5 great options to replace 'Friends in Low Places' as the song Tennessee plays going into the 4th quarter of football games
The Tennessee Vols will return home to Neyland Stadium on Saturday for the first time since their win against Kent State on September 14. Tennessee is set for a showdown with the Florida Gators, one of UT's top rivals. Florida is one of the college football programs that plays a unique song (in their instance, […]
The Tennessee Vols will return home to Neyland Stadium on Saturday for the first time since their win against Kent State on September 14.
Tennessee is set for a showdown with the Florida Gators, one of UT's top rivals.
Florida is one of the college football programs that plays a unique song (in their instance, it's a song from the late Tom Petty, who was from Gainesville) ahead of the fourth quarter. The crowd sings along and it's a great scene. You might not like Florida if you're reading this, but it's hard to argue that hearing 90,000 fans in the swamp singing "I Won't Back Down" isn't pretty cool.
In recent years, Tennessee has adopted this same tradition.
Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" is the tune that's currently played before the fourth quarter and it gets a solid reaction from the crowd.
But something about playing a song that has nothing to do with Tennessee and is sung by an Oklahoma State alum just doesn't make sense. And, objectively, it's not as cool as the scene at Florida.
It's fun and it sounds good in person. But it just feels a bit forced at Neyland (it would be make a lot more sense at Oklahoma State games).
Now, I realize that getting over 100,000 people to agree on which song should be played is never going to happen. No one is ever going to be perfectly happy with the choice. But there are a few options that I think would be much better fits than "Friends in Low Places".
Dixieland Delight — Alabama
This is the obvious choice. But Alabama (the college) kinda makes it difficult to play this one on a regular basis because of the way they took the song hostage (and started playing it at Bryant-Denny Stadium before the fourth quarter) — even though the song is about Tennessee.
UT famously played the song last season after knocking off Alabama in Knoxville and fans absolutely loved it (UT also played it after beating Alabama in basketball). I still think it would be worth using — it would kind of be like taking something back that should've belonged to the Vols all along — but I can understand if folks at Tennessee see it as not being worth the drama it could potentially cause (though again, I say go for it).
Wagon Wheel — Old Crow Medicine Show
This is a perfect sing along song — even though a South Carolina fan named Darius did a terrible cover of it several years back — that also mentions Tennessee.
When the song says "heading west from the Cumberland Gap to Johnson City, Tennessee" the crowd at Neyland is guaranteed to sing those words at the top of their lungs (just like anytime it's played anywhere in the state of Tennessee). Virtually everyone already knows the words, too.
The more I think about it, the more I think this should be one of the options at the top of the list. And don't be one of those fans who says they hate it because it's popular. It's a fun tune and it gets the people going. Deep down, you like it even if you say you hate it.
Tennessee Whiskey — Chris Stapleton
Tennessee Whiskey was originally recorded by David Allan Coe in 1981, but it became more well-known after Chris Stapleton covered it in 2015.
Anyway, this song would be an easy and popular fit at Neyland. This is the type of song that would have the crowd swaying along in unison as fans belt out the lyrics to a song that has quickly become a beloved tune since Stapleton released his version of it.
Back Where I Come From — Kenny Chesney
I'm aware that there's a large portion of the Tennessee fan base that doesn't claim Kenny Chesney — despite the fact that he's from East Tennessee — because of his propensity for wearing helmets of rival teams wherever he's playing a concert.
Chesney's an entertainer as well as a Tennessee fan. So while it's not ideal to see him wearing a South Carolina or a Florida helmet, I understand why he's doing it.
But back to the song. "Back Where I Come From" is a song that would make plenty of sense for Tennessee before the fourth quarter. The song is all about growing up in East Tennessee. And the crowd is sure to go crazy when the part that Chesney highlights during concerts — the "I'm an East Tennessean" line — is played.
Up Down — Morgan Wallen
There are several Morgan Wallen songs that could be great choices here. You could really take your pick. But "Up Down" could be a fun one because it's a high energy song and Neyland would surely be rocking while it's played.
I'm pretty sure Neyland would go crazy while singing along to that one. But there are plenty of other Wallen songs that would also be great options, including "Sand in My Boots" (maybe too slow, but it has some great references to East Tennessee), "Last Night" (pretty sure that one would get fans going as well), or "The Way I Talk", which has a reference to the Volunteers.
Wallen is a die-hard Vols fans and reps Tennessee as often as possible, which would make this an even more popular choice.
