Tracy Lawrence Scores a Musical Touchdown

Tracy Lawrence is a lifelong football fan. Now, with his recent legal woes behind him, the singer is focused on combining his passion for the pigskin and his love of music with 'Saturday in the South.' The gridiron-themed tune will serve as the musical theme for the FOX Sports South and SportSouth college football campaigns this fall.

"I have loved football since I was a little kid," Tracy tells The Boot. "I played Pee Wee football and played during my junior high school years. When I got in high school I realized I wasn't big enough to play with those boys, so I played baseball instead. I made all the football games though."

This will be FOX's biggest college football kickoff campaign in the network's history, broadcasting more than 70 SEC, ACC, Conference USA games, and new weekly college football shows during the season.

"The song 'Saturday in the South' is a perfect blend of southern charm and football mayhem to be showcased in weekly on-air promotions and in-game highlight packages in and around the games that FOX Sports South and SportSouth televise," says Michael Brouder, Marketing Director and Network Presentation of FOX Sports South. 'Saturday in the South' will also be heard in the promotional tune-in messaging of college football games.

The tune was written by Rick Huckaby, one of the staff writers at Tracy's publishing company, and Paul Nelson, and was used by one of the networks last year with Rick singing it.

"Then FOX South approached us and was excited about using the song as the theme for the entire season," Tracy explains. "They already have several commercial spots built and will be using it in all their bumpers and all their promos in commercial ads, and the ins and outs with commentators. I think it will have a big impact for us. I don't know what the viewership is on FOX South but there is substantial amount of people who are college football fans. I think that will help my image a lot."

Although Tracy's favorite college team is the Arkansas Razorbacks, after living in Nashville for more than 20 years, he has become a University of Tennessee Vols fan too. "I love it when people still play for passion of the game without getting caught up with all the money," he says. "But I love pro football too. I just love football. How can you not, when you grow up in the south? It's a big part of life here."

One of the downsides to touring as much as he does, however, is that Tracy is rarely home on Saturday afternoon to watch the college games. "I have made a couple of Cotton Bowls and stuff during the playoffs at the end of the year. My schedule doesn't slow down until December, so I'm always working and watching the games on TV. I was a season ticket holder for the Titans but the way my schedule is, if I work Saturday I get home later on Sunday and games start at noon. I let my tickets go a couple years ago. We do try to make one game a year at least but we just buy those tickets."

Tracy says FOX may shoot a music video for the song in the next couple of weeks, and he already knows the dress code. "I let everybody in my organization pick the jersey they want to wear," he says. "Now we're contacting the colleges, and when FOX is ready we'll be ready too. My vision is for each of us to represent our own colors."

'Saturday in the South' will be on Tracy's upcoming as-yet-untitled album. No release date has been announced.