When you think Big & Rich you think “Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)” but if I told you the duo only had one career number one and it wasn’t their iconic boot stomper, would you believe me?
“Save A Horse” was released as the second single from their 2004 album Horse of a Different Color and was immediately loved, if only ironically, by music fans all over. It was used by ESPN to promote the 2004 World Series of Poker, was featured in a number of movies and TV programs, such as The Office and Magic Mike, and you’re all but guaranteed to hear it at some point every time you go out for karaoke night.
The song has been certified 2x Platinum by RIAA and continues to be heavily played on country radio, but despite the notoriety and fact that pretty much everyone in America knows the song, it never did all that well on the charts.
It failed to crack the top ten when it was released, peaking at 11 on both the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay chart and climbed to 56 on the Hot 100.
But perhaps oddly enough, the duo did score a number one country hit three years later with the wedding ballad “Lost In This Moment”, a song written from the perspective of a groom standing at the altar on his wedding day.
Lost in this moment with you
I am completely consumed
My feeling’s so absolute
There’s no doubt
Sealing our love with a kiss
Waited my whole life for this
Watching all my dreams come true
Lost in this moment with you
Isn’t it kind of funny how their two biggest songs are polar opposites? One about a cowboy coming to town looking for, uhm, a dance partner of sorts and the other being a man completely enraptured by his soon to be wife, swearing to love and respect her forever with their families and the Lord above as witness?
Country music sometimes gets a bad rap for being only about drinking beer and being sad, but the spread between Big & Rich’s biggest hits shows that our genre has a lot more range than it gets credit for.
But my goodness, I can’t believe that “Lost In This Moment” was a bigger chart success than “Save A Horse”…
