Kenny Chesney Had a Crazy Epiphany Before Releasing This Grammy-Nominated Song

“You And Tequila” by Kenny Chesney is a song that cleverly compares romantic relationships with bad drinking habits. Released in 2011, the song also features vocals by singer/songwriter Grace Potter. This collaboration earned the artists two Grammy nominations for Best Country Song and Best Country Duo/Group Performance.

Before “You And Tequila” became the version we know and love, it was just another demo, sung by one of Chesney’s friends, Tim Crackle. Chesney had first heard a version done by Matrice Berg or Dina Carter, one of the writers of the song. He wanted to see how it would sound with a male vocal, which is where Crackle’s version comes in.

“I said, ‘I’m going to I’m going to record this song, but I have to have the perfect voice to do it,’” Kenny Chesney told Bobby Bones. “And I didn’t know who that was yet.”

Little did he know that inspiration was about to strike. While listening to Crackle’s demo one drunken night in the Virgin Islands, he came up with the perfect duet partner.

“…And I was laying out looking up at the stars and that song came on um like on a shuffle on my on my iTunes, right? And I just sat there and listened to it and I went, ‘Okay, I have to find the right voice,’” he explained. “The next song was a song by Grace Potter called ‘Apologies’. And I went, ‘That’s the song.’ That’s how it happened.”

What Did Grace Potter Write “Apologies” About?

According to Potter, before she and Kenny Chesney united forces for “You And Tequila”, they were connected through a friend of hers named Holly. Back in the early days of her career, one of Potter’s CDs ended up in Holly’s car, which she supposedly gave to Chesney.

One of the songs on that CD was “Apologies”. This is the song of Potter’s that drove Chesney to reach out to her about “You And Tequila”.

“Apologies” is a song that Potter wrote about a relationship she had when she was merely 18. Right before a trip to Italy she and her boyfriend had planned together, Potter got broken up with. They still ended up going on the trip.

“A few months later, I took up with another guy, and immediately my former guy was like, ‘Oh no, I want you back,’” Potter said, per Unmask Us. “What is that about? We continued seeing each other as friends, pulling at each others heartstrings. I wrote the song ‘Apologies’ as a direct transcript of one of our conversations.”

Had it not been for that CD, or even that crazy breakup story, perhaps we would have never gotten a chance to hear the “You And Tequila” we know today.

Photo by: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for CMA