Like Eric Church did in his live favorite “These Boots,” the new country duo Southerland celebrate that great equalizer — reliable and often well-worn boots – in the title track to their just released EP, Boot Up.
But while Church charted the journey of one particular pair of boots in his 2006 Sinners Like Me track, the duo of Matt Chase and Chris Rogers cast a wider net. In an accompanying video for “Boot Up,” they depict everyone from farmers and bartenders to soldiers and first responders in their preferred brand of footwear, making the case that although the boot style may vary from person to person, the character of the wearer likely remains the same.
“It don’t matter if they’re steel-toe or snakeskin/if they’re still brand new or all broke in,” Chase and Rogers sing in the chorus. “We go to work in ’em/sun-up to sundown in ’em.”
Southerland wrote the song, which ends with an extended outro of muscular guitar and sweeping keys, with Austin Taylor Smith and their producer Greg Bates (“Did It for the Girl”). It leads off the duo’s debut release for Sony Music Nashville, a seven-song set that finds them collaborating with songwriters like Bates, Driver Williams, and Jessi Alexander.
Last September, Southerland released their debut single, “Thing Is,” another Bates co-write with a Brooks & Dunn beat, snaking steel guitar, and a thumping bass breakdown.