Randy Houser ‘Freaked Out’ Over National Anthem

Randy Houser is a big man with a big voice, but there is one song that strikes fear in his heart every time he's asked to sing it. The song probably intimidates every artist in America, and being asked to sing it live can cause even the most secure vocalist to sweat a little. Randy admits that actually singing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' isn't the hard part: it's remembering the words that's a killer.

"There's such a delay from the time you sing it to the time you hear it on the speakers," Randy tells the Cincinnati Citybeat about his recent performance of the song at a Tennessee Titans game. "It is like a second. It kind of freaked me out. Singing it is the easiest part. Remembering the words to it is a completely different thing. It's just because you think about that one so hard whenever you go out there, you don't want to screw it up. It's not like you're on auto-pilot. You always think you're gonna mess up the words."

Randy has plenty of sympathy for artists who freeze up and go blank on the words to the national anthem, since he knows it could happen to anyone at any time and is an artist's worst fear. "There was a Kansas City Chiefs game [that] my buddy Mike Eli sang at with his band [Eli Young Band] and he forgot the words to the anthem. It was pretty bad. But they don't understand how nerve-wracking that one particular song is to sing because you don't want to screw it up so bad and that's why people do. They're thinking about it so hard. People who don't have to stand up and sing it in front of 90,000 people don't understand. You kind of freak out. That's what happens."

The country star admits it's much easier to sing his own hits and ones he's written for other artists, like 'Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,' and 'Back That Thing Up.' The fact that two of his cuts for other artists are about back ends isn't lost on him. He says he is a tad bit obsessed with derrieres, but explains how he ended up with so many songs on the subject. "Well, the reason for that is, after we had a big hit with 'Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,' anybody that had an idea for a song about an ass wanted to bring it to us, me or Jamey [Johnson]."

Randy collaborated with Lee Ann Womack on a tune on his latest CD, 'They Call Me Cadillac,' but says he'd also love to work with Reba and Keith Urban.

Watch Randy Houser's 'Boots On'