full advantage of it.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Jason Kempin