Country Boy (Alan Jackson song)

"Country Boy" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It is the third single from his album Good Time, having been released in September 2008. In January 2009, "Country Boy" became his twenty-fifth Number One hit on the Billboard country singles charts, as well as the third straight Number One from the album. It was briefly used in the 2010 film Unstoppable.

"Country Boy"
Single by Alan Jackson
from the album Good Time
ReleasedSeptember 29, 2008
GenreCountry
Length4:06
LabelArista Nashville
Songwriter(s)Alan Jackson
Producer(s)Keith Stegall
Alan Jackson singles chronology
"Good Time"
(2008)		 "Country Boy"
(2008)		 "Sissy's Song"
(2009)

Content

The song is a moderate up-tempo backed mainly by electric guitar. In it, the male narrator addresses a female, inviting her to climb up into his four-wheel drive truck and telling her that he can take her wherever she wants, because he is a "country boy". It is considered one of the earliest popular examples of bro-country music.[1]

Critical reception

Brady Vercher of Engine 145 gave the song a "thumbs down" rating. His review called the song "four minutes of triviality that declines to say anything more significant than 'I'm a country boy, I've got a 4 wheel drive…'Country Boy' is the kind of rubbish that would be expected from a new artist trying to prove their questionable country credentials rather than a respected veteran of the genre."[2] His review also compared the song's theme to "Country Man", a Top Ten hit for Luke Bryan in mid-2008: "where ['Country Man'] embraces it’s [sic] own absurdity, 'Country Boy' tries to cover it’s [sic] own suggestive innuendo."[2] Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time described the song more favorably, saying that despite the song's often-used theme of Southern life, "Jackson can lay claim to being the real deal and not a poseur."[3]

Music video

In late September 2008, Jackson announced on his official YouTube channel that he was holding a music video contest for "Country Boy". The viewers, or YouTubers, were asked to create a simple video no longer than five minutes driving around with a girlfriend. The contest ended on October 6, 2008, and was won by Clay Ashley, Dan Hair, and Mark Trotter of Sioux City, Iowa.[4] Before the official video, television network CMT aired a live music video which featured Jackson performing the song with Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley and George Strait on the CMT Country Giants special.

Chart performance

"Country Boy" peaked at Number One on the Billboard country charts in January 2009, becoming Jackson's twenty-fifth Number One on that chart and matching George Strait's record for the most Number One hits by a country artist since January 1990, when the charts were first tabulated via Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (counting only singles that were Number Ones during that timespan).[5]

Chart (2008–2009) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[6] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[7] 49
Canada Country (Billboard)[8] 1
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[9] 61

Year-end charts
Chart (2009) Position
US Country Songs (Billboard)[10] 46

References
  1. Parton, Chris (October 9, 2015). "Readers' Poll: The 20 Best Alan Jackson Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  2. Vercher, Brady (2008-09-07). "Alan Jackson - "Country Boy"". Engine 145. Archived from the original on 2014-12-18. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  3. Remz, Jeffrey B. "Good Time review". Country Standard Time. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
  4. Fox, Joanne (2009-01-02). "Siouxland guys win Alan Jackson video contest". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
  5. Cohen, Jonathan (2009-01-22). "Lady GaGa Leads Hot 100 Amid Static Top 5". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
  6. "Alan Jackson Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  7. "Alan Jackson Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  8. "Alan Jackson Chart History (Canada Country)". Billboard.
  9. "Alan Jackson Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
  10. "Best of 2009: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2009. Retrieved December 13, 2009.
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