"Boots On" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Randy Houser Shawn Randolph Houser (born December 18, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Universal South Records in 2008, he charted the single "Anything Goes". It was a top 20 hit on the '' Billboard'' country singles chart a ...

. It was released in February 2009 as the second single from his debut album ''

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

''. The song peaked at number 2 on the U.S. ''

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 advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart. Houser wrote this song with Brandon Kinney.

Content

The song is an up-tempo with a theme of rural pride. The male narrator states that he is going to a bar to have fun with his "boots on", and states later on that he will die with his boots on.

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' gave the song a favorable review. He described the song as "the kind of song that radio loves precisely because fans will also love it." Kevin J. Coyne of ''Country Universe'' gave "Boots On" a B− rating. He stated that "Houser’s enthusiastic performance helps to elevate the rather ordinary material, but there’s been such a glut of 'country and proud of it' songs lately."

Music video

A music video was made, and was directed by Drake Vaughan and Eric Welch. The video features a toddler, Drake Dixon, son of songwriter Dillon Dixon, singing along with the song, and miming guitar playing. The footage of Drake singing along was originally shot by his nanny, Vickie Vaughan, who subsequently put the video on MySpace. The video became popular online, and Houser decided to incorporate it in his video, making it look like Drake was in his car. At the beginning of the video, Houser puts a digital video camera on his dashboard, pointed at Drake. At the end of the video, after finishing filling up his car, Houser finds he's locked out of it, but Drake's still too busy rocking out to notice. The video was nominated for Music Video of the Year at the 2009

Country Music Association Awards The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony f ...

, however, it lost to

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

's " Love Story".

Chart performance

"Boots On" debuted at No. 59 on the

chart dated March 7, 2009, and entered the Top 40 in its third chart week. It entered the Top 10 at No. 9 in July 2009 and peaked at No. 2 in September 2009, thus becoming his first Top 10 hit. It also finished at No. 3 on the

Billboard Year-End ''Billboard'' Year-End charts are cumulative rankings of entries in '' Billboard'' magazine charts in the United States in any given chart year. Several hundred Year-End charts are now published by ''Billboard'', the most important of which are ...

chart for country music.

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2009 singles Randy Houser songs Songs written by Randy Houser Show Dog-Universal Music singles Song recordings produced by Mark Wright (record producer) 2008 songs Songs written by Brandon Kinney