Kenny Chesney Releases High School Football Anthem - Boys of Fall

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America



Most people don't know this about me, but my first full--time job in radio was as a county music morning-drive disc jockey at WHOL-AM radio in Allentown in 1980.

I can still hear the jingle I had to play four-times an hour...Top Gun in Allentown...W-H-O-L...followed by a Ricochet Rabbit-type gunshot and the bullet hitting some metal object.

I loved those days...got kissed by Barbara Mandrell; the owner of the station was in Willie Nelson's first band and I met Eddie Rabbit, who wrote Elvis' Kentucky Rain, which I still love to this day.

Without waxing too nostalgic, I always enjoyed country music and thought it needed to be the genre for a high school football anthem.

Well, the anthem is here...and it's sung by former Gibbs High (Tennesse) football player and now country music star Kenny Chesney.

Boys of Fall, which can be viewed at the top of this post, was written by Dave Turnbull and Casey Beathard for an upcoming documentary on high school football by Chesney, who played wide receiver in high school.

While I wish the song was a little bit more uptempo, it's still creates the great feel of Friday nights.  The opening of the video is awesome with a great pre-game speech from a coach.

On his website Chesney says, "Having played football, I know how true that song felt to me.  And, that song is real not just for anyone who's ever played, but for the moms driving their kids to peewee football, for the guys in the barbershops talking about this year's team at the local school, for the kids on the sidelines cheering and it's certainly for anyone who's ever coached little kids, junior high schoolers and certainly for high school players coming into their own.

How is the song resonating with America, according to Chesney's website, after just one day of play, it debuted in the Top 20.

What are your thoughts on this song?