More airplay for country anthem

Debate may rage at the United Nations about purported links between Iraq and Al Qaeda, but for a 6-foot-6-inch Tennessean named Darryl Worley, the connection is as clear as the sound of steel guitar.

Worley is the country singer who has the genre’s hottest radio hit with his “Have You Forgotten?,” which starts off with the line, “I hear people saying we don’t need this war” and includes the lyrics: “Have you forgotten how it felt that day/To see your homeland under fire and her people blown away/Have you forgotten when those towers fell/We had neighbors still inside go through a living hell/And you say we shouldn’t worry ‘bout Bin Laden/Have you forgotten?”

The song is a sensation at country radio, and Tonya Campos, assistant program director at KZLA-FM (93.9) here, compares it to the Alan Jackson song “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?,” which grieved the Sept. 11 dead. The station is playing the song three times a day and will likely increase that airplay.

The song, written by Worley and Wynn Varble, opened at No. 43 on the country chart this week, making it the highest debuting single. Worley was to be interviewed on NBC’s “Today” show this morning.

-- Geoff Boucher