Story Behind the Song: Sam Grow, ‘Boots’

Sam Grow's song "Boots" is one of the most personal tracks on his Love and Whiskey record. Even though it's one of the few songs on the album that he didn't write or co-write, the track speaks to a deeply personal memory that the artist has of his father. Read on to learn more about how Grow found "Boots," and the timing that made recording it even more special. 

So what's crazy is, I wrote 90 percent of the record. I have three outside cuts; "History" and "Boots" are two of those three outside cuts.

I lost my dad in September, and it was kind of in the middle of us trying to pin the [record] deal down and doing the pitch process for songs. "Boots" came across in one of the pitch meetings.

My dad always wore his cowboy boots. It didn't matter what he was doing. He was a lineman, so he worked on power lines, and he would always custom[ize] his cowboy boots to have steel toes in them so he could wear them [to work]. After he passed, of course, I'm going through all these different emotions, and then I find that song.

Josh Thompson, who's an incredible writer and storyteller, he was one of the writers on that song. I was listening to the song, and I just knew I had to cut it, and, fortunately, he was kind enough to let us do so. Seriously, I tell people all the time, that was definitely one my dad sent down.