As cliché as the combination of country music and beer may be, there’s a reason we’ve developed such a strong association between the two. To quote a more recent country star, Zach Top, “There’s something about a steel guitar moaning the blues that makes me want to throw back a case or two.” Simply put, beer and country music make a good pair. But that’s nothing new—just look at the 1970s.
For as long as country music has been around, there have been songs about drinking beer. Still, there’s something about these beer-drinking country songs from the 1970s that is especially top-shelf quality.
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“I Like Beer” by Tom T. Hall
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better country song about drinking beer than Tom T. Hall’s 1975 track, “I Like Beer”. It’s an anthem for pilsner lovers everywhere. But winos need not apply.
“I like beer, it makes me a jolly good fellow / I like beer, it helps me unwind, and sometimes it makes me feel mellow / Whiskey’s too rough, champagne costs too much, vodka puts my mouth in gear.”
“Family Tradition” by Hank Williams Jr.
Nothing can unite a room full of bar drinkers quite like a call-and-response song. And indeed, “Family Tradition” by Hank Williams Jr. is one of the best. The 1979 track from the album of the same name is a matter-of-fact ode to the function of booze.
“Hank, why do you drink?” (To get drunk!) “Why do you roll smoke?” (To get high!) “Why must you live out the songs that you wrote?” (To get laid!)
“I Gotta Get Drunk” by Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson released “I Gotta Get Drunk” on his 1970 album Both Sides Now. (Before he was turned on to the medicinal and recreational qualities of marijuana.) The classic country song is a tongue-in-cheek lamentation of a barfly, and it certainly pairs nicely with a cold one.
“Well, I gotta get drunk, Lord, I can’t stay sober / there’s a lot of good people in town / Who love to hear me holler, see me spend my dollars, and I wouldn’t dream of lettin’ them down.”
“Colorado Kool-Aid” by Johnny Paycheck
“Colorado Kool-Aid” by Johnny Paycheck is a classic “you oughta been there” bar story—the kind that seems so ludicrous it couldn’t possibly be true, but somehow so detailed that it almost has to be. In any case, they’re attention-grabbers, not the least of which is Paycheck’s narrative about one man slicing off another man’s ear.
Still, it’s really the description of Coors Light that makes this one such a great country song about beer. “What’s Colorado Kool-Aid? / Well, it’s a can of Coors brewed from a mountain stream / It’ll set your head on fire and make your kidneys scream / Oh, it sure is fine.”
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns
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