Born Again

Album: Hillbilly Jedi (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • The opening song of American Country music duo Big & Rich's fourth studio album begins with the words, "Have you missed me? I ain't been gone. I've been making little babies, I've been writing big songs." Rich told The Boot: "Those are the first words you hear after a three and a half year hiatus of recording with Big & Rich. We wanted to start the record with where we've been, what we've been doing."
  • The pair wrote the song with vocalist Jon Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora, who previously worked with Big and Rich on Bon Jovi's 2007 track, "We Got It Going On." Big Kenny told The Boot about the collaboration with the two Bon Jovi musicians: "It's amazing that two guys like John and me would run into guys like Jon and Richie," he said. "Back in 2004 when they were in Nashville, we kept trying to hook up to write. We finally met up with them at a charity event and met up to write the next morning. Since that point, they have been friends and mentors to us. They really have been through a lot of the same stuff. So that song was written very honestly. Everyone needs to feel confidence, like they are Superman and can jump over tall buildings."
  • This was one of several songs that Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora wrote with Big Kenny and John Rich, and as well as playing on the recording sessions, they even helped give the album its title. "It came out in a writing session we were doing with Richie Sambora and [Jon] Bon Jovi we were doing the other week," Big Kenny told Nashville newspaper The Tennessean. "They are going to record the song on our new album and a line in the song was 'hillbilly jedis with attitude.' All of a sudden, Bon Jovi stops and says, 'Hillbilly Jedis? That's it. I'd buy that shirt.' We were like, 'Hey, that's about a descriptive as you can get of what we are.'"

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