When you see a hit-making country renegades Big & Rich in one of their videos or, better yet, when you see them stride onstage for an evening in concert, chances

When you see a hit-making country renegades Big & Rich in one of their videos or, better yet, when you see them stride onstage for an evening in concert, chances are that the top-hatted half of the famous duo, “Big Kenny” Alphin, will be strummin’ on a Guild acoustic guitar.

Born William Kenneth Alphin in Culpeper, Va., in November 1963, he was the lead singer in a group called luvjOi before pairing up as Big & Rich with singer/songwriter and former Lonestar bassist John Rich in 1998. An accomplished songwriter himself, Alphin recorded a solo album in 1999, Live a Little, that wasn’t released until 2005; he and Rich also co-wrote songs for Martina McBride (2003’s “She’s a Butterfly”), Gretchen Wilson (2004’s “Here For the Party”), Jason Aldean (2005’s “Hicktown” and “Amarillo Sky”). Alphin wrote “Last Dollar (Fly Away),” a number-one hit in 2007 for friend Tim McGraw.

A few months after penning and singing harmony on “She’s a Butterfly” for McBride in 2003, Big & Rich inked with Warner Bros. Records and recorded their triple-platinum May 2004 debut album Horse of a Different Color, which raced to number one in the Billboard national and country music charts on the strength of hit singles “Wild West Show,” “Big Time,” “Holy Water” and, most popularly, “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).”

Big & Rich then hit the road for a sold-out U.S. stadium tour with Martina McBride and Tim McGraw. Later in 2004, the duo embarked on the American Revolution Tour, which they co-headlined with Gretchen Wilson and other members of their MuzikMafia group, an informal collection of singers, songwriters and musicians Alphin and Rich co-founded in October 2001 at Nashville’s Pub of Luv.

Second Big & Rich album Comin’ To Your City was released in November 2005; its namesake single became their signature song, a slightly different version of which was also used by sports network ESPN as the theme for its popular Saturday program College GameDay. Big & Rich also co-headlined the 2005 “Deuces Wild” tour with Brooks & Dunn and the Warren Brothers.

A 2006 single, “8th of November,” was inspired by the story of Vietnam veteran Niles Harris; Big & Rich were named honorary members of the 503d Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade that October during a benefit concert in Atlanta to raise money for construction of a 173d Airborne memorial.

Big & Rich’s third album, 2007’s Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace, featured the single “Lost in this Moment,” which became their first number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country chart.