Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace (CD - 2007)

Additional personnel: Wes Hightower (vocals); Gary Burnette (acoustic guitar); Tom Bukovac, Adam Shoenfeld (electric guitar); Mike Johnson , Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Jonathan Yudkin (fiddle); Max Abrahms (horns); Michael Rojas (piano); Mike Brignardello, Ethan Pilzer (bass instrument); Tommy Harden, Steve Brewster (drums); Larry Babb (tambourine); John Legend, Wyclef Jean.

Ruling over the country music scene like no songwriting and production team has in decades, Big and Rich return with their third album as artists, the concept record BETWEEN RAISING HELL AND AMAZING GRACE. Much as the title implies, the album is divided into two halves, the first focusing on the duo's own brand of devotional music. This doesn't mean the usual gospel standards, but a series of heartfelt ballads that touch on both spiritual and earthly themes. The album's second half, starting with the two-part "Radio" is closer to what Big and Rich's early fans expect from the duo, a side's worth of bracing country-rock with soul and metal influences. In particular, a storming cover of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" and the soulful "Please Man" featuring Wyclef Jean (R&B star John Legend provides vocal support on the dreamy "Eternity") neatly encapsulate the range of the duo's extra-Nashville influences. The bifurcation of the duo's two musical sides takes a bit of getting used to at first, especially since the layout of the album puts all the ballads on the first half, but BETWEEN RAISING HELL AND AMAZING GRACE is a fine listen regardless.

If Comin' to Your City didn't provide the shock and awe of Horse of a Different Color, at least on chart terms, it did reveal that Big & Rich weren't a one-trick pony, destined to disappear after one huge record. But then, they were hardly one-hit wonders -- they were the leaders of the Muzik Mafia, a gleeful group of tacky hucksters and savvy craftsman who remade Nashville in their own image, starting with their own music but extending far, far down, from Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy to reviving John Anderson and Rich co-writing like a madman. It was the kind of mad productivity not dissimilar to modern-day hip-hop producers -- they were branding left and right, bringing in everybody under their umbrella -- but it sure brought up charges of spreading themselves thin, especially in the wake of the underperformance of Comin' to Your City. But even if that album didn't generate an anthem like "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" and even if it had a few moments where the calculation shone through their crassness, it still had a musical punch. And for its successor, Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace, Big & Rich came up with a good gimmick: divide it into a fast side and a slow side, as if people still listened to music on LPs or cassettes. Great concept. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize