Country music has a lot of songs about drinking and bars. Blake Shelton and Post Malone have a new song “Pour Me A Drink”; the music video, which came out this week (6/24), shows the two superstars holding solo cups and partying with people as they sing the praises of a good alcoholic beverage.
The “Pour Me A Drink” music video starts with Malone buying a malt liquor at a convenience store, where Blake is the store clerk. The guys then cut to a party and hug as Post wears his signature Dallas Cowboys jersey.
As the video continues, Shelton and Malone play guitar and sing the song’s infectious lyrics in the back of a pickup truck. The duo keeps the party going and mingles and dances with the crowd. They toast each other with solo cups, and then the video goes back to the convenience store, where it appears the party was all a dream.
Then there is newcomer SHABOOZEY, whose “Bar Song (Tipsy)” is climbing up the country charts this week, looking like it could go all the way. At any given time, there are a handful of country songs on the charts that sing about taking a drink.
But there’s a dark side to this. Hitting the road and living a constant party can lead to country music stars doing some serious drinking. In 2022, Lady A’s Charles Kelley canceled a tour to get sober and later wrote a song (“As Far As I Could”) about his journey.
Charles said in a statement when he released the song, “For me, the biggest word I’ve been holding onto is gratitude, not pride. I’m grateful. I finally see the light and am connecting with what life is all about. Some days are hard, but the good outweighs those bad moments. There’s some beauty in all this, and I’ve had time to reflect, time to get healthy, time to write. I’ve probably written 50 songs this fall, and I feel like all of it was leading to this one song.”
It’s no secret that country music stars have had a love-hate kind of relationship with booze, and many stars have quit the vice, while some seem to handle having a drink and owning a bar in downtown Nashville just fine.
We look at five country music superstars who have either put the bottle down or never drank at all.
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Brad Paisley: Never Drank
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Even though he scored a big hit in 2009 with a song called “Alcohol,” it’s a little-known fact that Brad has never been a drinker. Even though he can mix you a drink in his Nashville “Yellow House,” which he uses for making music, he doesn’t partake.
Charles Kelley - Sober since 2022
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Lady A postponed their tour in 2022 for bandmate Charles Kelley to have a “journey to sobriety.” Since then, Kelley co-wrote and recorded a solo song about his journey called “As Far As I Could.” The lyrics include, “You gave me the courage the night I met my wife / You helped me make her laugh ’til you helped me make her cry / You started out a friend turned into somethin’ else / Now I like who I am with you sittin’ on the shelf.”
Shania Twain: Doesn't Drink While Working
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Shania told Entertainment Weekly in 2002 that she doesn’t drink simply because she has never been “interested” in alcohol. She said at the time, “I’ve never had a drinking problem and never drank when I worked.”
Tim McGraw: Sober Since 2013
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In 2013, he told People, “I don’t drink at all. It’s not a part of my life anymore.” Tim told Esquire in 2021, “I remember a moment when I was getting out of bed and going to the liquor cabinet and taking a big shot at eight in the morning and thinking, I have to wake the kids up.”
Keith Urban: Sober Since 2006
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Keith, who went to rehab shortly after he married Nicole Kidman in 2006, told the U.K. Times in April 2022, “I’ve nothing against drugs or alcohol. Everyone does what they want to do to have a great time. I just realized I’m allergic to it. Someone said, ‘You have an allergy? What happens when you drink?’ And I said, ‘I break out in cuffs.'”
