Musings in Search of a Muse

For someone who generally doesn't care about Country music I certainly have a lot of it. In less than just a few weeks I've added three more songs to my collection, all from Big & Rich. Okay, some people I know don't think of them as Country as much as Rock artists with cowboy hats. I just call them "darned good." And having been raised in the Golden Age of the genre, though, I get the Country feel in every track.

Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)
from Horse of a Different Color
It is hard to find a bad song that a band has written about itself. Or maybe I can think of one. This certainly is a good one. I rather like the two-part harmony refrain. Very good melody, though not terribly original. What I'm trying to figure out is why they featured Cowboy Troy in the latter half of the song. Certainly he's part of the band and as a Black entertainer his presence helps them live up to the song's opening motto "Welcome to Country Music without Prejudice." But I'm not sure it helps the song. Otherwise the nods to artists past to build "pasture cred" and the background vocals are very nice touches.

Comin' to Your City
from Comin' to Your City
As a follow-up to "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" this Country-Pop tune should prove to be a fair commercial success. With those tracks and "Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)" you'd think the boys write about themselves and the business rather often. Well, they do. Also on Horse of a Different Color is "Big Time," a song about guys playing music in a bar when they could be as well-off but otherwise dead-to-life executives that visit the bar. Rather like Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Blue Collar," "Rock Is My Life," and "Takin' Care Of Business." I guess the concept sells, though. Look at all those movie musicals from the '30s and '40s that found the most convenient way to put music into the script was to make the story about people in show business. But while this song isn't as good as "Save a Horse" it is a pleasant repast and will likely make just anybody's party-themed playlists a little perkier.

Live This Life
from Horse of a Different Color
The night I bought this I was rather in the mood for songs with a rapid beat, hence the two previous downloads. But the vocals in the sample and the lyric "Met a girl in chair with wheels but no one else would see her" caught me. As it turns out this is a profoundly thought-provoking song. Consider this refrain:

Now I'm not sure if John Rich and Big Kenny are Christian or not, but even without a direct reference to Jesus in other parts of the song there are some deep values of faith here. I hope others get the idea. It's a bit out of character compared to other tracks by Big & Rich but they do it so well and I hope they release other tracks in this vein. Some of the non-commercial video clips on their Website (click on Videos then Extras) hints that this may happen.

Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) Already in my library
from Horse of a Different Color
My first track from Big & Rich and probably the best of their typical work. The video caught my eye on CMT with all the pretty women in a festive parade crossing an ironwork bridge. That lead "executive" dancer is beyond hot. But I digress. The song is really, really good even without the visuals. The clever accapella opening is followed by a plink and a thunderous guitar riff that should go down in Country and Rock history. The Country banjo and fiddle work thoughout work belies rather un-Country-like rhythm of the lyrics and the "break it down now" story telling near the end of the song. No, this is not your granfather's Country music. Big & Rich are certainly singing about cows, horses, and other familiar themes, but the twist they give the topics drag the genre into a new era. It might not be the 21^st Century, but it is new. All-in-all, I would classify this piece as brilliant.