The seeds of creativity spring from many forms, including a simple conversation.
That's what happened with Jabe Burgess, who left home to try and make it in the music business in Nashville, Tenn. He found work at a publishing company, where one of the employees asked where he was from.
"I'm from Greenwood, Arkansas," Burgess said. "It's a football town. It's kind of what we're known for."
The song "Football Town" is a new single from Burgess, a singer-songwriter and a former quarterback who helped Greenwood win two state championships. Greenwood is featured prominently in the video "when two-hand touch turns to tackle," a phrase with which every player can identify.
"There's so many football towns across the country," said Burgess, who graduated from Greenwood in 2014. "That's kind of what we were going for whether it's Fayetteville, the Hogs, or Dallas and the Cowboys. We started with Greenwood, but there's a lot of football towns out there."
Before Nashville, Burgess was mostly known as a top high school quarterback in Arkansas. He signed with Tulsa after he threw for 5,200 yards and 56 touchdowns in two years as a starter with the Bulldogs. Burgess eventually dropped football to concentrate on music.
"I had a guitar, and I'd play for my buddies in the dorm room," Burgess said. "After a while, we thought it would be pretty cool to play some shows. One of my offensive linemen walked into a bar in Tulsa and, at the time, he was pretending to be my manager. We started playing some shows in Tulsa, and I got a little band together with some guys from Greenwood, Fort Smith and Alma. That's when I started getting serious about it."
Greenwood coach Rick Jones knew Burgess was a fine quarterback, but he didn't fully realize the player slinging passes all over the field also had a talent for singing and songwriting.
"I think the first time I heard him sing was at a school talent show or something like that," said Jones, who's led Greenwood to nine state championships. "Jabe is basically a quiet guy, at least when he is in football mode. He never seemed to be a guy that liked the spotlight. He left Tulsa and told me he was going to start writing and singing. He has really worked hard at it and is better every time I hear him."
Burgess, 24, regularly huddles these days with songwriters Steve Azar and Mark Alan Springer, another Arkansan who is originally from Weiner, a small farming community just south of Jonesboro. Springer is a prolific songwriter who has written for many top country stars including Tanya Tucker, who hit big with his "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane," and Travis Tritt, who sang "Where Corn Don't Grow."
"Mark signed me to his publishing company, and we started writing songs last summer," Burgess said. "Fast-forward to another year, and we put out the most recent songs, and we're getting a career started for myself. We're excited about it."
Burgess is a singer and songwriter whose influences extend beyond country music. He's already booked a few shows, including Nov. 16 in Fort Smith, and his songs can be found on numerous platforms, including Amazon, Spotify, iTunes and YouTube.
"My dad was a big Eagles fan," Burgess said. "I love the Eagles, Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw, that '90s sound. I was on the tractor, listening to Hank Williams Jr. You can't get any more country than that."
If there's a business more competitive that football it is the music industry, where rising stars can be hurled back to earth and flattened like roadkill on a dusty, country road. But it's a path the former quarterback from a football town in Arkansas is willing to pursue.
"Whether Jabe hits it big or or not, I think success is doing something you love and doing it the best you can," Jones said. "I'm proud of him for doing what he loves."
Preps Sports on 09/22/2019