Within this artist’s paradise, it is, ironically, the unassuming garage where Kenny spends most of his time and has set up the unofficial headquarters of Love Everybody, LLC. Among the accouterments are a fridge full of beer (“Isn’t it beautiful?” he marvels), a couple of tumbledown velvet sofas, a beach cruiser, and a chainsaw. It might, in fact, seem an unlikely habitat for a star who’s written five top 10 hits for artists such as Tim McGraw (“Last Dollar Fly Away”), Gretchen Wilson (“Here For The Party”), Jason Aldean (“Hicktown” and “Amarillo Sky”), and of course Big & Rich (“Lost In This Moment”), and been named BMI’s Songwriter of the Year. As half of the Grammy-nominated genre-bending super duo Big & Rich, Kenny sold in excess of five million albums and opened sold-out stadium tours for Martina McBride and Tim McGraw.
In the last year and a half, however, Kenny has sought respite from the madness surrounding Big & Rich’s meteoric rise to fame. “I’ve had a lot of time for reflection,” he says. “I’ve come through some tough places in my life. I’ve been through hell and back musically, and personally. I wanted to step beyond all of that, and just write great stuff that would mean something to people, stuff I’d want to sing for the rest of my life. I have a three-year old now,” he adds, referring to his son Lincoln William Holiday Alphin, “so I found myself really asking what it is I want to leave behind. What lessons can I impart?” Big Kenny’s forthcoming solo album, The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farmboy, is replete with such lessons, from “Find A Heart” “If I could say one thing to my kid, that would be it,” Kenny says, to “Less Than Whole,” a self-described “dissertation on forgiveness.”
Co-produced by Chris Stone, who engineered Big & Rich’s two most recent albums, and using largely the same band, led by lead guitarist and musical director Adam Shoenfeld, the album possesses the same hard rock-country edge, whimsy and humor that made “Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)” Big & Rich’s breakout hit, as well as the emotional, heartfelt sincerity fans of “Holy Water” and “8th of November” came to know. At the same time, The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farmboy is unique to Big Kenny as a solo artist. Referencing “Drifter” in particular, Kenny explains, “This album has a much deeper groove than anything Big & Rich ever did. You have to remember, I’m ten years older than John [Rich]. So while he was just a pea in the pod, I was growing up on AM 1490 when they still played everything all mixed together. So alongside Haggard, Jones, and Nelson, I was raised on the Beatles, Queen, Kansas, the Steve Miller Band, Bob Marley, and Bill Withers.” Drawing from such diverse musical inspiration, Kenny’s solo work is infused with everything from country to rock ‘n roll, to reggae to R&B.
What’s more, tinkering in his backyard studio, Kenny enjoyed a much more leisurely recording pace than was ever possible with Big & Rich. “I’m a quality freak,” he says. “We had a lot more time to experiment with different sounds, and we were able to record tracks five or six times until we got it just right. And we were able to focus much more on interludes and segues—so it’s not just a bunch of songs. It’s like one great big one.” Amazingly, Kenny recorded 50 songs, ultimately choosing from among them to create the single best album possible. That was just one of the luxuries, he found, of being free of the constraints associated with a major label recording contract.
“When I began working on a solo album, my label didn’t like anything I turned in,” Kenny recalls. But neither would they release him from his contract. “I was stuck,” Kenny says, “and it just twists my soul to want to work, to want to create music and put it out there in the world, but to not be allowed that.” It was out of this frustration that he wrote “Free Like Me,” and was perhaps not coincidentally freed from what he calls “label slavery” a month later. Since that time, Kenny’s channel of creativity has opened up a thousand fold. Independently, he has outsourced publicity to Big & Rich veteran Jules Wortman, booking to CAA, and radio promotion, distribution, sales and marketing to Bigger Picture Group (the innovative company behind the Zac Brown Band’s recent success).
Yet he retains complete creative control over music, his website, and all visuals. He manages a staff of ten, including a couple of students from Nashville’s Watkins College of Art, Design, & Film, whom he hired after they won his contest to direct the video for “Share the Love.” Kenny intends to make a video for every last song on the album, a process he finds immensely rewarding. The video for lead single “Long After I’m Gone” was shot on his family’s Culpepper, Virginia home, where he grew up in a house built before the American Revolution on 600 acres of cattle ranching land. Watching it, he points out, “We have old 8mm footage of me at age three performing in that same patch of yard. I planted those trees when I was 16 — that’s same road I walked down to catch the school bus. I built that cattle chute!” he says, excitement clearly growing. “This video will mean so much more to my friends and my family 20 years from now than if I’d just gone into some sound studio in Nashville.”
Not only has Kenny’s creativity expanded in his newfound independence, he’s discovered an agility that a major corporation simply couldn’t accommodate. “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t have to ask for permission,” Kenny says. The album’s opening track “Wake Up” is a case in point. On a Sunday, Kenny wrote the song on a tour bus alongside Jon Nicholson and 3 Doors Down’s Brad Arnold. He recorded it on Tuesday, before a friend suggested he contact Canada’s Blackfoot Confederacy to add the Native American tribal chanting that now kicks off the record. So Kenny emailed them the track. By Thursday they had added their part, and invited him to the Valley of Eden, four hours north of Calgary. He arrived on Friday night, and on Saturday made a vibrant music video featuring panoramic crane shots — wilderness as far as the eye can see — and over 50 tribe members. One of whom, Kenny points out, had driven through the night all the way from New Mexico. “This experience meant to such to them,” Kenny says. “They were thrilled to be involved.”
Kenny has a way of touching people with his music wherever he goes. Deeply affected by the genocide tragedy in the Darfur region of Sudan, Kenny committed himself last year to building the Kunyuk School for Girls in Akon, delivering medical and school supplies, along with musical instruments, clothing and building tools — all of which he funded. He documented his journey on film, and since debuting it at the Nashville Film Festival in 2008, has utilized the film to spread awareness of the cause. In recognition of his efforts, the Save Darfur Coalition named him their December 2008 “Darfur Hero.” “Around the world, in every language, music is the common denominator,” Kenny says. “Share the music, share the love. Get out there and throw around as much love as you can. Come bearing a light and shine it all around.”
Lately, Kenny has also discovered a passion for seeing America. Finding jets and tour buses too restrictive, he’s taken to flying around in a small airplane, inspired by the natural beauty of this country and devoted to sharing his love for it. Angered over mountaintop coal removal in Appalachia, Kenny has become involved with the Natural Resources Defense Council, working to end what he calls a national disgrace. “They are tearing down the oldest forests in the country to get at coal that will be gone tomorrow,” he says, incensed. “They could be installing windmills on that same land that would provide clean power for years and years to come.” Closer to home at the University of Creativity, Kenny puts his money where his mouth is, as he and his wife Christiev have taken steps to make their home completely green, utilizing solar and water power to achieve total self-sufficiently.
A true Ambassador of Love, Big Kenny has made it his mission to “Highlight the good, inspire greatness, and encourage mutual responsibility for the betterment of mankind.” With music as his medium, Kenny works tirelessly to mold the world around him into something better, something he’ll be proud to leave behind. “‘Long After I’m Gone’ is a better description of where I come from and where I’m going than I’ve ever been able to give anybody in my career,” Kenny says. “It’s only the love we put out into the world and the tangible things we leave behind that make a lasting impression. ‘The love I leave and my wildest dreams will live on/Long after I’m gone.’” With the release of The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farmboy, rich with lessons in love, forgiveness, and freedom distilled from a lifetime of highs and lows, Big Kenny’s legacy of creativity, passion, and music is sure to carry on.
Under the Sun
Big Kenny Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Waiting for her nails to dry in the beauty parlor chair
Soon she's turning thirty something discontent with life
Then she turns to page one-thirty-five
And it says
There is a place where dreams come true
Just call and we'll reserve a room for you
There is happiness and fun
There is love for everyone
Somewhere under the sun
Somewhere under the sun
Staring out the window of the twenty-second floor
Another meeting phones are ringing surely there is more
Then he sees a vision out the corner of his eye
On a flashing neon billboard sign
And it says
There is a place where dreams come true
Just call and we'll reserve a room for you
Somewhere under the sun
There is happiness and fun
There is love for everyone
Somewhere under the sun
Somewhere under the sun
She was caught in traffic and his keys they were misplaced
They made it to the airport, both just minutes late
She dropped her attache as she was walking to the bar
He reached to help and bumped her heart
There is a place where dreams come true
Maybe now they'll call and reserve a room for two
Somewhere under the sun
There is happiness and fun
There is love for everyone
Somewhere under the sun
Somewhere under oh
Somewhere under the sun
There is happiness and fun
There is love for everyone
Somewhere under the sun
Somewhere under the sun
Somewhere under the sun
The lyrics of Big Kenny's song Under The Sun tell the story of three individuals who are dissatisfied with their lives until they come across an advertisement promising a place where dreams come true. The first verse introduces a woman waiting in a beauty parlor, feeling unhappy with her age and her life. However, when she comes across the ad in a magazine, she learns of a place where happiness and love are guaranteed. In the second verse, a man is stuck in a meeting on the twenty-second floor of a building, overwhelmed by the demands of his job. However, when he sees a neon billboard promising a place where dreams come true, he is given hope that there is more to life than just work. Finally, the third verse describes a chance encounter between a man and a woman at an airport. Though their day has been filled with mishaps and misfortunes, when they bump into each other and share the ad, they are reminded of the possibility of a better life.
The song's message is one of hope and optimism, suggesting that there is a brighter future waiting just out of reach. It speaks to the universal longing for happiness, love, and fulfillment, and suggests that these things can be found if we only know where to look. The repetition of the phrase "Somewhere under the sun" creates a sense of magic and possibility, inviting listeners to imagine a place beyond their current reality where their dreams can come true.
Line by Line Meaning
Flipping through a magazine curlers in her hair
A woman in a beauty parlor flips through a magazine while waiting for her nails to dry.
Waiting for her nails to dry in the beauty parlor chair
The woman is waiting for her nails to dry while seated in the beauty parlor.
Soon she's turning thirty something discontent with life
The woman is about to turn thirty years old and is unhappy with her life.
Then she turns to page one-thirty-five
The woman turns to page 135 of the magazine.
And it says
There is a place where dreams come true
Just call and we'll reserve a room for you
The magazine advertises a place where dreams come true and offers reservations by phone.
Staring out the window of the twenty-second floor
A man looks out the twenty-second floor window.
Another meeting phones are ringing surely there is more
The man is at a meeting and is interrupted by ringing phones indicating more work to be done.
Then he sees a vision out the corner of his eye
The man catches a peripheral glimpse of something.
On a flashing neon billboard sign
The man sees the vision on a billboard.
There is a place where dreams come true
Just call and we'll reserve a room for you
The billboard advertises a place where dreams come true and offers reservations by phone.
She was caught in traffic and his keys they were misplaced
The woman was delayed in traffic and the man misplaced his keys.
They made it to the airport, both just minutes late
They managed to arrive at the airport but were only a few minutes late.
She dropped her attache as she was walking to the bar
The woman drops her briefcase on the way to the bar.
He reached to help and bumped her heart
The man offers to help and they both experience a sudden, exciting feeling.
Maybe now they'll call and reserve a room for two
The couple might consider reserving a room for two at the advertised place where dreams come true.
Somewhere under the sun
There is happiness and fun
There is love for everyone
Somewhere under the sun
The ads suggest that somewhere in the world, there is a place filled with happiness, fun, and love for everyone.
Somewhere under oh
Somewhere under the sun
There is happiness and fun
There is love for everyone
Somewhere under the sun
Somewhere under the sun
The chorus repeats the message about the existence of a special place filled with happiness, fun, and love for everyone under the sun.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: KARL AGELL, RYAN CULP BARRINGER, GRAHAM FRY, JON MCCLAIN, PHIL SWISHER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@dreamdecordesign7477
Seriously underrated song.
@KiwiBirb63
I was riding my motorcycle, my music was set to random, and this song came on but on repeat until I got home! Not complaining, I loved it!
@sashavasilieva
Балдею от этой музыки🤩🥰🥰🥰🥰
@nakedking6676
there is happiness and fun, there is love for everyone...
@gkhnc
definitely one of my best feel-good songs!
@davidcollver6155
Very underrated comedy movie with Liam Neeson and Sandra Bullock and Oliver Platt especially. Undercover agents the mob reasons not to be involved with the mob on any level. And the toll that it takes on your digestive tract gastrointestinal in other words. From the year 2000. But I love this song to it's great and I never knew any information about this song or who did it till now
@mushdogful
One of my favorite comedies!
@DonInFremont
if you can't read Russian, this is from a super-quirky movie called Gun Shy...Sandra Bullock, Liam Neeson....great music, one of the best rock soundtrack albums out there....
@CynthiaJFinnegan
One of my favorites!
@Bingo2501
Love the movie, one of my favorites since 2002. ^^