As Big & Rich, John Rich and Big Kenny Alphin have exerted a definite “gravitational pull” to the direction modern country music has taken. Their much anticipated new project, “Gravity” provides a stellar example of the genius of their creative brotherhood–the result of two unique musical personalities colliding to form an even greater positive sum total.
From the vantage point of today’s career success, John notes:
“When Kenny and I were first considering doing music together some 15 years ago, I can recall like it was yesterday him saying, ‘Man, we are like two individual planets— wouldn’t it be awesome to collide and smash the universe together,” he recalls. “We definitely felt that creative gravitational pull from the beginning and I think it continues to translate into the music.”
They are America’s Technicolor cowboys, brothers-in-arms in service to the creed that great music has no boundaries. Individually, John and Big Kenny are first-rate musicians, songwriters, producers, entertainers—and now the creative force behind their own label imprint, Big & Rich Records. Together, they are one of the most truly original musical forces ever unleashed on a welcoming world.
The new label is fueling even more passion to produce and present their music. “We now have the freedom to write songs, call our own shots and put every ounce of our guts, soul and DNA into music that we have complete creative control over—from creation to release schedule,” notes Kenny. “We can bring the best gunslingers to the shoot out and know everyone is 100% committed to our success. From making the music to getting it out there to our audience, it’s a great place to be. As John says—we’re like wild horses that don’t do good in a stall—we’d rather be running the wild range.”
As witnessed too by their new single, “Look At You,” their influence on their musical universe shows no signs of being eclipsed. “The unusual twist of this lyric really makes the song stand out, notes John. “It’s a Shannon Lawson co-write that dead-on nails the gut wrenching feeling of being that guy that loses the hot chick—something I think a lot of us guys can relate to.”
Big & Rich have, of course, made a career of being relatable and musically relevant since exploding into the public consciousness in 2003 as the rarest of breeds—true country music game changers. With 2004’s triple-platinum Horse of a Different Color, they were able to tap into the best strands of a wide spectrum of popular music, filter them through their pens and voices and produce a sound that is instantly recognizable, if not classifiable.
“You still can’t really define what that sound is,” says John. “Even we can’t.”
It begins, of course, with that one-of-a-kind vocal blend, as unique and compelling as any in the history of the popular airwaves.
“I listen to a lot of music and I haven’t heard any two voices go together like this,” says Kenny. “John and I can match each other anywhere. He can sing anything and I can make an entirely different melody around it, and vice versa.”
If radio didn’t fully know what to make of them at first, fans of every musical stripe did. They packed arenas with a flying circus of sight, sound and spectacle, a touring renaissance fair of the mind, complete with raised glasses and danceable beats.
With a much anticipated new studio album that finds them at the top of their creative game, their live performances find them at their hell-raising best, with crowds as intense and appreciative as any they’ve ever faced.
“It seems like when you put John and Kenny together and we become Big & Rich, it’s like Clark Kent walking into the phone booth and coming out a superman,” says John. “We can’t explain it. It’s like a chemical reaction between Kenny and me on stage, something you can feel there. It’s funny to think about but it’s really true, we walk out on stage and start laying into this thing, the energy goes back and forth between us and the crowd and it’s palpable.”
They are, in addition to everything musical, noted philanthropists and good-will ambassadors. Both remain committed and enthusiastic livers of life and givers of time, talent and fortune to great causes. Kenny has become a world traveler, fighting poverty and supporting education through agencies including the United Nations Foundation and the Red Cross from North America to Africa. John takes part in any number of charitable outreaches, and his win on The Celebrity Apprentice brought well over a million dollars to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Those things go to the core of two men whose music and worldviews intersect seamlessly.
“We continue to try to inspire,” says Kenny. “We just try to be ourselves in a world that sometimes insinuates you shouldn’t go outside the boundaries. And now the fact that we’ve got the family thing going on has made a tremendous difference for both of us, but we’re still the same guys. I think life in general moves you forward in a positive way if you let it. Our relationship has grown more positively here than you could ever imagine. I think we just continue to grow, to respect each other more and more and respect the kind of ability we have when we’re singing together.”
“We both have a lot of things that we do creatively,” adds John, “but there’s been something magical about this since the beginning. As good as we are at what we do separately; neither of us is as good as Big & Rich are together. The Big & Rich thing is like a new color in the crayon box.”
“No question in my mind,” says Kenny, “that we have put forward as high quality music as we can do. And we believe we just keep getting better.”