Big & Rich - History

History

Prior to Big & Rich's foundation, John Rich was a founding member of the band Texassee, which later became Lonestar. Rich played bass guitar in the band and alternated with Richie McDonald on lead vocals; he also co-wrote their singles "Come Cryin' to Me" and "Say When". After Lonestar released its second album, Rich was fired from the band in 1998. Kenny Alphin (aka Big Kenny) was signed to Hollywood Records in 1998, where he recorded a rock album called Live a Little a year later. Although one of its songs was featured in the soundtrack to the film Gun Shy, Live a Little was not released, and Hollywood Records held the rights to the songs for five years. In the meantime, The Mavericks recorded one of Alphin's songs ("I Hope You Want Me Too") on their 1998 album Trampoline, and Danni Leigh recorded his "Beatin' My Head Against the Wall" on her album 29 Nights. Big Kenny then befriended John Rich after meeting him at a club, and the two began writing songs together. Their first songwriting collaboration was "I Pray for You," which they wrote in October 1998.

Following his departure from Hollywood Records, Big Kenny recorded in a short-lived band called luvjOi, whose lead guitarist Adam Shoenfeld and drummer Larry Babb would later become part of Big & Rich's road band. In 2000, Rich began recording as a solo artist as well. He charted two singles of his own — "I Pray for You" and "Forever Loving You," which respectively reached numbers 53 and number 46 on the U.S. Hot Country Songs charts — but his debut album, Underneath the Same Moon, was not released. The two then founded the MuzikMafia (an abbreviation for Musically Artistic Friends in Alliance), a roundtable aggregation of singer-songwriters including Cowboy Troy, James Otto, Gretchen Wilson and Shannon Lawson. This group held its first official show at a Nashville, Tennessee nightclub in 2001.

Among Big & Rich's first outside cuts as songwriters were "Amarillo Sky" (which was the title track to McBride & the Ride's 2002 album Amarillo Sky and later a top 5 hit for Jason Aldean in 2007) and "She's a Butterfly", which was recorded by Martina McBride on her album Martina and featured backing vocals from the duo. After McBride cut this song, manager Marc Oswald suggested that Rich and Big Kenny begin recording as a duo. Rich was apprehensive at first, as he had been told by BNA staff that he was "too rock for country" and was unsure of what major labels would think of Big Kenny's rock influences. The two began recording songs together at a songwriting seminar. After they recorded a demo of "Holy Water", Rich was convinced that the duo would be successful. They then met with Paul Worley, a record producer who was then the head of creative affairs at Warner Bros. Records Nashville, and Worley helped sign Big & Rich to a recording contract in late 2003.

In 2007, Reservoir Media Management acquired the publishing rights to Rich's and Kenny's song catalogs.