Songfacts®:

• Cole Swindell was raised in Dawson, Georgia, and has fond memories of childhood vacations spent in the states' coastal region near Savannah. "Spanish Moss" is a country ballad that offers up moonlit snapshots of the Georgia coast - soft winds, Spanish moss (naturally), and the kind of love that glows in the dark and lingers long after the lights are out.
  
  Now, if you've never driven through the coastal backroads of Georgia, imagine a place where the air smells like pine needles and salt, where live oaks bend like old men in prayer, and where the Spanish moss - botanical name Tillandsia usneoides - drapes itself across the trees as if nature herself decided to decorate for a gothic wedding. It is, quite frankly, ridiculously atmospheric.
• The genesis of the song was a golf game. While Swindell was playing with his songwriting pals Jordan Minton (Jake Owen's "Best Thing Since Backroads," Niko Moon's "Good Time"), frequent Dan + Shay collaborator Jordan Reynolds, and Devin Dawson (Blake Shelton's "God's Country," Hardy's "One Beer") in Florida's 30A area, someone looked up at the trees and asked, "What's that stuff hanging down?" Swindell, likely leaning on a 7-iron at the time, replied, "Spanish moss."
  
  The phrase triggered a quiet avalanche of memories for Swindell about his late father leaving Spanish moss in his truck as a reminder of their connection to the coastal area they cherished. The moment on the golf course and Swindell's recollections of his father leaving Spanish moss in his truck inspired the song.
• Reynolds and Dawson produced the track alongside Dawson's twin brother, Jacob Durrett. The result is a languid, summery ballad with just enough sensual guitar to feel like a slow dance on a screened-in porch.
• "Spanish Moss" is the title track of Swindell's fifth album. The title felt right to the singer because it encapsulates so much of what matters to him: home, memories, and the kind of love that gets tangled in your heart the way moss gets tangled in trees.
• Swindell's father, William Keith Swindell, passed away in 2013 in a freak accident while working on a truck. Cole has recorded several songs that tackle the loss of his father, including "You Should Be Here" and "Dad's Old Number."