On This Day in 1990, Garth Brooks Was at No. 1 With the Last Song He Recorded as a Demo Singer

October 8, 2026, 7:15pm

On this day (October 8) in 1990, Garth Brooks was at No. 1 on the country chart with “Friends in Low Places.” It spent four weeks at the top and became one of his signature songs. A few decades later, it became the namesake of his Nashville bar. Before he recorded it for his sophomore album, No Fences, Brooks recorded a demo for songwriters Earl Bud Lee and Dewayne Blackwell. It was the last demo he recorded.

Before Brooks was one of Nashville’s fastest-rising stars, he was a singer/songwriter who had bills to pay. As a result, he picked up whatever work he could while waiting for a record deal to come through. One of the things he did to make ends meet was recording demos for songwriters to shop around to other artists. “Friends in Low Places” was the last demo he recorded.

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“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.

Their faith in Brooks paid off. It won Single of the Year at the CMA and ACM Awards. It also netted Brooks a Grammy nomination.

Garth Brooks Almost Missed Out on This Classic

Garth Brooks wasn’t the only one who liked “Friends in Low Places.” The songwriters allowed him to put it on hold, but it took a long time for him to cut it. As a result, Mark Chesnutt recorded it for his album Too Cold at Home. He didn’t release it as a single, though.

Before Brooks or Chesnutt recorded it, the songwriters offered it to George Strait, who passed on it.

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