Back in October, Trey Lewis posted an Instagram video from a songwriters’ round at Nashville’s Listening Room when he was introducing his song “Believer.” The Birmingham, Alabama, native spoke sincerely about how he knew he didn’t have a ton of fans but was grateful for the ones he had made in a decade of writing songs in Nashville, and planned to keep right on going.
Less than two months later, Lewis has a surprise hit on his hands with the irresistibly catchy, decidedly NSFW “Dicked Down in Dallas.” Upon its December 1st release, the song immediately shot to Number One on the iTunes chart and still remains a fixture in the Top 30. Its success in streaming and sales, as well as on TikTok, also propelled it onto Rolling Stone’s Top 100 at Number 63, where it’s still climbing.
“Now that I said that a month ago, all this other stuff is happening with a song about dicks and butt-fucks,” Lewis says, laughing. “It’s super crazy.”
“It takes a certain kind of person to be able to pull off what Trey has done,” McKinney says. “The best part is, people are so infatuated with this song that Trey didn’t write, but he’s a phenomenal writer and the more he releases, people are going to be really drawn back at how good his deep stuff is.”
McKinney grew up in a religious family and he says he’s heard some disappointment for his role in creating “Dicked Down in Dallas.” But most of his family are at least glad to see that it’s opening doors for him, he says. “I’d say the vast majority of my family are not super fans of the song, but they’re more happy for the opportunities it’s presented me.”
As for Lewis, “Dicked Down in Dallas” has changed his fortunes. While the pandemic has largely kept him from playing concerts, it made the conditions possible for him to turn this funny and filthy song into a hit. Now he’s having to contend with levels of success and fame he’d only imagined.
“You always dream of what kind of person you’ll be when you have this level of success,” he says. “Then it happens and you’re like, ‘Well, I’m still the same person.’ I just have a hit song on my hands. It’s hard to wrap my head around it still.”
On Saturday, Lewis will sing “Dicked Down” at the Southern Junction, a nightclub in, you guessed it, Dallas.
From Rolling Stone US
