Time and tide wait for no man, or so the saying goes.
In the case of John Rich-half of the country super duo Big & Rich-the roles were reversed. He had to wait on both time and tide to bring the results of an idea he had to a store-or website-near you. It took four years for his Redneck Riviera tide to come rolling in, and then it took another three years to channel that tide into a product line worthy of the cold cash hard working Americans would have to plunk down for the products. Rich was adamant about establishing that high-quality-to-every-dollar-spent benchmark for each item in his recently-launched Redneck Riviera line of clothes.
The clothes are only the first wave of a sunami of products. Just up ahead is Redneck Riviera liquor, flags, small coolers, branded items in college colors, food, beverages, video games and more. Rich has an ocean-full of ideas and, now, a boat-load of partners to bring those ideas to the marketplace.
"It's exciting for the products to finally get out there and for folks to get their hands on them," declares Rich.
HNGN caught up the singer-songwriter-entrepreneur for an exclusive interview. The country star routinely covers the charts with hits--whether its songs like "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy" or "Lost In This Moment" that he and his buddy Kenny "Big Kenny" Alphin have had as Big & Rich or whether it's as a songwriter penning smashes for other artists, including Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, Taylor Swift, Faith Hill and Gretchen Wilson. And throughout his career, Rich has raised lots of money for various charities, including the more than $1 million gift to St. Judes Children's Research Hospital for winning the 2011 edition of Donald Trump's NBC reality show competition "Celebrity Apprentice."
As we started the interview, we asked Rich to rewind the time and tide back seven years.
HNGN: Do you remember the exact moment that the term "Redneck Riviera" became more than just a Florida and Alabama-oriented good-time phrase to you?
RICH: I sure do. I was down in Gulf Shores, Ala., hanging out with a friend of mine. We were on the wharf, where there's a Ferris wheel. It's a really cool spot.
I was smoking a cigar and sitting in the sun. And about every other person walked by had Redneck Riviera this or Redneck Riviera that. I even saw a little kid walk by and he was wearing a t-shirt that said "My Parents Went To The Redneck Riviera And All I Got Was This T-Shirt."
I ordered a beer and the waitress brings me a beer in a koozie that read "Gulf Shores-In The Heart Of The Redneck Riviera." I sat there for a moment and my wheels started turning. I thought, "I wonder who owns that phrase? I wonder who is the person that can sell that phrase?" I figured someone had probably owned it for 30 years.
I checked with the trademark office and nobody had ever trademarked the phrase "Redneck Riviera." I thought it was unbelievable that no one had. So, me being an idea guy and marketing guy and me loving the Redneck Riviera--I'd been going to those beaches since I was a little kid--I thought this would be fun thing to work on.
HNGN: After you secured the trademark, how long did it take you to figure out what you wanted to do with the Redneck Riviera phrase?
JR: The trademark process took almost four years. It was really a challenge. When I got into it, I started realizing that maybe this is why nobody had ever done it before. But we figured it all out and got it done.
Then I moved very methodically in deciding what I wanted to do with the phrase. One reason is that the Redneck Riviera itself is a great lifestyle. It's been called that since the '60s. Tom T. Hall wrote a song about the Redneck Riviera back then. Since it's been called that for so long, there was no way I was going to put rinky-dink, cheap stuff out there with the Redneck Riviera brand on it. You know, stuff that's gonna shrink up or fall apart.
To me the Redneck Riviera is a place where people go to have a good time. They save up their money. They take their families down there. Springbreakers go there to get rowdy. I wanted to put stuff out in the market place that lived up to the Redneck Riviera reputation. I wanted it to be high quality first-rate products. To do that, you really have to search out who you're working with--and I did that.
We spent a year and half working on the designs for all the products coming out now. And for every design you see in a store or on a website, there were probably 30 products that got kicked out, rejected.
HNGN: So you took your time designing the products and lining up the companies that could make your vision of using the Redneck Riviera phrase a reality?
JR: Exactly. It's always going to be called the Redneck Riviera. Always. So I didn't have to rush into doing something. It's not like I was trying to take advantage of a TV show or a hit song or something that has a limited time span. The Redneck Riviera is going to be there forever, so I've taken my time and I feel like we have come to the consumers with top-notch products-and there are many more products on the way. The t-shirts, ball caps and the light-weight apparel stuff we have now--about 150 different pieces--are just the first wave of what's coming.
In addition to being in stores, you can check out the items at redneckriveria.com and countryoutfitters.com.
HNGN: You've found companies that can help you deliver to consumers the various products you have in mind for your entire Redneck Riviera line.
JR: Absolutely. For example, there's a huge company called Dave Franco, one of the biggest linen manufacturers in the world. They're doing an entire line of Redneck Riviera beach towels, rugs and items like that. There's a whole line of Redneck Riviera wall art that's coming out from a company called Penny Lane. They've come up with an incredible array of very cool art that you can put up out by your pool or beach house or wherever you have fun. We've also moving forward with EA Sports, the largest video game company, to develop a Redneck Riviera video game that is going to be absolutely wild. And, of course, liquor is a no brainer and that's going to worked out in 2015, too.
HNGN: Is your line of boots out now?
JR: The boot line just came out and it's really blowing up the marketplace. Redneck Riviera boots are being manufactured by Country Outfitter, who has about 12 million customers. The boots will be in western stores, such as Sheplers, Boot Barn and Trail West. And if you go to countryoutfitters.com you'll see about 30 different styles of boots and about 50 different styles of apparel.
HNGN: You could have put out all the merchandise and products right away, but you chose to go slow.
JR: I didn't want to do all that at once. I thought it was too much to shotgun all of those different items out at the same time. So I'm starting with one thing--the light apparel--and let it take hold, then the marketplace will see something else and then it will see something, as we roll out each line of items.
HNGN: We understand that your family members helped you make sure that the clothing line was of the quality you wanted.
JR: All the female apparel items had to have the seal of approval of my wife, Joan, and Granny Rich, too. Granny Rich has been in the clothing world forever as a seamstress and alterations expert, so she knows the good stuff and the bad stuff. I would take her a pile of prototype t-shirts and she would look at them and tell me things like, "Well, let me tell you right now the way they stitched this collar in here is not gonna work." So, if it's not Granny tested and approved, it's not going to be a Redneck Riviera product!
HNGN: And your friends helped you test the clothes, too?
JR: That's right. Big Kenny and Cowboy Troy and a lot of my friends have tried all the proposed clothes, worn them around, washed them many times to find out which ones were really the good products. If they didn't hold up to my friends wearing them, they didn't make into the Redneck Riviera line, either.
HNGN: And did your sons, Cash and Colt, do their part in testing clothes?
JR: They sure did. One thing we're developing that isn't out yet is Pint-Size Rednecks. We're working with Cuddlies, a huge kids apparel company, to get that line out.
HNGN: You've raised a lot of money for St. Judes Children's Research Hospital with your win on "Celebrity Apprentice" and with other activities over the years. And now, with Redneck Riviera, you're helping the hospital once again.
JR: I am so proud that for every dollar that comes in from any Redneck Riviera product or venture there is a tithe that's paid to the kids at St. Judes. Every single dollar earned from any Redneck Riviera income stream has a tithe that goes straight to St. Judes Children's Research Hospital--and that tithe will go on forever. I hope it will be a big asset for the great work they do there.
HNGN: You've worked hard to expand the idea of the Redneck Riviera beyond the beaches in Florida and Alabama. You say that the Redneck Riviera is not a Southern phrase, it is an American phrase because it can be anywhere from California to Maine.
JR: I think Redneck Riviera has gone beyond a geographic area. It's become a state of mind. You can have the Redneck Riviera anywhere, even in your back yard.
HNGN: A state of mind like Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville?
JR: Margaritaville is obviously a great, very cool thing. Margaritaville is that relaxed good time. Redneck Riviera is the revved up good time. It's the rowdier version of what Jimmy Buffett has been doing his whole life.
The Redneck Riviera is the place hard working, family-oriented folks go to physically, if they can, and, if they can't physically go to the Gulf Coast, they can go there in their minds. How cool is that?
