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

Who's Johnny, And Why Does He Show Up In So Many Songs

Who's Johnny, And Why Does He Show Up In So Many SongsSong Writing

For songwriters, Johnny represents the American man. He has been angry, cool, magic, a rebel and, of course, marching home.

Women Who Rock

Women Who RockSong Writing

Evelyn McDonnell, editor of the book Women Who Rock, on why the Supremes are just as important as Bob Dylan.

Rupert Hine

Rupert HineSongwriter Interviews

Producer Rupert Hine talks about crafting hits for Tina Turner, Howard Jones and The Fixx.

Did They Really Sing In That Movie?

Did They Really Sing In That Movie?Fact or Fiction

Bradley Cooper, Michael J. Fox, Rami Malek, Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow and George Clooney: Which actors really sang in their movies?

Tanita Tikaram

Tanita TikaramSongwriter Interviews

When she released her first album in 1988, Tanita became a UK singing sensation at age 19. She talks about her darkly sensual voice and quirky songwriting style.

Harry Shearer

Harry ShearerSongwriter Interviews

Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.