Wyatt McCubbin’s Emotional Song About Fatherhood, ‘Boy in the Boat’, was Almost Recorded By Eric Church

Wyatt McCubbin is quickly establishing himself as one of the most respected up-and-comers in Nashville, with the South Charleston, Ohio native having already spent 15 years establishing himself as a prolific songwriter in the modern Music City scene.

He's had songs recorded by a host of country music's biggest stars, including Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson and Riley Green. There's one name McCubbin almost added to that list - Eric Church - but, despite missing out on having a song cut by The Chief, you get the sense he's now pleased that one didn't work out.

McCubbin penned ‘Boy in the Boat’ with his friend Eric Dylan, with the heartfelt song inspired by Dylan's experience of being a father. At the time they wrote it, McCubbin wasn't yet a dad, but now that he has a son - Autry - he relates even more to the song.

McCubbin reflects, “‘Boy in the Boat’ is a song that it just puts me on the floor. I'm a dad to a little boy back home, and the funniest part is when I wrote this song, I didn't have a son. I wrote it with a guy named Eric Dylan who had just had his third boy, and we were looking for things to write about, and that was a that was a big topic in my pal Eric's household. Obviously, his boy was about a week old”.

He fondly remembers, “I'd scroll by that title in a list of titles that I worked through, and it just stood out and reached out and grabbed me. And when we wrote it, I don't really think we knew what we had done that day. But it has been one of the strongest songs in my catalog, and easily one of my favorite songs in my catalog”.

The fast-emerging artist warmly concludes, “Any boy dads out there are going to feel that. I think about fishing with my dad, and I also think about fishing with my granddad when I hear that song, and it'll always, always be be near the top of my list”. The enchanting track appears on McCubbin's widely lauded debut album, 650.

The official music video captures the heartwarming, familial spirit that permeates the song, with the director, Nathaniel Maddux, shedding light on what initially drew him to the evocative offering, “The first time I heard ‘Boy in the Boat,’ it felt like a thousand stories were being told in one song. For the music video, we drew from six decades of footage to tell one collective story of fathers and sons sharing a moment - a nostalgic blip in time that stays with us fathers forever”.

It's strange to think what direction the song might have been taken in if Eric Church had taken ‘Boy in the Boat’ off hold and recorded it himself. But given the emotional vulnerability and sincerity McCubbin laces into the track, and the fact that he wrote it with Dylan, it feels like everything worked out exactly as it was meant to.

For the full lyrics to Wyatt McCubbin's ‘Boy in the Boat’, see below:

“He won′t remember that it's raining
Or the million times he′s tangled up his line
That bluegill on his hook will be the memory
And that smile on his face, that'll be mine
-
Right now, buddy, I'm gonna soak this in
′Cause I know it won′t always be like this
I'm gonna blink and he′ll be walking out that door
He's growing up just like a weed
And damn if he don′t look just like me
Waving at his mama standing on that shore
I hope I'm here to see him have his own kids
I hope he gets to feel just like this
When the boy in the boat ain′t the boy in the boat no more
-
He don't realize that this don't last forever
He don′t understand how fast time can fly
Hell, I guess I′m about the same age as my old man
When he sat me down in a jon boat my first time
-
Right now, buddy, I'm gonna soak this in
′Cause I know it won't always be like this
I′m gonna blink and he'll be walking out that door
He′s growing up just like a weed
And damn if he don't look just like me
Waving at his mama standing on that shore
I hope I'm here to see him have his own kids
I hope he gets to feel just like this
When the boy in the boat ain′t the boy in the boat no more
-
Oh, it ain′t about catching no fish
It's about days I′m gonna miss
With that boy in the boat
Yeah, that boy in the boat
-
He's growing up just like a weed
And damn if he don′t look just like me
Waving at his mama standing on that shore
I hope I'm here to see him have his own kids
I hope he gets to feel just like this
When the boy in the boat ain′t the boy in the boat no more
When the boy in the boat ain't the boy in the boat no more”

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