Blue Herald Exclusive

It’s been a while since John Anderson, one of Country Music’s most familiar voices, has had chart and record sales success.

The Florida native, best known for his 1980’s smash hit “Swingin’” has returned, and in a big way, with his new RAYBAW Records release “Easy Money”.

Anderson teamed up with Big and Rich’s John Rich, who produced the new CD, to bring an exciting new album of great Country songs, both traditional and modern.

The “Easy Money” CD contains a wide emotional range, with plenty of heartbreak, humor and rugged warmth. Anderson is in top form, putting all he has into every vocal arrangement. It’s safe to say that Anderson “is back”, even though he’s never really gone away.

“John Anderson is officially my honky tonk hero,” stated John Rich. “I don’t think that even John can comprehend what an influence he is. There’s a hole in Country Music where he used to be, and I’m hell-bent on filling it back up.”

The two met about 10 years ago, when Rich, then singing lead with Lonestar, knocked on the door of Anderson’s tour bus. They stayed in touch and, years later, hooked up for a co-writing date which led to an invitation to come onboard for a week during a Big & Rich tour. For Anderson, the experience was at once a flashback and a premonition.

“It was like old times,” he said, smiling. “John, Kenny, James Otto, Shiny [Shannon] Lawson, we were all on the bus, passing the guitar, singing and writing songs. Then John asked me what I wanted. I told him I’d take a decent record deal but if we could just write some good songs together, that would be like icing on the cake, because I was thinking,” he said with a sly wink and a laugh, “‘Man, I’m going to get me some Big & Rich cuts!’”

He got more than that: an offer to sign with Raybaw. By the time they hit the studio, Anderson and Rich were armed with a bunch of songs, about half of which they had written together, the rest a combination of things they hatched on their own or brought in from other writers, with highlights including a tear-it-up drinking song (”Brown Liquor”); a romantic ballad (”You Already Know My Love”); a slapstick rocker with a punch-line hook (”If Her Lovin’ Don’t Kill Me”); the heartfelt (”Bonnie Blue”); and fist-pumping (”Funky Country”) tributes to Dixie, the de rigueur dig at the business side of Country (”Easy Money”); and a musically ambitious, Celtic influenced tour de force (”Weeds”).

Hear a montage of some of the songs here