Trivia / Big & Rich

• Black Sheep Hit: Despite their intentionally boisterous image and songs, their only #1 was "Lost in This Moment", a completely serious wedding ballad.
• Chart Displacement: Their only #1 hit on the country charts and Top 40 hit on the Hot 100 was not "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)", but rather the much more obscure "Lost in This Moment". "Save a Horse" only got to #11 on the country charts and #56 on the Hot 100, the former of which was beaten by the #8 "Look at You" and tied by the also-#11 "Run Away with You" much later in the duo's career.
• Creator Killer: The total failure of the JaneDear girls' self-titled album seems to have killed John Rich's songwriting and production career, as he's focused entirely on Big & Rich ever since.
• He Also Did: While John Rich has a plethora of songwriting and production credits, Big Kenny has written a few songs as well, including "Amarillo Sky" by Jason Aldean (originally by McBride & the Ride), "Here for the Party" by Gretchen Wilson, and "Last Dollar (Fly Away)" by Tim McGraw, collaborating with Rich on the former two. Kenny also wrote songs for Danni Leigh and The Mavericks before Big & Rich's foundation.
• Missing Episode: John Rich's second pre-Big & Rich solo single "Forever Loving You" never made it onto an album, and no versions of it seem to circulate online.
• Production Posse: They fronted a group of singer-songwriters known as the MuzikMafia, which also included the likes of Gretchen Wilson, James Otto, Shannon Lawson, and Cowboy Troy. Many of them frequently co-wrote and sang on each other's albums.
• Two-Hit Wonder: John Rich had unexpected chart hits a decade apart with two politically-themed songs: the Protest Song "Shuttin' Detroit Down" in 2009 (recorded while Big & Rich were on hiatus so that Big Kenny could recover from a neck injury), and "Shut Up About Politics" (featuring the hosts of the Fox News panel show The Five) a decade later.

---