Luke Combs’ Cover of Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” Chosen as This Season’s SEC Hype Song

Right now, the temps are high and the summer may seem like it will drag on forever. This is especially true for those who are waiting for the college football season to kick off. The first SEC games of the 2024 season are slated to take place on the last weekend in August. Already, fans everywhere are getting pumped for the new season. Recently, Luke Combs and the SEC came together to amp up the excitement a little more. Combs’ cover of Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” is this season’s SEC anthem.

The South Eastern Conference took to social media earlier today to share a video of high-energy football highlights to announce the start of the season on August 29. Combs’ cover of the Petty classic is the soundtrack to the clip. “Turn this one ALL the way up,” the conference wrote in the post. “Our new SEC anthem is here!”

This isn’t the first time Combs has had a song tied to the SEC. In 2021, the conference used his song “South on Ya” as their anthem. The song references several SEC teams in the lyrics. As a result, it was a natural fit for the conference.

Luke Combs Has a History of Recording Killer Covers

Fans know that Luke Combs is a master songwriter, penning or co-penning most of the songs on his albums. However, he is also a master of recording renditions of other peoples’ songs.

[RELATED: 4 Standout Tracks from ‘Petty Country’: Covers from Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, and More]

Combs recorded “Runnin’ Down a Dream” for the recent Tom Petty tribute album Petty Country. It is just one of many killer cover songs the North Carolina native has covered over the years. Before covering Petty, he recorded an award-winning rendition of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” That might be the biggest of his second-hand renditions. However, it was far from the first.

For instance, Combs joined Brooks & Dunn for a stellar rendition of their 1991 chart-topping debut single “Brand New Man” on the album Reboot in 2019. Then, in 2022, Combs recorded a version of the John Anderson classic “Seminole Wind” for the Anderson tribute album Something Borrowed, Something New.

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