On this day (October 13) in 1990, Garth Brooks was at No. 1 with “Friends in Low Places.” The song stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for four consecutive weeks. Moreover, it would later become one of Brooks’ signature songs. More recently, he named his downtown Nashville bar after the 1990 hit. Interestingly, this now-iconic country hit started with an unpaid bill at a Diner in Nashville.
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Brooks exploded onto the country music scene in 1989 with his self-titled debut album. It produced four singles, all of which landed in the top 10 of the country chart. Two of those singles, “If Tomorrow Never Comes” and “The Dance,” went to No. 1. So when Brooks was riding a wave of success when he began plotting the release of his 1990 sophomore LP, No Fences.
Written by Bud Lee and Dewayne Blackwell, “Friends in Low Places” was the lead single from No Fences. Brooks released the single on August 6, 1990. A little less than two weeks later, it debuted on the Hot Country Songs chart. Then, just under two months later, on October 6, it reached No. 1, where it would stay for four weeks.
The Hard-Luck History of Garth Brooks’ Signature Song
According to Songfacts, Bud Lee, Dewayne Blackwell, and some of their other songwriting friends got together for lunch one day at Tavern on the Row in Nashville. When the check came, Lee realized that he had forgotten his wallet. Shrugging it off, he told his friends, “Don’t worry. I have friends in low places. I know the cook.” The phrase “friends in low places” struck both Lee and Blackwell.
A few months later, Lee and Blackwell were at a party together. The “friends in low places” concept came up in conversation. Before long, they had begun writing the song on a napkin. After they finished the song, they called on an up-and-comer named Garth Brooks to record the demo. It was the last demo he recorded.
“The demo was for Bud Lee and Dewayne Blackwell. I sang the session out in Hendersonville, and for the next two weeks, the chorus to this song kept running through my head,” Brooks recalled. “I knew it would be a year and a half before the release of No Fences because Garth Brooks was just getting ready to be released. I asked Bud Lee and Dewayne if I could hold onto it, and without a blink of an eye, they both said yes. Putting that kind of faith into an unknown artist is unheard of,” he added.
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