Artists record new opening anthem & refresh Big & Rich’s “Comin’ To Your City”
ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot returns for its 37th season this week and 30th anniversary of being on the road visiting college campuses across the country. To celebrate the milestone anniversary, college football’s premier pregame show will debut a refresh of its iconic “Comin to Your City” opening anthem at the start of its week one show in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, September 2nd at 9 am ET on ESPN. The song is available now on all DSPs.
After voicing the opening track for the past 16 years, country music duo Big & Rich shared last week that they’re passing the torch to a new group of talented artists. The theme song, “Comin’ to Your City” – written by Rich, (Big) Alphin and Paul Worley – was the title track of Big & Rich’s second studio album in 2005 and climbed to No. 21 on the U.S. radio charts. College GameDay’s version includes shout-outs to various college football teams and traditions, which do not appear in the original recording of the song.
On Monday, The Cadillac Three, Darius Rucker, and Lainey Wilson revealed that they are taking the reins for the GameDay opener refresh, premiering Saturday. Wilson, Rucker and the trio of Jaren Johnston, Neil Mason and Kelby Ray will now sing and put their own spin on Big & Rich’s iconic song.
“Recording and performing the new ESPN College GameDay anthem is a surreal and awesome opportunity,” TC3 frontman, Johnston, admits. “We grew up watching College GameDay as kids and have continued the tradition every Saturday since we’ve been in a band together. GameDay is on the TV on the bus every weekend, and now we have even more reason to make sure the satellite works wherever we are parked!”
Longtime fans of the show, The Cadillac Three brought the three musical acts together to add to the legacy of GameDay and college football with their updated version of the anthem. Rucker, who will make an on-site appearance at College GameDay this weekend before his beloved South Carolina Gamecocks take the field in Charlotte, has a deep-rooted past with the pregame show, even appearing as a guest picker in 2012. Wilson is a rising country music star and the Academy of Country Music’s reigning “Female Artist of the Year.”
College GameDay returns for the 2023 season with its week one stop at Romare Bearden Park in Uptown Charlotte on Saturday at 9 am on ESPN, ahead of the Battle of the Carolinas primetime matchup between South Carolina and No. 21 North Carolina at 7:30 pm on ABC.
