Songfacts®:

• "Get to Drinkin'" is Zach John King's wry, whiskey-soaked breakup song about self-deception. Every time he starts drinking, he convinces himself that his ex wants him back, even though he knows deep down that isn't the case. Alcohol doesn't improve his judgment; it just makes his preferred version of events sound a lot more credible.
  
  "'Get To Drinkin'' is a song about how your mind plays tricks on you when you're a few Jack and Cokes down," King explained. "A little whiskey seems to make bad memories good again. In this case, it's about me convincing myself that the heart I broke wants me back. Sometimes it's nice to put on those rose-colored glasses and convince yourself you weren't the problem."
• The title doubles as both the main hook and the song's driving concept. The domino-effect lyric, "When I get to drinkin', I get to thinkin', I get to wishin', I get to missin,'" shows him losing his resolve one glass at a time.
  
  "The story behind 'Get to Drinkin'' is about a relationship that I had in the past that, after a few Jack and Cokes, I started to paint it with rose-colored glasses, started to act like it wasn't my fault for letting things get so bad," King told Today's Best Country. "I think everybody feels that way at some point in a relationship."
• It's worth distinguishing the ex in "Get to Drinkin'" from the partner who inspired King's song "Lose You." King wrote "Lose You" about the woman who moved with him from Athens, Georgia, to Nashville while he was still waiting tables and chasing a record deal. "Get to Drinkin'," by contrast, looks backward at an earlier relationship he broke off.
• King co-wrote "Get to Drinkin'" with Rhett Akins, Thomas Archer, Kyle Fishman and Kyle Sturrock during a songwriting retreat outside Nashville. They finished the track on the final day of the retreat in December 2025.
  
  Akins is a major Music Row hitmaker. A former recording artist himself, he became one of Nashville's most prolific songwriters, penning hits for Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, and his son, Thomas Rhett.
• King co-produced the track alongside Ryan Wilson, deliberately wrapping the regretful story in an upbeat arrangement. "It's a song that covers a sad topic with really upbeat and fun music," he said.
• Aside from co-producing, Ryan Wilson played organ, keyboards, electric guitar, percussion, programming, synthesizer and Wurlitzer piano on the track. The full lineup of musicians includes:
  
  Jonny Fung: electric guitar, piano
  Sam Hunter: bass, acoustic guitar, banjo
  Zach Epps: acoustic guitar
  Justin Schipper: pedal steel guitar
  Gabe Balltzglier: drums
  
  Epps and Balltzglier belong to King's primary touring and studio band, while Fung, Hunter, and Schipper are veteran Nashville session players.
• The music video matches the song's slide into memory and self-delusion, cutting between performance shots of King and flashback scenes of the relationship. Arriving about six weeks after the single's February 6 release, the clip helped build momentum as the song climbed the country radio charts.
• "Get to Drinkin'" served as the lead single from King's 20-track debut album, I'm What You Get. The record relies heavily on King's writing partnerships with Rhett Akins and Los Angeles singer-songwriter Sasha Alex Sloan, both of whom co-wrote multiple tracks. Their contributions divide the album's sound: Akins brings a traditional, grit-focused country angle to his tracks, while Sloan's co-writes lean into a more pop-influenced, melodic style.
  
  King views the album as an unfiltered reflection of who he is as an artist. "At this point, I'm just making something I love, and I am what you get; you like it, or you don't. I've stopped caring a little bit about that," he told Country Central.