Big & Rich do country music ... differently.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Howard Cohen

John Rich, one half of the Big & Rich country duo, calls it ``country music without prejudice.''

The Nashville music industry has coined a term, calling Big & Rich and compatriots Cowboy Troy and "Redneck Woman" Gretchen Wilson the Muzik Mafia.

This Muzik Mafia movement started a few years ago through a series of open-mike Tuesday nights in Nashville when these envelope-shredding acts sparked the kind of scene major-labels couldn't ignore. Warner Bros.' Nashville division eventually took notice of Rich and musical partner ``Big'' Kenny Alphin and gave the unproven duo the kind of freedom in the studio that is basically unheard of in today's commerce-over-art musical environment.

Warner Bros. Nashville president Paul Worley ``gave us 100 percent creative freedom,'' Rich says. ``No challenges on songs or production. I think it's because he's a music lover and understands where me and Kenny are coming from. He's the guy who produced the Dixie Chicks. He just gets it.''

But don't suggest the music isn't country to the core. Big & Rich's popular "Horse of a Different Color" may be more inclusive and true to country's origins than all the Martina McBride, Sara Evans and Rascal Flatts records put together.

``The roots of it is absolutely country music and its branches go all over the place,'' Rich says, citing previous trailblazers like the late Johnny Cash, who held sway over rock and country audiences in his prime without diluting his sound.