Jake Owen was nearly finished recording his third album when a song written by Dylan Altman, Terry Sawchuk, and Eric Paslay circled back around. The song Owen added, “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” became the title track of his 2011 album and his first No. 1.
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The ‘Bare’ Meaning
An easygoing run around warm summer nights, “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” sets a typical Southern country scene cruising, playing guitar, drinking sweet tea, and wearing jeans, barefoot.
A full moon shinin’ bright
Edge of the water, we were feelin’ alright
Back down a country road
The girls are always hot, and the beer is ice-cold
Cadillac, horns on the hood
My buddy Frankie had his dad hook him up good
Girls smile when we roll by
They hop in the back, and we cruise to the riverside
A Breakup Hit
At the time, Owens’ then-girlfriend convinced him to record “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” as they were breaking up.
“I was almost finished with my record,” recalled Owen in 2011. “I had that song on my email. I listened to it over and over one night when my girlfriend at the time came downstairs, and we were breaking up. She said, ‘You’re an idiot if you don’t record this.’ I think she thought I was an idiot anyway, which is why she was leaving, but I did listen.”
He continued “She liked it, and for a girl who never mentioned much about my music, because I think my music is the one thing that kept me away from her, so she never complimented me much on it For her to say that, I knew. I already knew in my mind it was a good song, but when she said that, I was like, ‘All right, I’m cutting it.'”
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“Barefoot Blue Jean Night” was the first track recorded by Owen that he didn’t have a hand in writing. Up until then, Owen had co-written every song on his previous albums, Startin’ with Me in 2006 and 2009 follow-up Easy Does It.
Blue eyes and auburn hair
Sittin’ lookin’ pretty by the fire in a lawn chair
New to town, and new to me
Her ruby red lips was sippin’ on sweet tea
Shot me in love like a shootin’ star
So, I grabbed a beer and an old guitar
Then we sat around till the break of dawn
Howlin’ and singin’ our favorite song
The Session
“I was using my high-strung guitar, and I sat there and started playing the rhythm to the song,” said Paslay of the writing session around Owen’s hit. “It sounded fresh. Everything just fell out so easy for us, that we kind of just went with it.”
Pasley continued “Everything just found us. None of us had the title coming in that day. Once we got going, the lyrics sounded like a summertime anthem. We decided we wanted to give the people the chance to sing along with the song when they hear it.”
A “Career Song”
Owen knew that “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” would be a hit but never expected the song to get as big as it did. “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, while the album went to No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart and peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200.
The song was also the most-played country song throughout the 2010s, according to Country Aircheck, with Sam Hunt‘s 2017 hit “Body Like a Back Road” coming in at second, and Blake Shelton‘s 2011 song “Honey Bee” third.
“I don’t know what else to base it off of, because I’ve never had anything like that,” said Owen. “I’ve had hits on the radio, but this is different. I keep telling folks, there’s a difference between a hit song and a career song, and this is a career song.”
Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images
