John Rich

John Rich: We know what we do is freaky. We know we're combining stuff in the chemistry set that in the instructions say 'Don't combine these things or they might explode.' We say fine, let's combine them anyway. We'll just wear a helmet. That's our whole attitude toward music.

John Rich: When we were making the first album Big Kenny was in debt $140,000 in credit cards, living in a little farm house out in a field, driving a broke-down truck. And I wasn't doing much better. We were two guys trying to make this outrageous album for country radio, and wondering, are we just completely pissing in the wind? I was what I'd call a two-time loser. I'd got fired from the band Lonestar. Then I made a solo album that didn't do anything. So Big & Rich was my third chance and if you get three chances in this business, you're pretty damn lucky. This time around, we didn't worry. We just went in and cut what felt good to us. The biggest thing we've learned so far is that if it's turning on me and Kenny musically, it will turn on our fans.

John Rich: Success hasn't spoiled Big & Rich one bit, it just loosened the chain. Everything we've experienced so far has just given us even more room to do even more stuff.

John Rich: The audience is not segregated. The only segregation is happening at the creative level and on the marketing level of music. The audience is listening to everything, so why can't a John Legend audience buy a Big & Rich album, and why can't a Big & Rich audience buy a John Legend album? Probably because they're not even allowed to hear it.

John Rich: The thing is, we still do Mafia jams in Nashville on Tuesday nights when we're there. There's still no cover; we still don't advertise it, but we'll pull the tour bus out in front. It gets a little wilder. We've had everyone from Bon Jovi, Jewel, and Stone Temple Pilots, to hard-core country acts drop by. We're still together. When you're selling millions of records, when you've got a Tuesday night off, why aren't you home? We still like to jam.

John Rich: She wanted to go see him; her girlfriends were all going to see him, they were all in love with this guy Big Kenny, and I went OK, I'll go check him out. He's up there in all his bigness, doing country, rock and roll, and Queen. It was very odd music, but it was good stuff. She said the two of you should get together and write a song. There's no telling what you all will end up writin' because you're so different. It might be a complete fiasco, but I hadn't seen anybody else do the kind of music he was doing; it interested me enough on a writing level to go, 'OK, let's see.'

John Rich: We all share our momentum and our contacts. That's why we're being rewarded so greatly, is because we've been so selfless with it.

John Rich: (talking about his MusikMafia show) Within a few months they had to bust out the back wall. Other artists would show up. It was acoustic driven; we'd have percussionists come and play boxes or shakers. It was like sitting in a living room, learning from each other.

John Rich: I watched my dad take guys in off the street. He didn't have anything to help anybody with, but he'd do whatever he could do to help people out.

John Rich: (talking about Gone Country) When the artists of Gone Country all arrived, it was exciting. They were all pumped because they had no idea what to expect. You're talking about guys like Bobby Brown, who lives in L.A., coming to Nashville. You're talking about Dee Snider from Twisted Sister who lives on Long Island coming to Nashville. I mean, Julio Iglesias Jr. lives in Spain. They had no idea what to expect. They were very, very excited. The mood was ecstatic, I would say.

John Rich: People from outside the world of country music perceive Nashville in one of two ways that I have found. One is they think it's the coolest place in the United States and want to move here. The second one is that they think it's all straw hats and hay bales...still calling it "country & western music." What they don't realize is that Nashville draws musicians from New York and L.A. and Atlanta and New Orleans and Chicago and Memphis. It really is Music City. It's a melting pot of music more now than ever, and I think that's why you're seeing all these big artists from other genres come here to make their records and to do what they love to do.