Horse of a Different Color (2004)

''Why does everybody want to kick my ass?'' Nashville vets Big Kenny and John Rich ask aloud. Their debut as a duo is winning enough that butt kissing may be in order instead. But not before you wonder what Kid Rock has wrought, since there are two rap interludes before this mainstream country CD is four songs old. That stretching's fine, but the disc really flies when Big & Rich just honor the straight-up rowdiness of Bocephus or Buck, with Raul Malo-style harmonic sweetness to domesticate things a tad.