Dustin Lynch Has Farm Tour to Thank For His Fifth No. 1, ‘Small Town Boy’
The first time Lynch heard anything about the song was via an email from a local songplugger more than two years ago.
It was more than two years in the making to get “Small Town Boy” to the No. 1 position for Dustin Lynch and his songwriters.
Thankfully, the time flew by while they were all having fun and boosting the track to the top. Starting the story of “Small Town Boy” off at a Farm Tour gig, Lynch got handed the track two weeks later via email of all things.
“It was an email that came, and I didn’t get around to the email for about two weeks. Actually, the song was written on Farm Tour back in 2015, I think. Hannah, one of Kyle [Fishman]’s pluggers at the time, shot me an email and said, ‘Hey, there’s a couple of songs they wrote on Farm Tour. Check ‘em out,’ and I didn’t get to the email for about two weeks, ‘til I was on the way to the farm down south in Nashville. I heard through the first chorus and then got a phone call,” Lynch explained to Sounds Like Nashville and other media at the No. 1 party.
He continued that it took him a bit of time to actually listen to the entire song, which Lynch assumed was picked up by another artist by that time. Fate brought “Small Town Boy” to Lynch and the rest is, quite literally, history.
“I made it to the farm and didn’t get to finish the song. So, I went the farm and did whatever I was doing down there for a few hours, and I’m like, ‘Man, I gotta get back and hear that song.’ I got back in the truck and played it and was just immediately floored. Then panic set in because I’m like, ‘Man, this is two weeks old. Surely somebody else has heard this song and has grabbed it,’ but it happened to be available. So, lucky me,” Lynch said.
“Small Town Boy” songwriters Rhett Akins, Kyle Fishman and Ben Hayslip gather with Dustin Lynch while celebrating their No. 1 song. (Photo: Steve Lowry)
Dubbed as a career-changing song for Lynch by his songwriters and many people on his team, even the country singer has noticed a difference in his shows when he pulls “Small Town Boy” out during his set.
“There’s new energy not only in the size of our crowd,” Lynch told the media. “We saw that really explode on the Ride or Die Tour. The energy at our shows has gone through the roof. I think it’s just a career song, and that’s just what those things do.”
Next on Lynch’s mind is earning that sixth No. 1 with his current single, “I’d Be Jealous Too.”
