One funky hoedown

Just a few years ago, the duo Big & Rich were struggling songwriters playing at a tiny pub in Nashville. Short on money but not on attitude, the two men struck on a provocative idea: They'd combine their country-pop sensibilities with some rock and, heck, maybe a little rap. Soon, other musicians began turning up in droves, as did a coterie of oddballs more likely to be linked to Howard Stern's show than a podunk country bar. As the buzz grew, so did the venues. It was only a matter of time before a major label pounced.

Big & Rich -- otherwise known as Big Kenny Alphin and John Rich -- have since become one of the hottest acts in music, with an irreverent style that has catapulted them onto some of the largest stages in the nation. And now, after shaking up Nashville, Big & Rich are about to take on one of this city's best-known traditions: the Boston Pops.

Along with friends Grammy-winner Gretchen Wilson and ''hick-hop" artist Cowboy Troy, Big & Rich will join the Pops for their annual Fourth of July celebration on the Esplanade Monday night. Although they're known for cheeky songs such as ''Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" and ''Drinkin' 'Bout You," Big & Rich will debut their new patriotic tune, ''Our America," at the Pops celebration. The song incorporates ''The Star Spangled Banner" with elements of the Declaration of Independence, Martin Luther King Jr.'s ''I Have a Dream" speech, the preamble to the Constitution, and the Pledge of Allegiance, and teams the duo with Wilson and Troy.

''Our America" will reveal yet another facet of Big & Rich, who've managed to fuse everything from Aerosmith-style hard-rock (''I've seen Aerosmith 15 times," Rich boasts) to Texas honky-tonk, mountain bluegrass, gospel, and hip-hop under the motto ''music without prejudice."

''Country music has always been God and country," Rich says, ''and we're no different."

''To be backed up by a symphony, I'm getting chills about it already," adds Alphin. ''I feel like a kid at Christmastime. I can't wait."

The song is available for download today at www.OurAmerica2005.com and will remain so through July 5. The download is only temporary, however, according to a Warner Bros. representative and will automatically erase after Labor Day. ''Our America" will be included as a bonus track on both Big & Rich's and Wilson's fall releases.

The all-country bill is something of a departure for the Pops. Past Fourths have featured Barry Manilow, Jennifer Holiday, and former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, among others. But Pops conductor Keith Lockhart sees this weekend's lineup as yet another way to expand the listenership.

''The whole point of the Boston Pops is to be this eclectic gathering of different musical styles," Lockhart says. ''Big & Rich are a little goofy, but they're exciting so I think this should be a lot of fun."

The truth is, Big & Rich is not exactly a safe choice for the event, which will be televised nationally at 10 p.m. on the CBS ''Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular." Despite multiplatinum album sales for their 2004 ''Horse of a Different Color," the band is a lightning rod in country music circles, shunned by traditionalists just as emphatically as they're embraced by younger listeners.

''It would be easy to get some country people on the show like Faith Hill," says Mike Brophey, program director of Boston country station WKLB-FM (99.5). ''But it's really stepping out for the Pops to get Big & Rich on it. Big & Rich are making a lot of noise in Nashville right now."

That's an understatement. Genre-hopping track ''Kick My [Expletive]" is about listening to Led Zeppelin until dawn at a party closed down by the police, while ''Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" sounds like Kid Rock with a banjo. Not to be overlooked are ''Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)," with its cocky line ''don't mind if I stand out in a crowd -- just want to live loud," and the surprisingly straightforward gospel tune, ''Live This Life," about accepting Jesus Christ.

''We want people to either hate us or love us, because that's the way you sell records," says Rich, a Texan who brings most of the country influences while Alphin, a Virginia native, imports most of the rock.

''When you boil it down, it's not how many spins you get at radio," he continues, ''it's how many records you've sold. That's where the rubber meets the road."

Though Big & Rich have yet to score a Top Five radio single, they've sold 2.5 million copies worldwide of ''Horse of a Different Color." They make no apologies for the often bracing extremes of their music.

''The variety of life is what keeps life wonderful," says Alphin, who at 41 is 10 years older than Rich. ''Hey, I love Sinatra records, but I'm not going to listen to Sinatra every day because I also want to hear a little [Kris] Kristofferson or Audioslave or Hot Rize, a bluegrass band. We touch on everything that is American."

That includes gospel tunes. ''We have fun, but we have faith," says Alphin. ''God gets me through every day. My dad is in the hospital right now and I'm praying for him. But we also live our lives and we live them to the fullest."

Big & Rich are cofounders of the so-called MuzikMafia, the umbrella term for performers such as Troy, Chance, and James Otto, along with Wilson, who was a bartender before she joined the sessions and had her debut album coproduced by Rich.

It's not the only expression coined by the duo that raises eyebrows among some country fans. The line ''music without prejudice" was likewise hatched at those early Nashville sessions, but the phrase, as idealistic as it may sound, ruffled some feathers.

''A lot of people in Nashville thought the term was a slam against them, but it wasn't," Rich says. ''It means country music without the boundaries that are normally placed upon it. What people failed to realize is that everybody who has made country music a world music -- like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Alabama -- were not considered country when they first showed up. Johnny Cash was rock 'n' roll, for instance. They were making their own kind of music and now they're the pillars of country music. And that's what we're doing. It's country the way we want to hear it."

Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, and Cowboy Troy join Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops on the Esplanade Monday at 8 p.m.