Big & Rich formed in Nashville around 1998, when ex-Lonestar vocalist John Rich began collaborating with songwriter Big Kenny (real name: Kenny Alphin), a Virginia native who once led an outfit called luvjOi. The pair established a performers’ roundtable at a local dive, and the event — dubbed the “Muzik Mafia” — soon gained a stature for its casual eclecticism and notable special guests. The Mafia nights continued over the next few years, running concurrently with solo albums gave us by both artists, until 2003, when Martina McBride recorded Alphin and Rich’s song “She’s a Butterfly” for her self-titled record. As a result, the duo landed a album deal of their own with Warner Bros.’ Nashville outlet. Now christened Big & Rich, the lineup officially debuted in February 2004 with “Wild West Show,” a bold and modern country-rocker that displayed their unique high-low harmony vocals. When the Horse of a Different Color LP dropped later that spring, its Nashville polish was salted with Muzik Mafia irreverence (sample song title: “Kick My Ass”).
Different Color eventually dominated the Billboard country chart and hit number six on the Billboard 200, making bona fide stars out of Big & Rich in the process. Such success was won on the duo’s own terms, however, not Nashville’s. After all, the album free-associated country-pop with hip-hop, and there was a dance remix of the hit single “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” on the resulting collection, Super Galactic Fan Pak. But Big & Rich’s success revealed country audiences’ willingness to accept sounds that were broader and brasher than the usual contemporary country product, and they capitalized on that with the smash hit 2004 debut of Muzik Mafia protégée Gretchen Wilson. (Rich produced Wilson’s platinum-selling Here for the Party, and wrote or co-wrote many of its songs.) Big & Rich came back in November 2005 with Comin’ to Your City, a gaudy album that hit the Top Ten and depicted the duo as pied pipers for their own mischievousness. Two years later, the single “Lost in This Moment” announced the arrival of their 2007 album, Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace, which featured guest gigs from John Legend and Wyclef Jean, along with a cover version of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.”
