Drinkin' Town with a Football Problem

Album: Summer Forever (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song was written by family trio The Henningsens with Elizabeth Elkins and Vanessa Olivarez. Currington told Billboard magazine it took him back to his days growing up in a small town rooting for the local Effingham County Rebels in South Georgia. "That song reminded me of my high school hometown football team." he said. "But, at the same time, there are so many towns we have played in that resemble that too. It reminds me of so many places I've been a part of. I think a lot of people will relate to it."

    "Football was so huge in our town. If you didn't play, you were going to the game," Currington continued. "If you were anywhere in the vicinity, you were going to the game. There are so many memories of Friday nights that I have and cherish to this day."
  • The Henningsens have the same manager as Currington, and thought it would be a great song for the Georgia native. "My manager sent it to me. He was like, 'Hey man, I'm managing this group and they wrote this song, but they're not going to record it, and they wanted to send it to you,'" Currington recalled. "So, I pressed play, and my first thought with this song was like, 'Wow! This song could for sure be in a commercial for the NFL.' I mean it's so perfect. I could hear it playing at stadiums during football games, and I can't say enough about how happy the song is and how happy it made me feel, when I was recording it and when I was listening to the demo of it."
  • Currington nailed his vocal in just a few takes. He actually spent more time working on the "hey, y'all" section, where he stacked his voice around six times with additional "hey, y'alls" from studio singer Russell Terrell filling out the singer's harmonies. It was a new technique for Currington, who told Billboard magazine. "I really enjoyed singing the 'hey, y'all' part and just listening to it get bigger and bigge. All of a sudden, it sounds like a big ol' choir. The 'hey, y'alls' were the highlight for me."
  • Co-writer Elizabeth Elkins recounted the story of the song to The Boot: "It took us two full days to write it, and we just really wanted to capture all those little different people you see at a football game on a Friday night in a small town, and just that idea that, no matter what all the differences between these people were and what role you had in high school, whatever, everybody just kind of came together on that Friday night. Brian (Henningsen) really brought in the feel of his little town, and I think Vanessa came up with that 'Hey, y'all' part at the top, and it was a lot of fun."

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