Songfacts®:

• Kentucky native Elvie Shane dropped out of college to pursue a career in country music. He competed on American Idol in 2016, but was eliminated in the first round. Shane didn't let that disappointment discourage him, and he released multiple songs online, including "County Roads," a rollicking ode to his upbringing.
• In 2018 Elvie Shane penned the heartfelt ballad "My Boy" about the love he shares with his stepson. "I was 25 when I met my wife, and she told me (that) she had a 5-year-old little boy," he told Country Evolution. "I needed a lot more purpose in my life, and her and him became that purpose."
• Shane wrote "My Boy" with Nick Columbia, Russell Sutton and Lee Starr. The singer told Apple Music his original inspiration was a Facebook post that said, "I don't have a stepson. I have a son that was born before I met him."
  
  The post really resonated with Shane and one night while sitting on the back porch with Columbia and Sutton, Starr shared it with them. When Sutton asked Shane to talk about his son, he replied, "Dude, he's my boy."
  
  The four realized they had a song idea on their hands, and within five or six hours they'd come up with something special. Shane described it as a "God song," meaning "one that you can't really feel like you can take credit for."
• A video of Shane performing the song went viral, earning him a contract with BBR Music Group's Wheelhouse Records in early 2019. They released it as his first song on the label just in time for Father's Day 2020, and a year later it entered the Hot 100.
• Want another song about a father's relationship with his stepson? Check out Brad Paisley's "He Didn't Have to Be," which the singer penned with his close friend Kelley Lovelace. It's based on Lovelace's relationship with his stepson McCain Merren.