Randy Houser photo courtesy of Universal Records South.

You could call it back-seat karaoke. Randy Houser’s video for “Boots On,” built around the sing-along of young Drake Dixon while Randy filled his gas tank, became one of the most-talked-about videos of 2009, even earning a thumbs up from fellow singer Keith Urban.

It’s also gotten the attention of the country industry at large, as “Boots On” is one of the finalists for the Country Music Association’s Music Video of the Year honor during next week’s 43rd annual awards. Not that Randy’s putting much stock in winning.

“I feel like my chances are definitely between slim and none,” he told The Los Angeles Times. “Of course awards would be nice and all that, but I don’t think that’s going to become the measure of what our value is.”

Randy, however, might be the least objective person about his prospects. After all, he wasn’t sold on the video at first glance. At least he was smart enough to realize it was just unique enough that it could actually gain a little traction if it got a shot. And indeed, it eventually notched more than 1.5 million YouTube views.

“It doesn’t tell you anything about me or the song,” he noted, “and my first thought was ‘What are we doing here guys?’ But I understand what they were trying to do — they were trying to open the door. And I guess they did … I love the video. It’s like they always say, you can’t compete with kids or puppies.”

Can he compete with the big boys? We’ll know soon enough. “Boots On” is up against Taylor Swift’s “Love Story,” Billy Currington’s “People Are Crazy,” Brad Paisley and Keith Urban’s “Start A Band” and George Strait’s “Troubadour” during the CMA Awards, hosted by Brad and Carrie Underwood on Nov. 11. Randy’s also in the running for the prestigious New Artist of the Year.

Look for Randy’s sophomore album to be released in the spring.

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