John Rich talks Redneck Riviera Whiskey, Giving Back To Veterans And Touring!

101.5 WYNK talks with John Rich of Big and Rich about his Redneck Riviera Whiskey, how he gives back to veterans, and how Big and Rich are coming to quite a few "ci-tays" this summer!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One one five w y n K Baton Rouge's number
one for New Country. A lovely day here in the BTR.
Even better when we talked to John Rich of Big
and Rich joining us from Nashville. John, how's it going today, Man.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm doing good. You know, every time I hear those
call letters, I remember back in my lone star days. Man,
when I first got started, we came down and played
shows for your radio station. So thanks for having me on. Man,
it's a walk down memory lane every chance I get
to come back on.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Well, you know, Big and Rich are on tour speaking
of stopping by and saying hello with us this summer,
and I imagine that as you are out and about
on the road, you might be checking in a store here,
a store there, and seeing that Redneck riviera on the shelves.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, you know, I launched it back in twenty eighteen.
Didn't really know what to expect, but I did know
that I wanted to come with something that was one
hundred percent made in our country. And by that I
mean the glass, the whiskey, the courts, the labels, assembled
in America, everything one hundred percent made in USA. Because
I love my country. Now in twenty twenty five, we're

(01:02):
in almost ten thousand stores across the United States. But
what's so cool about about Louisiana and where you live
is the first real chain that ever brought in red
Nick Revere Whiskeith was Ralse's and I'll never forget it.
Donny Rouse said, Man, I love this product. I love
that you're, you know, helping our veterans or giving back

(01:23):
to these veterans causes. And plus I love the product. Man,
it's great. So you know it's under twenty five bucks,
it's made in America, it's the smoothest stuff on the shelf,
and it's blowing up. I'll give you one little inside
business stat that you did not ask for, but I
can tell you that year over year this past March,
we were up one hundred and seventy six percent across

(01:43):
the United States and our sales. So I have to
thank everybody out there for picking it up, trying it out,
telling your friends about it. It's just an incredible ride
this year.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
You can't complain with that kind of increase. And you
talked about, you know again what mister Rouse said about
it giving back to our veterans, and as the whiskey
has gotten and grown exponentially here. You know you have
been giving back to a lot of organizations that help
our veterans.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, I have. I thought it was important out of
the gate, just to establish that I wanted to have
give back partners, as I call them, And I look
at our veterans and think to myself, can you imagine
what the world would look like if we didn't have
men and women that had signed up and fought for
this country to keep our rights secure, to keep life,
liberty in the pursuit of happiness a thing for people

(02:32):
like me and people like you. And so I wanted
to give back to organizations that help veterans in their families.
So one of them is Folds of Honor. They put
kids and spouses through college who lost a family member
or who have a family member who's one hundred percent
disabled from service. And we've sent close to two million
dollars to them since twenty eighteen. And then in the

(02:54):
past year, I found out a problem the veterans were
having with getting their benefit. That there's thirteen billion with
a b thirteen billion dollars of unclaimed benefits right now
sitting in government accounts. That our veterans cannot get their
hands on simply because there is so much red tape
and these websites are so ridiculous that they can't figure

(03:17):
it out. So VFW has a campaign called Return the Favor,
and what they're doing is bringing in professionals to sit
with our veterans and navigate those websites and get them
their money. So we've been working with that as well,
and today Rednick Rivera whiskey has helped recover over seventy
million dollars for veterans just in the past six months.

(03:39):
So when you go out and you purchase Rednick Rivia whiskey,
those are the kind of things you're supporting. On top
of the fact that I hope you really love it.
I think you will move, don't burn Made in America,
just give it a shot and see what you think.
But isn't that great though? I mean that people step
up and support like that. It allows us to write
those kind of checks and really get back in a

(04:01):
meaningful way.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
It'll help you have a good time, and you're doing
a good thing with Redneck Riviera whiskey. Now talk a
bit about Big and Rich on tour this summer. How's
it going. Where are you heading? What's going to happen?

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well, we as a matter of fact, right before I
got on with you, we just booked three more shows,
so we're gonna be all over the US this year.
The shows are just pouring in. It's pretty incredible, you know,
twenty years in the big and rich. It's hard to
believe it, but I look out at the crowds and
there is big, if not bigger than they used to be.
And I think that's just maybe a testament to the

(04:36):
music that we wrote and put out that it's stuck.
You know, people remember the first time they heard coming
to your site, or save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,
or the eighth of November, Lost in this moment with you.
Those kinds of songs seem to have become bookmarks in
people's lives, which I can tell you as a songwriter,
that's the ultimate ultimate compliment, is that something you wrote

(04:58):
meant something to some to that degree that they can
remember where they were and what they were doing when
they heard it. I've got songs like that. I'm sure
you do too. So anyway, we're booking cities all across America,
and I hope we get down in your backyard here
really soon.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
John Rich of Big and Rich on the road this
summer on our shelves right now though a bottle of
Redneck Riviera whiskey, all made right here in the USA,
and everything going to good calls with that whiskey. Give back,
John was talking about anything else you want to add
before we say goodbye.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Now, Man, I just appreciate you and all the folks
out there. I want to thank Rolses again for bringing
in Rednick Revere American blended whiskey. You guys go get it.
If for some reason they're sold out, which I'm hearing
that a lot, that a lot of shelves are out,
tell them, hey, you guys need to get some more
whiskey and we'll ship you another load asap. Thank you
for your support. We're having a rocking year.