"Country Boy" is a song written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He is known for performing a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country", as well as writing many of his own songs. Jackson has recorded 21 studi ...

. 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 A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' country singles charts, as well as the third straight Number One from the album. It was briefly used in the 2010 film ''

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''.

Content

The song is a moderate up-tempo backed mainly by

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

. In it, the male narrator addresses a female, inviting her to climb up into his

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truck and telling her that he can take her wherever she wants, because he is a "country boy".

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." His review also compared the song's theme to " Country Man", a Top Ten hit for

Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television personality. Bryan is a five-time "Entertainer of the Year", being awarded by both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Count ...

in mid-2008: "where Country Man'embraces it’s own absurdity, 'Country Boy' tries to cover it’s own suggestive innuendo." Jeffrey B. Remz of ''

Country Standard Time ''Country Standard Time'' is a website dedicated to country music and related genres including Americana, bluegrass and rockabilly. It provides news and musical reviews pertaining to the genre. It was established in 1993 by Jeffrey B. Remz as ...

'' 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."

Music video

In late September 2008, Jackson announced on his official

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channel that he was holding a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

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

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. Before the official video, television network CMT aired a live music video which featured Jackson performing the song with

Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...

Dierks Bentley Frederick Dierks Bentley (; born November 20, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Bentley moved to Nashville in the late 90s to pursue a career in music, leading up to his releasing the self-funded and independent album Do ...

and

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He holds ...

on the ''CMT Country Giants'' special.

Chart performance

"Country Boy" peaked at Number One on the ''

'' country charts in January 2009, becoming Jackson's twenty-fifth Number One on that chart and matching

'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 Broadcast Data Systems (also known as Nielsen BDS, BDS or Luminate BDS) was a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts publishe ...

(counting only singles that were Number Ones during that timespan).

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2008 singles Alan Jackson songs Songs written by Alan Jackson Song recordings produced by Keith Stegall Arista Nashville singles Vocal collaborations 2008 songs