Category Archives: Levi Riggs

Tailgate Time with Levi Riggs

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Levi Riggs offers customized song for football markets For the second time in six months, country music artist Levi Riggs has a hit song on his hands … but this one is requiring some special handling. Upon releasing is his second single, “Tailgate Time,” with a football theme, in late August as the 2010 gridiron season was beginning, Riggs decided to customize the song for a few specific markets, adjusting the lyrics to include high school, college and professional team references for some of his favorite teams. Riggs, whose first single, “F-150,” rose as high as No. 19 on the New Music Weekly Country Music Chart, created special versions of “Tailgate Time” for radio stations in Indiana (Purdue Boilermakers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Indianapolis (Colts), other Midwestern states (Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes, Iowa State Cyclones and Minnesota Vikings) and throughout the South (New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys and Arkansas Razorbacks) and the East (Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants and New York Jets). “Tailgate Time” speaks to one of Levi’s passions – the sport of football and being a fan. He co-wrote the song with Scott Rottler and Bart Skrzypczak with the blue-collar worker in mind, knowing how people this time of year look forward to the weekends, putting on the jersey of their favorite team and having a great time around America’s favorite sport. Riggs decided that listeners would have greater appreciation for his song if it spoke of their team. So, Levi spent countless extra hours in the recording studio creating customized versions of “Tailgate Time” for more than 30 separate markets. The work is paying off as “Tailgate Time” climbs the charts, opening at No. 206 on the Music Row Country Breakout Chart and making steady progress in the past four weeks to No. 105 toward the projection that this song would eventually be another top 20 hit for Riggs. “We enjoyed writing this song and we are happy that people are having fun listening to it,” says Riggs. “I love football — I loved playing the sport and now I love being a fan. I get pumped up this time of year just with the anticipation of seeing the action, the big hits, the impact plays, and the strategy. Having played both sides of the ball, quarterback on offense and linebacker on defense, I watch the game from both points of view — trying to figure out what the linebacker is thinking the quarterback is trying to do and then thinking like a quarterback in how he’s going to cope with the intense linebacker. It’s great strategy and great fun.” Riggs’ popularity continues to escalate. More than 157,000 fans have listened to Levi’s songs on MySpace since the web site launched last April. He’s been busy with numerous interviews for television, radio and print. The 25-year-old Riggs graduated from Purdue with an honors degree in agricultural sales and marketing. As a student, he sang tenor for the world-famous Purdue Varsity Glee Club for four years, Continue reading Tailgate Time with Levi Riggs→

Introducing Levi Riggs

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Up and coming country star, Levi Riggs, talks about his role model, and his passion to help people. You may know Levi Riggs as the singer for “F-150” or the upcoming tune “Tailgate Time” but we here at CMNB wanted to make sure you got a closer look at the many sides of Levi. Whether through the lyrics in the songs he writes and performs or the causes he supports or the way he leads his life, chart-climbing country singer Levi Riggs has a passion to help people. And his role model is football’s Drew Brees, all-pro quarterback of the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. “I have great appreciation for the way Drew leads his life, using his talents and opportunities to benefit other people,” says Riggs. “It’s amazing to see what Drew has done both on and off the field to raise the spirits of an entire region following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Through his Brees Dream Foundation, he has been very generous with his time and resources in helping young cancer victims in San Diego, under-served children and scholar athletes in Indiana and people of all ages in New Orleans.” While it might seem strange for a country singer to emulate a football star, this one makes a lot of sense … Riggs and Brees have much in common. Both were star quarterbacks of their high school football teams (Drew in Austin, Tex., and Levi in Danville, Ind.,) both graduated with academic honors from Purdue University (Brees in 2001 and Riggs in 2007), and both are men of strong Christian faith. They have also shared the stage each of the last three years at an annual fund-raising dinner sponsored by the National Football Foundation’s Joe Tiller Chapter of Northwest Indiana, providing scholarship funds for high school students headed into their first year of college. While Brees has become a best-selling author this year with proceeds going to charity from his book “Coming Back Stronger,” Riggs has performed at several charity concerts that have benefited the NFF scholarship fund along with providing dollars for Holistic Hardware, Food Finders, Heifer International, and the Purdue Haiti Team to help build homes in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. “I grew up as a Drew Brees fan, watching him perform at Purdue and trying to emulate his success on the field,” says Riggs. “I knew back then that he was a great guy and always seemed to do the right thing both on and off the field, but it wasn’t until more recently that I learned about his great generosity and inspiring attitude. “I know I’m just getting started, but if I can achieve in my lifetime what Drew’s accomplished in the last year,” adds Riggs, “I’ll be very happy.” Later this month, Riggs will release his next single, “Tailgate Time,” with a bit of a football theme, just in time for the start of the 2010 gridiron season and a few months after his first single, “F-150,” rose as high as No. 19 Continue reading Introducing Levi Riggs→