Kentucky star Landon Young vibes with ‘Rocky Top,’ except during Tennessee week
A son. A husband. An offensive tackle.
Landon Young is several things but a banjo player, despite some past efforts, is not yet one of them. When he and Luke Fortner, members of the same 2016 recruiting class, first met, Young told Fortner that he was attempting to learn the banjo; the two reminisced about that this week with media members.
He “did pretty good with it” for about two years as a self-taught picker, but it’s not been a priority for a couple years now.
“Things get away from you a little bit at a time and I actually haven’t been able to play it in quite a while,” Young said. “It’s been sitting in my upstairs. ... I’ve made the commitment to myself that one day I’m gonna sit down and actually get somebody to teach me rather than me self teach myself. But I really enjoy it.”
Young is big fan of bluegrass music. J.D. Crowe was a family friend growing up, he said, so he’s always been partial to him and his band, The New South.
“All the guys laugh at me ‘cause I’m the dude with subs in the back of my truck that’ll be going down Nicholasville Road blaring bluegrass music,” Young said with a grin. “I absolutely love it. Just that twang, that quirkiness of the banjo, I fell in love with it at a young age and still love it today.”
Crowe was a major inspiration, as was, Gary “Biscuit” Davis, a four-time national banjo champion, who he got to see play at Dolly Parton’s Stampede a few years ago, and with whom he got to speak during a visit.
“He’s a bigger guy, sorta like me, and (I got) to ask him about the troubles he had with big fingers and just being a bigger guy with that little instrument,” Young said. “Those two guys really drove me to want to be able to play that banjo.”
Of course, thanks to “Rocky Top,” the banjo is about as synonymous with the University of Tennessee as it is the state of Kentucky. Young was asked for his feelings about the Volunteers’ fight song, which was written by Georgian Boudleaux Bryant and his wife, Felice, who hailed from Milwaukee, in 1967. It was made famous by the Osborne Brothers and has been played by UT’s marching band since the 1970s.
“I will sing, or at least vibe to some ‘Rocky Top’ every single week except for Tennessee week,” Young said with a laugh. “I do like the song. It is a good song. I just hate that Tennessee had to ruin it by putting that orange and that team behind it.”
Kentucky hosts Mississippi State this weekend before visiting Tennessee next Saturday. The Volunteers are ranked No. 14 in the latest Associated Press poll.
Next game
Mississippi State at Kentucky
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Kroger Field (limited spectators)
TV: SEC Network
Records: Mississippi State 1-1, Kentucky 0-2
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Series: Mississippi State leads 24-23
Last meeting: Mississippi State won 28-13 on Sept. 21, 2019, at Starkville, Miss.
