Cold Beer Calling My Name

Album: In It for the Money (2020)
Charted: 26
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Here, Jameson Rodgers and labelmate Luke Combs are about to kick off the weekend. Driving with a girl riding shotgun they're anticipating a night full of fun that involves plenty of cold beer.
  • Rodgers co-wrote the bar anthem in 2017 with his good friend Hunter Phelps, alongside Brett Tyler and Alysa Vanderheym. Rodgers was a groomsman in Phelps' July 2020 wedding.
  • "Cold Beer Calling My Name" took the four writers a good three sessions to complete. "It's a fun and up-tempo song, and if you ask me, they might be the hardest to write because its hard to not make them cheesy," Rodgers told American Songwriter.
  • Rodgers opened for Combs during the latter's 2019 Beer Never Broke My Heart Tour. When he went in the studio to cut the song, Rodgers had no plans for making it a duet, but when they started touring together, he asked Combs to trade verses with him. "I thought it would be cool to have a feature on my first album and he had always been a great buddy to me," Jameson said. "And, he likes drinking beer as much as I do, so it worked out."
  • Dustin Haney directed the lighthearted video, which sees Rodgers and Combs assume the roles of beer delivery men. When they get to the end of their shift, singer-songwriter Drew Parker invites them to a bonfire and asks the pair to bring along some beer. Songwriters Dan and Reid Isbell also feature in the clip.
  • Rodgers, Phelps, Tyler, and Vanderhey intentionally avoided making the song about beer. Instead, they wanted to capture the excitement of heading out on a Friday night after a long week.

    "I just felt like, "How do we take an everyman going through work, getting off, having something on the horizon, meeting up with some friends, enjoying life, and make it different enough?' Let's challenge ourselves and try to make it more interesting and use different colors," Tyler explained to American Songwriter. "For me, I pictured the guy getting off work. It's Friday, he's gassing up his car, maybe grabbing a six-pack, wiping off the windshield, and then he's getting in the car and letting Friday night take him wherever it goes. It's that small-town setting."

    "When I lived in northern Minnesota, I lived in this little town called Motley," Tyler added. "To me, for some reason, it was that little local gas station. I pictured some version of that, where it's a town of less than 1,000 people and the Dairy Queen is the nicest restaurant. I think that's so much of the country audience too. Having spent time there and living there myself, too, I have such great memories of doing the same exact thing."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Evolution Of The Prince Symbol

Evolution Of The Prince SymbolSong Writing

The evolution of the symbol that was Prince's name from 1993-2000.

Bob Daisley

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

Chris Frantz - "Genius of Love"

Chris Frantz - "Genius of Love"They're Playing My Song

Chris and his wife Tina were the rhythm section for Talking Heads when they formed The Tom Tom Club. "Genius of Love" was their blockbuster, but David Byrne only mentioned it once.

Soul Train Stories with Stephen McMillian

Soul Train Stories with Stephen McMillianSong Writing

A Soul Train dancer takes us through a day on the show, and explains what you had to do to get camera time.