Songfacts®:

• George Strait co-wrote this blue-collar good-time tune with his son Bubba and frequent collaborator Dean Dillon. They had been ready to pack in their writing session when Bubba suddenly came up with a suggestion for a song that the other two knew they couldn't pass up.
  
  "We were down at my ranch in south Texas writing and it was kind of towards the end of the night and we were pretty much done," recalled Strait. "I was tired and ready to go to bed, but we were going, 'Does anybody have anything else?' Bubba goes, 'Whiskey is the gasoline that lights the fire that burns the bridge.' And Dean and I go, 'What? Where did that come from?' [laughs] So, anyway, that's how it started and we finished it that night."
• The King of Country first unveiled the track to his fans during his December 8, 2018 show in Las Vegas, as part of his ongoing Strait to Vegas residency.
• "Every Little Honky Tonk Bar" was George Strait's biggest hit in six years. The last time a Strait single reached the top 20 of the country chart was in 2013 when "Give It All We Got Tonight" made it to #7.