Country music drinking sagas

Let me paint you a picture: Thousands of men and women swaying around a stage with the distinctive smell of yeast enveloping the scene. The men all wear cowboy hats, flannel shirts, faded blue jeans and boots. The women wear tiny jean shorts, high heels and low-cut, ripped shirts. Each person in the crowd is nursing a can of beer and getting rowdy.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a country music concert.

When you add a banjo and a cowboy hat, the show quickly transforms from its pop-rock counterparts. The drinks are plentiful, and the local farmers come out in full force to celebrate the end of the work week, kick back and have some good, old-fashioned fun. It is nearly impossible to find anyone who is not fresh from a corn field, ready to party the country way.

The quality of the music doesn’t even matter. Hell, if a different performing act ran on stage instead of the headliner, nobody would notice. As long as the tunes are playing and the beer is flowing, the quality of the show is secondary.

And the artists certainly know how to meet that demand.

Brad Paisley’s song “Alcohol,” Neal McCoy’s “Billy’s Got His Beer Goggles On” and Billy Currington’s “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer” are just a few of the songs included in the drinking culture of the American country music scene.

With such an emphasis on drinking, the biggest winners of the situation are, of course, the bartenders. A venue can get away with selling beer for $11, and to feel that drunken high, you need to down at least four or five. Fifty big ones later, you are too drunk to remember where your seat is.

Beyond drinking tunes, country music is relatable, whether it’s about ex-girlfriends, fishing or tractors. The ability to congregate and practice life, love and liquor brings the music to life for listeners.

­—azoot@indiana.edu