Big Kenny goes home to Virginia to make new music clip
in honor of "Long After I'm Gone." (Photo: Kristin Barlowe)
Big Kenny, who comprises half of the storied country duo known as Big & Rich, has unveiled his debut single and video, “Long After I’m Gone,” during the middle of his summer tour and his role as a judge and mentor on CMT’s Can You Duet TV show.
When it came time to make the music clip for Big Kenny's new single, he and "a renegade film crew of ... his brothers and sisters," with only a single day's notice, took off for their Culpeper, Va., hometown to shoot the video's footage on the music-maker's family farm, Rillhurst.
"Seriously," explained Big Kenny, whose surname is Alphin, "on Tuesday I make the call, on Wednesday I’m gone all week to work in L.A., on Friday I meet my crew in Virginia, we make it back to Nashville Sunday, and by Monday, I am off to Southern Sudan to deliver supplies and visit the school we helped make a reality.”
Big Kenny recalls the day of the video shoot
As for the video shoot, “The day was a perfect spring day in the Blue Ridge of Virginia," Big Kenny recalled. "My mother's flowers were kickin', the sky was blue as ice and the fields of uncut hay were waving as my father and my Uncle George were steadily working hard to get it ready for the animals this winter."
Big Kenny's dad, now 80, "made hay all day we were there shooting, because it was his first chance the sun had been out that week," noted the country star, whose own son, Lincoln, will one day be the eighth generation to steward this land.
"I was raised in the brick home you see in the video; the home also was where my mother was born." Big Kenny continued. "My grandfather built the barns you see and I played in the same grass you see me playing in with my son, who is now 3. I swung from the same tree. My relatives from as far back as the 1700s are buried in the cemetery on the farm."
Big Kenny offers fans free song download of new single
This group effort that culminated in under 48 hours has produced a video that's already receiving immediate heavy rotation on CMT and GAC, including on CMT’s Power Picks video showdown and much more.
Fans can watch the video, which was created with commando-style planning and impromptu timing, and score a free download of the track. written by Big Kenny, Richie Supa and Marc Beeson and co-produced with Chris Stone, at http://www.bigkenny.tv.
“Long After I’m Gone” makes its way into Big and Rich’s summer show as both Big Kenny and John Rich perform a few of their solo projects’ songs as part of the multi-platinum and award-winning duo’s coast-to-coast, 35-city tour that will culminate in Atlantic City on Sept. 5.
As for his show-biz lifestyle that sprang from his humble beginning, Big Kenny--looking back--wouldn't change a thing.
" I thought we were poor as a kid, but sure realize now how fortunate I was to be raised in paradise. ... I am forever grateful to my family and home in Culpeper, Va.," he affirmed. "I am so humbled by my heritage and the great land and country I call my home--from sea to shining sea!”
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