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Photo of the Week: Two-Stepping with Big & Rich

Big and Rich(Credit: Paul Familetti)

For years, I’ve been trying to immerse myself into the country culture as much as I can. Since the majority of music I cover is country I should be well versed in all things country, right? When I attended a Josh Abbott Band concert earlier this fall I was amazed at all the dancing going on. At first I thought it was line dancing, but I quickly realized that the couples weren’t dancing in a line — they were two-stepping. It was something I didn’t even know existed and I quickly wanted to learn!

Lucky for me, when Big & Rich came through New York to talk about their new album Gravity they were game to teach me. We did the interview first and the closer we got to the last question I could feel my nerves build, knowing that next up was my dance lesson. You see, I am the least coordinated person you’ll ever meet and it was a bit intimidating to be taught by guys who grew up doing the two-step. My biggest fear: stepping on one of their cowboy boots!

John Rich started off with the basics, which included explaining the difference between two-stepping and line dancing. “Anybody can dance by themselves,” Rich said of line dancing. “You’ve got to have something going on to get somebody else to dance with you. It requires a little coordination.”

Which is exactly what I learned. Most importantly, the guy has to lead. And as Rich says, if the guy doesn’t know what he’s doing it’s going to be a train wreck. Lucky for me, I had a good teacher.

big-and-rich-26(Credit: Paul Familetti)

“Full step, half step, back. Full step, half step back. That’s all it is,” he recites. “Once you get it down it’s like you’re walking.”

With that said, he grabbed me close (much closer than I had anticipated) and walked me through it while I very timidly tried my best not to step on his fancy cowboy boots.

“John Rich can two-step backwards!” Big Kenny shouts as Rich twirls me.

“I can two-step anywhere!”

“He’s a good two-stepper,” Kenny asserts. “And you’re doing good. You’ve never two-stepped before? By golly, you look like a natural.”

For my complete interview with Big & Rich visit Radio.com.