Catching up with ‘Big’ Kenny

Cheryl Walker
Published: May 15, 2008

Before Saturday’s stadium concert, I had an opportunity to chat with Big Kenny by phone from his home in Nashville, Tenn. My only regret is that I didn’t record it instead of trying to write it all down — he had so much to say!

In January John Rich announced that he was taking a year off to release a solo project. Meanwhile Kenny Alphin (Big Kenny) has had time to focus on healing from a neck injury sustained after being hit by a drunk driver a few years ago. He’s also been able to spend some quality time at home with his wife and son. After years of touring and life in the fast lane building a career, he’s one of the few artists to find that delicate balance juggling family and profession.

He built a studio at the back of his house, which was no small task, and he has been hard at work writing songs. In the past two months he’s written 30 songs, he has two musicals in the works and a possible screen play. One of the songs he wrote was inspired by remembering fun times at home on the farm in Culpeper — “Be Back Home.” Kenny even sang a verse for me. I loved it! I can’t wait for that one to be recorded.

If you saw the video, “Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace,” you probably noticed Kenny’s acting skills. He said it was fun shooting that video and it was easy to take on the role of the character he portrayed. Creativity is definitely one of his talents.

Kenny doesn’t have the words, “Love everybody” on the back of his guitar for no reason. He has a huge passion for helping others. When we first began our conversation he mentioned he was going to be in San Antonio on May 17 at Camp C.O.P.E. (Courage, Optimism, Patience, and Encouragement) to support the children of our military. The camp is designed to help children ages 4 to 18 who have parents serving in Iraq, to cope with the effects of war and frequent deployments, through age-appropriate activities in small groups of their peers.

Big Kenny has been tremendously effective in helping the people of Darfur. An estimated 200,000 to 400,000 people were slaughtered in the country’s war leaving many children without parents. Large numbers of the children were taken as slaves as a result.

Appalled by the conditions and shocked that slavery still exists in the world Kenny has been motivated into action. He traveled to Sudan taking with him a team which included a doctor to help treat malaria- a prevalent, yet treatable, disease. They provided aid and supplies for a girl’s school in the village of Akron. When asked how people can help he volunteered the following website (My Sister’s Keeper at .mskeepers.org) and said that $10 funds a teacher for a whole month!

Kenny said, “You don’t have to go (to Darfur) to find a need. Everyone has someone near them that they can help. We have all been at a point in our lives when we’ve needed help — remember what that felt like. Just look around. Some folks don’t seem to be interested in doing things that don’t make them money but there’s got to be a balance.”