An American son, who will he become?

A little boy stands in the snow, watching as his footprints mark the freshly fallen ice. He wears a Carhartt jacket with boots and jeans. 

This quiet yet comforting image is the cover for Colby Acuff's 2024 album, “American Son”.

Acuff is an up-and-coming country musician mostly known for his song “If I Were the Devil.” Personally, though, I think that this latest album is his best work. 

The thing that makes a great song to me, is a good storyline throughout. “American Son” accomplishes this not only in one song, but the entire album. For example, two of my favorites, “Plastic Horses” and the ending song “American Son.” 

“Plastic Horses” follows the storyteller, who meets a homeless man and asks to hear the story of the bag of plastic horses he has in his pocket. The homeless man explains that they were his daughters. The song paints a gut-wrenching yet fast-tempo picture of how addiction affects families. Sometimes holding onto the smallest of things—plastic horses to keep themselves going through life. He goes on saying that he plans to get clean, but in the next verse we hear the line,

“There was a man found in Georgia. On the sidewalk, New Year's Eve. He had a pocketful of plastic horses and a picture of his daughter up his sleeve.” 

To me, this ties everything together and makes me think about the stories behind the people we hear about in the news. Each person has a history, but sometimes we judge too early based on a one-off that we hear.

The next song, “American Son”, focuses on war and how it has divided our country. It symbolizes the fact that we send people off to fight for our country and they often follow with pride in their eyes even knowing they might not come back. The song brings to light the fact that when they come back they often go under the radar of the rest of society. Even after all they have done to keep us safe.

The line, “​​Uncle Sam's whisperin' world war is comin' on, war is good for business, please invest your only son,” encapsulates the song perfectly. Families lose a vital part of their lives while the government views them almost as an investment. 

Acuff wrote the song for his father, and soon after, he performed at the famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville TN, on Friday, Feb 10, 2024.  

He shared with the crowd that playing in the Auditorium was a major career goal, that he promised his father he would reach, and there he was. However, his performance wouldn’t be followed with a hug and congratulations from his father, as he had passed away the previous night. Acuff was shattered, but he wanted to perform as he knew that his father would want him to, and he could feel his presence in the room with him. He chose to play American Son as it was written for him. The silence from the audience was warm as Colby began, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. 

Looking at the little boy in the snow I believe this was young Acuff, an old photo his father captured while he played in the snow.  I can’t help but imagine his father following up after him to scoop him into his arms. 

Always his little boy, his American Son.