4 Country Songs That Sample Other Hits

In recent years, many burgeoning country artists have found great success writing songs that pick up where others have left off. There are a fair few hits that have skyrocketed over the last few years that borrow melodies or lyrics from similarly successful songs. Regardless of what you think of the practice, no one can deny it is effective. Find four country songs that sample other hits, below.

4 Country Songs That Sample Other Hits

1. “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” – Cole Swindell

Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” is one of the most famous examples of this practice. Swindell joined forces with Jo Dee Messina to revamp her 1996 hit, “Heads Carolina, Tails California.” The burgeoning country star borrowed Messina’s insatiably catchy melody to tell his own story of love at first sight.

“Heads Carolina, tails California”
Maybe she’d fall for a boy from South Georgia
She’s got the bar in the palm of her hand
And she’s a ’90s country fan like I am
Hey, I got a Chevy, she can flip a quarter
I’d drive her anywhere from here to California
When this song is over, I gotta find her
‘Cause she had me at “Heads Carolina”

2.  “Country Girls (Just Wanna Have Fun)” – Mackenzie Carpenter

Next up on our list of country songs that sample other hits is Mackenzie Carpenter’s “Country Girls (Just Wanna Have Fun).” As one could likely guess, Carpenter makes a nod to Cyndi Lauper’s famed “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” While the melody is much the same, Carpenter adds in some country accoutrements that make the song her own.

Want a cowboy to take my hand
And boot, scoot and two-step me to a cover band
I’ll whiskey wink, he’ll think that he stands a chance
And kiss him just because
Country girls just wanna have fun

3. “Chevrolet” – Dustin Lynch and Jelly Roll

Dustin Lynch and Jelly Roll tried their hand at rewriting “Drift Away” in 2023. The end result was “Chevrolet”, a song that borrows that familiar melody, but instead tells a country love story. Both Lynch and Jelly Roll make quick work of this hat tip to a classic.

When she said
Gimme a dirt road
The windows down
Wanna get lost on the edge of town
In your Chevrolet
She said gimme a six pack
Some Brooks & Dunn
If you want a country girl, you just found one
Let’s slip away
In your Chevrolet

4. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey

Shaboozey‘s name-making hit, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” is a reference to J-Kwon’s 2004 club anthem, “Tipsy.” Though the musicality is far more country leaning than the earlier work, the same unshakeable energy is present.

Someone pour me up a double shot of whiskey
They know me and Jack Daniels got a history
There’s a party downtown near Fifth Street
Everybody at the bar gettin’ tipsy
Everybody at the bar gettin’ tipsy
Everybody at the bar gettin’ tipsy

[RELATED: Exclusive: Shaboozey Talks “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” Almost Not Making the Album, His “Rocky Career” and Becoming a “Pillar of Music”]

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