Jimmie Allen is honoring his late father, James “Big Jim” Allen, who passed away in 2019, with his current single and video, “Down Home.” Written by Allen, along with Cameron Bedell, Rian Ball and Tate Howel, the video was shot in Allen’s hometown of Milton, Delaware, as well as the nearby town of Lewes, Delaware, showing some of the places that remind Allen of his father, including his childhood home, his dad’s favorite restaurant and favorite fishing spot, and the baseball field where Allen’s dad taught him to play.
“Being able to shoot the video in the same place that I created so many memories with my father was super special,” Allen says. “It felt like my father was with me every step of the way.”
Allen wrote “Down Home,” from an upcoming new album, about the profound loss he felt after losing his father, knowing that others have also lost someone close to them, and would be able to relate to the song as well.
“I just talked about him and let him know that we miss him, and he’s the reason why I fell in love with country music,” Allen recalled to CMT of the day he wrote “Down Home.” “I feel like it was time. I feel in the right place, mentally, where I wanted to write that song, and I wanted to play it out, you know, for me. But also, there’s a lot of other people that lose a parent, and they’re going through the same thing.”
Allen is rightfully proud of the message in “Down Home,” but that doesn’t mean it is easy for the father of three to sing night after night.
“He met my son, but I’ve got two daughters,” Allen said, reflecting on the line in the song that says, “I got a daughter now.”
“I think this song might always be hard to sing, but it’s a good thing,” he adds. “It means I feel it in my heart, and I really love my father.”
“Down Home” might be about his grief over losing a parent, but the 36-year-old also finds solace in the lyric as well.
“It’s a song that’s actually helped me a lot because in the midst of missing my father,” Allen says (via The Country Daily), “I think about him seeing everything I’ve got going on and it’s like… even though he’s gone, he’s always with me. I hope this song finds its place in the world and this song helps people that have lost not only a father, or a parent, or a loved one just like the song has helped me.”
Allen is currently headlining his Down Home Tour. Find music and tour dates at JimmieAllenMusic.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of BBR Music Group / Cameron Beardmore