Songfacts®:

• Luke Combs debuted this song on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on April 24, 2021. Narrated by a guy named Joe who works at the Texaco and never shows up drunk, it tells the redeeming story of his recovery from alcoholism.
• During his live performance of "Joe" on the Opry stage, Combs told the audience the song was only a few days old. His frequent collaborator Erik Dylan had played him a sketch of a tune that he'd started with another songwriter, James Slater. Combs felt an instant connection, and he and Dylan finished it together.
• Combs had already recorded several drinking songs, including "Beer Never Broke My Heart" and "1, 2 Many." "Joe" offers a different perspective, recounting one man's victorious battle with the bottle.
  
  The singer told Audacy's Coop there are family members and others who have a history of alcoholism, so it's something he's familiar with. "We do sing about drinking beer and having a good time all the time and I've had some friends go through some struggles with that and I want them to know that's OK too," he added. "It's OK to have a problem, it's OK to get better, it's OK to be trying to get better."
• The narrator is an everyday blue-collar man whose name appears to be derived from US slang for the man in the street. G.I. Joe was a popular 20th century slang name for an ordinary American soldier, which inspired several songs, including Neil Young's "Lookout Joe," ands The Clash's "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe."
• Writing about "Joe" on Instagram, Combs highlighted the longstanding tradition of drinking songs in country music, while acknowledging the potential impact of such tunes on individuals who struggle with alcohol dependency.
  
  "Our genre has so many songs about drinking and partying, hell, I'm probably one of the worst culprits of it," he said in his note. "There's nothing wrong with that I don't think, but sometimes I wonder what someone in the crowd who doesn't drink, or struggles with addiction, is thinking or feeling when there's thousands of people around them screaming 'Beer Never Broke My Heart' or '1, 2 Many.'
  
  "I've always wanted a song for those people to have for themselves," Combs added, "to have a song they can sing at the top of their lungs and feel like they're not forgotten."