Wagener, S.C., is home to a population of 631, a proud history of asparagus crops and now an unlikely dance phenomenon.
To write “Boots on the Ground,” the stomping, midtempo anthem with a wailing chorus, also known as “Where Them Fans At?,” the singer 803Fresh, born Douglas Furtick, lifted a bit of vernacular from the dancers who attend trail rides in the area. Those rides — part horsemanship display, part social gathering — frequently culminate in field parties, where line dancers and steppers show off choreographed moves to Southern soul and country anthems.
“I heard a lot of the steppers: They were like, ‘Hey, we got boots on the ground tonight,’” 803Fresh said, describing how they would hype up a trail ride to friends and neighbors. The song’s central query was a genuine one. At one outing, he saw steppers wielding fans and tried to buy one — to no avail. Writing the lyrics, he said, he did not yet fully understand the significance of the fans that were ubiquitous.
“It’s a functional piece that’s now being used as part of a cultural statement but it’s always been with us historically,” said DaLyah Jones, a historian and cultural critic who has studied Black Southern arts. She cited their use as a fashionable accessory carried to church, in queer and ballroom culture, and as a functional way to beat the heat at these outdoor gatherings. Items such as napkins and handkerchiefs have also been used as fans and an extension of the dancing.
Since the release of “Boots on the Ground” in December, the song has steadily spread in an unusual way: Its accompanying line dance has made it a sensation both of social media and the I.R.L. gatherings where a community of Black Southerners could care less about outside trends. It has traveled beyond field dances to TikTok and back out into the world, most notably landing on the stage of Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” tour, where the pop superstar performs part of the line dance during a section of her show.
Though it has not cracked the Billboard 100 (it has topped both Billboard’s R&B digital song sales list and the adult R&B airplay chart), “Boots on the Ground” has become a staple of weddings and cookouts, the communal dance of the summer that has seen celebrities including Michelle Obama and Kamala Harris join in. The Oklahoma City Thunder had 803Fresh perform at halftime of an N.B.A. finals game.
“This is our biggest moment in line dancing,” said Dr. Lindsay Gary, a historian, Africologist and dancer-choreographer. “I’ve never seen something take off as big as this and it’s still really popular.”
The dance steps for “Boots on the Ground” came from Tre Little, the founder of Dem Kuntry Folks, a Georgia dance team. He first heard the song a few weeks before its release, when the DJ Payme posted a snippet of the song on TikTok.
The “Boots on the Ground” choreography, with its crossover footwork and fan-snapping punctuation, was born out of a misstep. Little was working on some new steps for the team soundtracked by the snippet and accidentally tripped, landing on the opposite foot. “I was like, ‘Oh, I like that. That was cute,” Little said. He posted a video to TikTok thinking it might get a few views from friends and family. Hours later, he woke up from a nap to more than 100,000 views.
“That was like on a Wednesday,” Little said. “By that weekend, it was everywhere.” Trail rides turned into full-fledged showcases for the dance, as crowds joined in and DJs queued up the song. Dance captains and line steppers added it into their sets, with online tutorials smoothing its adoption.
TikTok dances have become an important marketing tool for pop hits, often financed and seeded by record labels. Southern soul artists like 803Fresh, who is signed to Snake Eyez Music Group, an independent label with two other artists, have their own network of influencers.
Cleveland Gilmore, along with his wife, Pinese, and daughter Jordan, has become a pillar in the growing digital world of Southern line dancing through the work of the TNT Steppaz. For him, it is about giving shine to the creators who are reviving old songs and shaping culture through dance. Taylor Akharume, a former trombonist and choreographer for Jackson State University’s marching band, built a notable reputation in her hometown and in the Southern soul space with dance fitness videos under the name Tay Cheesy.
After watching a group perform Little’s dance on TikTok, Akharume recorded and posted a video of her performing the moves about a week before the song came out. She said that within a month of the song’s release, 803Fresh’s follower counts on YouTube and TikTok rose from about 20,000 to more than 100,000. “Boots on the Ground” continued to spread thanks to posts from other fan-snapping dancers.
Now Akharume says she has drummed up business as a marketing partner to Southern soul artists, vendors who want to sell branded fans inspired by “Boots on the Ground,” and promoters who want her to host dance events.
DJ Showcase Montana, who lives in New Jersey and spins shows throughout the East Coast, has seen “Boots” and other line dances creep onto set lists at parties far removed from the song’s rural origins, as they “serve as an anchor and an energy shifter.”
It is not unusual for Black line dances to spread widely, but many of them are set to older songs (think of the “Electric Slide”) or gain traction through years of popularity creep. In recent years, Southern soul songs with accompanying line dances — “The Wobble” and “Cupid Shuffle” are two recent examples — have pierced the mainstream on a quicker arc. Modern R&B tracks have also gained new relevance from stepping choreography. Tamia’s “Can’t Get Enough” was a modest hit when it was released in 2006, but it gained internet steam in 2022 when steppers adapted a country line dance for the R&B tune.
“Boots on the Ground” has emerged just as cowboy-coded Southern culture has broken into the mainstream, partly fueled by pop culture hits like “Cowboy Carter,” the country-rap hybridization of artists like Morgan Wallen and Lil Nas X, and the popular juke-joint horror film “Sinners.” The political climate, too, has renewed interest in Black communal spaces like trail rides and field dances.
The rise in popularity of trail rides “can’t be pinpointed to one specific video, because it was already popular on social media over the last couple years,” Dr. Gary said. “Beyoncé helps but she didn’t make someone bring a fan to a line dance. It’s the need for community at such an oppressive time, especially in the South politically, and visibly.”
That alignment of factors was not a consideration for 803Fresh when he made the song. He had spent more than 20 years grinding in Southern soul circles and small liquor houses, performing songs that in no way pointed to the possibility for a phenomenon like “Boots on the Ground.”
“Being a creative, you get weary and those things after you’ve been doing them for so long and no recognition, no labels calling you,” 803Fresh said. “So with this song doing what it has done, it’s definitely lifted me.”
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